So yes, Ella had been the quintessential good girl-the one caveat to that being going against her father's demand to stay away from Kyle Coleman during her senior year in high school. And in the end, what did she get for her one act of defiance? She'd been left with a shattered heart and her family's life in an emotional upheaval. Although the upheaval had been more the fault of Gwen's actions than her own, Ella had been left to deal with the fallout.
"Holy smokes," Claire said in awe as she turned her phone toward Ella to show her the photo she'd found on the Premier Realty website. "Damn, Kyle Coleman is gorgeous. And hot. And built like a brick house, compared to how lean he was in high school."
Ella wasn't about to admit that she'd already spent part of last night obsessing over that good-looking face, those dark brown eyes, and the impressive muscles he'd developed over the years.
Claire swiped a few things on the face of the phone before giving it back to Ella. The photo was gone, and now on display was the address and phone number of Premier Realty highlighted for her to see.
She chewed her lower lip uncertainly before she met her friend's gaze from across the desk. "So, you think I should call him?"
"No. That's too easy and not bold enough," Claire said, waving a dismissive hand in the air. "I think you should go to his office and look him in the eye when you ask him what you want to know. Maybe you could even offer him a bit more for the building to buy it from him. You didn't have the cash on hand yesterday, but you know you could get a bank loan for the difference."
The store's credit was solid, their bills paid in full every month, and she was certain that she could get an increase on their line of credit for the investment back into the business. She definitely wanted the building that much, but what if she went to Kyle and he refused any offer she made? He'd outbid her yesterday without flinching at the cost, so what made her think he'd give up the property so easily now?
"I don't know," she said, hating the defeated way she sounded.
"That's just it. You don't know until you try," Claire refuted in that confident, reasonable way of hers. "What if he's willing to take a bit of a profit, hand over the building, and walk away? You'll never know unless you make the offer, and if you don't do this, you'll always wonder what if."
Claire's advice, as always, was sound and logical. "Okay," she agreed, but only to part of her friend's suggestion. "I'll call him." It was a compromise.
Claire narrowed her gaze. "No calling. You need to do this in person, face-to-face. The element of surprise will throw him off-balance, just like he did to you yesterday. That could work in your favor."
It was hard for Ella to imagine that anything would throw Kyle off his game, but there was another more important reason she hesitated to jump on Claire's idea. "You know I hate going into the city." Actually, hate was a mild word for how she felt about Chicago. Loathed was more like it.
Chicago was only an hour's drive away, without any traffic, but the half dozen or so times that she'd gone into the city, she'd nearly had a legitimate anxiety attack. There were too many people around and all in one place, and the blend of sirens wailing, vehicles honking, and subways rumbling beneath her feet had been sensory overload when she was so used to her peaceful small town. Everything was too fast-paced, too overpopulated, and she'd been overwhelmed by all the tall buildings surrounding her. She always felt too closed in, like a panicked mouse in a maze with no way out.
The last time she'd been to Chicago had been a year ago with her fiancé, Tucker-an evening she'd agreed to because she'd hoped the different environment might make her see him in a new light. That maybe, hopefully, being somewhere with him that he'd deemed as romantic would spark some kind of real passion between them.
Instead, going into the city had made her realize two important things. One, she never wanted to go back if she could help it. And two, once she was sitting across from Tucker at the five-star restaurant where he'd made reservations for what should have been a seductive and amorous evening, she'd come to the difficult and painful realization that it could never work between them. Her phobia of the city and her breakup with Tucker soon after that had nothing to do with each other, but neither had been pleasant experiences she ever wanted to go through again.
"Don't you think this is one trip that might be worth making?" Claire asked, cutting into her thoughts. Her tone was both understanding of Ella's aversion to the city and a bit of tough love, too. "You can't let that building go without some kind of fight. You've been planning the expansion for years, just waiting for Old Man Piedmont to pass on so his son could finally sell the place. Don't you want to know that you did everything in your power to try and get the building, instead of wondering if you could have done more?"