Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 06 - A Season of Change Read Online Free PDF Page B

full-time, it would be fun to open a coffee shop during the day. We don’t have one in town and …”
    Polly laughed, “Maybe that should be my next investment. Henry and I can buy one of the empty buildings downtown and put a coffee shop in it.”
    “How serious are you about that?” Jeff asked.
    “Not serious at all. If I decided to do one more thing right now, I think both Henry and Steve would kill me.” Steve Cook was Polly’s CPA, investment counselor and financial advisor. He’d worked for her dad for years and she trusted him implicitly. He had taken her through the original purchase of Sycamore House and knew her finances inside and out.
    “Well, when you do get serious, tell me. I know people who would get on board with this.”
    Polly rolled her eyes. “Don’t tempt me. I can barely think straight now.” Her phone buzzed with a text from Henry telling her that he was waiting out back.
    “I’ve got to go. Don’t make any crazy plans without me.”
    She ran through the kitchen and out the back door, arriving just as Henry was getting out of his truck.
    “I’m sorry. I was in with Jeff and Rachel.”
    “I didn’t mean to hurry you. I was worried that you had fallen asleep upstairs.” He crossed in front of his truck and hugged her.
    She swatted him. “I’ve been up since six! I’ve been down to the barn and played with the horses and I came back and took care of my animals, then spent a few minutes in the office. Jeff and Rachel think I should open a coffee shop downtown.”
    Henry held her out at arm’s length. “Tell me you didn’t agree to it.”
    “Are you kidding me? Like I need one more thing going on? I told them that you and Steve would kill me if I came up with another crazy idea.”
    “Oh, thank goodness. I’m about to stop breathing as it is,” he sighed. “Come on, let’s get going.”
    Polly jumped up and into his truck and put her seatbelt on. When he reached the highway, she said, “I’m a little worried about you. Eliseo told me he’s helping at the hotel because you’re stressed. Now you tell me that you are about to stop breathing. What’s going on?”
    “It never occurred to me that I would have so many things happening at once. The lodge and Sycamore Inn are two huge projects. I have two other remodeling jobs and I’m bidding on a fitness center build-out that I will probably get. I don’t know how in the world I’m going to manage everything. I can hire people to do the work, but my head is going to explode.”
    He came to a stop and turned the corner. “I completely hit the panic button about midnight last night and I haven’t slept since then.”
    They hadn’t spent time together last night after Henry called and told her he had too much work to do. Polly had never seen him in a panic like this. He managed his time well and knew what his employees could and couldn’t do.
    “How can I help you?” she asked.
    “I don’t know. I don’t even know where to begin. At some point, I will just get all of the projects going, but I’m afraid I may never sleep again.”
    “I don’t know anything about construction, but I can help in your office.”
    “I know that and I appreciate your offer, but I need someone back at the shop watching the work that goes out of there. I need someone the guys can call as a backup and someone who knows the yards around here.”
    Polly put her hand on top of his and he quieted down. “What about your dad?” she asked.
    “Dad?” Henry said the word and then said nothing more. He drove in silence.
    Polly continued. “He knows everyone in town. He knows the business. Surely he knows all of the lumber yards in a hundred mile radius. He understands construction. Is it a bad idea?”
    “It’s a great idea, Polly. I just don’t know if they’d move back. They wanted to go to Arizona so badly. Mom hates Iowa winters and she loves their little house down there.”
    “What if they came up during the spring and summer and