Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 09 - Romance & Revenge by Laina Turner Page B

conversation, we got off the phone and I just looked at Katy and Jared with a dazed expression on my face. Having a hard time comprehending what I had just heard and not even knowing how to explain it.
    “What did he say? I couldn’t tell by your side of the conversation, but the look on your face tells me it must be something big.”
    “He wants to give me Silk,” I said slowly, still not sure that I had heard him correctly . And if I had, I was having a hard time believing him. There had to be something about what James said to me that I was missing or he was plotting some scheme that I wasn’t fully comprehending. There could be no good reason, a genuine one anyway, that he would want to give me his dead ex-wife’s business. I really needed that Baileys now. Who cared what time it was.
    “Shut the front door! Give you Silk? What do you mean? He wants to sell it?” Jared said.
    “That’s what I thought, that’s what would make sense, but no. He said give.  Believe me, I asked him more than once because I thought I was hearing him wrong. He said it’s operating in the red, he doesn’t have time for it, and doesn’t really care, never did. He said he doesn’t want to see it close, for Solange’s sake, so who better than me to take it over. He said it’s what Solange would have wanted. He wanted to honor her memory or something like that. I was having a hard time paying attention after he said the part about wanting to give it to me. He and Solange had been in the middle of a nasty divorce when she was murdered, so I didn’t completely buy the ‘honor her memory’ crap. He has to have some other reason besides that.  I’m just not sure what it is. Maybe he’s losing his mind.
    “Don’t get too excited guys. This probably has something to do with his recent legal troubles and that’s not something I want to get involved in. The last thing I want is to be sucked into his issues. I have enough of my own. I don’t really trust him enough to think this might be genuine. Think about it. People don’t go around giving away businesses. Even ones that are not profitable.”
    “But still , maybe it’s not. Would you want it, if it’s all above board? If he really means what he says?” Katy said, ever the optimist. “I mean this could be a fantastic opportunity.”
    “I’d really have to think about it. Owning a business. Especially retail in this economy. One that is already floundering. It would be a huge risk. Plus, I know nothing about running a business.”
    “But would you want to do it? Pretending there are no other obstacles for a minute, live in your fantasy land where anything can happen.”
    I thought for a minute and realized that yes, I would. I smiled. “Yeah, I would. I loved working there. So own the place … yeah. I would like that. I might even be good at it.”
    “I think you should go for it,” Jared said. “It’s totally up your alley and you’d be good at it. I could really see you doing this. I could work on weekends, hell maybe full time, if we don’t figure out what’s going on with my company .”
    “What did you tell him ?” Katy said.
    M y head was whirling. “That I would have to think about it. He wants me to call him tomorrow. As if I only need one day to make this kind of decision. But James is nothing, if not persistent.”
    “I can’t wait to see what Willie says about this,” Katy said. “I bet this isn’t what he was expecting James to want to talk to you about.”
    “Yeah, what happened with Willie last night?”  Jared asked. “I feel totally out of the loop.”
    “I think Willie has a crush on our girl Presley here,” Katy said.
    “Oh , stop.”
    “Really?” Jared said, looking interested.
    “He doesn’t. And even if he did, it wouldn’t matter. I need to figure out what’s going on with Cooper first.”
    “ Well do it and quit putting it off,” Jared said, and I just gave him a look. “OK then for now, we can talk about my