"When can you do that? This afternoon? This week?"
She hesitated slightly, and I could almost hear her flipping through an appointment book. "I'm free this afternoon after two, but then not again until Thursday."
"Okay, give me five minutes to confirm this." I hung up and called the cycle shop. Tessa agreed they would both be there. I called Andrea back and gave her the address and promised to meet her there.
Then I got off the phone and Marilyn put me to work doing the laundry. I was definitely starting to think about getting an office, simply to hide from Marilyn when she was in a house cleaning mood.
After lunch, I grabbed my briefcase and kissed Marilyn and Charlie good-bye. I was starting to tote around with me a mini-office in the briefcase, including all the details of the land purchase and the house construction. Now I was adding to it with my planner and address book. Maybe I really did need to set up an office.
I got to the cycle shop a few minutes early. I didn't see Andrea's car yet. Tessa noticed me and we waved at each other, but I decided to stay outside and wait for Andrea. She showed up about ten minutes late. "Sorry I'm late! I get lost in these old industrial parks."
"It shouldn't be a problem. Come on in, let me introduce you." I held the door to the shop for her and ushered her inside.
Tessa was already coming around from behind the counter to greet us. "Hi, there, I'm Tessa Tusk. Welcome to Tusk Cycle!"
Andrea held out her hand. "Thank you. I've never been in a motorcycle shop before. What do you do here?"
"Well, we do some repairs and maintenance for bikers, but a lot of what we are doing these days is buying and selling used bikes. Tusker - he's my husband, Jim Tusk - he gets these old bikes in and then rebuilds them and then resells them. Like this one.", she said, pointing at a gleaming chrome and purple lacquered Harley. "He picked this one up as a junker for about a thousand, put another thousand into it in parts, rebuilt it and repainted it, and we just sold it this morning for ten thousand!"
"Very nice!", I commented.
"I wouldn't have picked you as the motorcycle type, Carl.", said Andrea with a smile.
"Who? Me? No way!", I said, waving my hands.
Tessa just laughed at that, and then a booming laugh came in from the garage. Tusker came in wearing grease stained overalls and wiping his hands on an old rag. His hair was done up in a pony tail, and his five o'clock shadow showed it was around half past four. "Carl? He's no biker!"
"Tusker, meet Andrea Greene. She's the broker we're buying our property through.", I said.
He smiled and nodded, and kept wiping his hands off. "Don't bother shaking. I get pretty messy in there. I just ripped the engine off a '52 Indian Chief that has seen better days. When I get through with it, though, it will be a collector's piece!"
"I have no idea what that means.", I told Andrea. "Tusker and Tessa are some of my oldest friends, going back to high school. I told them they needed to expand, but they have no room to grow here."
"Yeah, that's an issue.", agreed Tusker. "My service bays are too small, as is the showroom here, and there's no parking for our customers, let alone the employees, and I need to hire at least one more person as it is."
"We have got to move!", chimed in Tessa.
Andrea nodded sympathetically, and then began looking around the place. She did ask one interesting question - "Did you buy or lease this place?"
My friends looked at each other for a second, and then said, "Lease. Why?"
"Well, if you had bought it, you'd have to sell it, right?" They gaped at each other. They had never thought of that. Andrea continued, "If you leased it, you can simply end the lease, or even break out of it early."
"Is that what we should do on a new place?", asked Tessa.
Andrea shrugged and smiled. "Don't know yet, we'll have to see. Let's find you two a better place first and then worry about the finances."
I piped up at that. "Andrea, do you know a decent commercial bank? Their current bank is giving them grief."
"Maybe. Who is your current bank?"
I gave a blank look in reply and looked at my friends.
Tusker answered, "I think it's Clifton Trust now. We started out at Berkshire, but I believe they got bought last year."
Andrea gave them a strange look. "Why them? They're a residential building and loan!"
Tessa said, "Well, they were the only bank we had. We both had checking and savings accounts there, and we borrowed ten grand from our parents, five from each, and did everything else with credit cards when we started."
I buried my face in my hands. If I had been around, I would have helped them arrange a decent financing package, but I had been off in Fayetteville at the time. If they could survive with those interest rates, they were doing well. I rubbed my face for a second and then looked over at Andrea. "I think we can find them some better financing." To my friends I said, "No wonder your bank doesn't want you around. They're a residential mortgage bank, not a commercial bank. Give me a few days and I can find you something better."
"Try Maryland National, they can handle this.", agreed Andrea. She turned back to Tusker and Tessa. "Listen, give me a few days. I don't have anything off the top of my head, but I can find something for you. Here's my suggestion - move a bit further out, say Cockeysville or north of there. The price will be lower and for the same payment you can get a larger piece. It will be simpler to modify an existing property than develop raw land, too."
Tusker and Tessa looked at each other, and nodded. "I can't believe it's going to happen. It seems awfully fast!", he said.
"Hey, Tusker, if it was a bike you just picked up, you'd hustle it out, right, so that you can resell it and make your money back, right? You wouldn't let it sit around. Same thing here. The sooner we can do this, the sooner you can grow your business and the sooner you can move out of your apartment and the sooner you can hire Andrea to find you a house.", I told him.
Andrea laughed at this, especially when Tessa elbowed Tusker and told him to shut up.
I spent most of the next morning on the phone with several banks. No, I didn't know any bankers in particular, but yes, I can read the phone book and figure out who to call. By lunchtime I had something in place and told Marilyn.
Her attitude surprised me. "Why are you doing this?", she asked.
"Well, they are paying rates too high and need to expand and get on a business footing.", I responded.
"No, I mean, why are you doing this? Why aren't they?"
"Well, I am pretty good at this business stuff, you have to admit that.", I said with a smile.
Marilyn was serious, however. "Yeah, but when did you become their boss?"
"What in the world are you talking about?"
"Are they your friends or your employees? Did you tell them to do this or did they ask you?"
"Marilyn, it wasn't like that! You know me better than that.", I protested.
That earned me a smile. "Yes, I know you. I know you better than you know you. You can be real bossy at times. These are your friends, not your second lieutenants!"
I snorted at that, but it made me think. For revenge, I toasted some bread for lunch and made myself a couple of sardine sandwiches. Marilyn loudly protested the smell, and I retaliated by threatening to teach Charlie about sardine sandwiches and anchovy pizzas. That brought another round of protests. It reminded me of the first time she came to my family's house in the summer, during my first go, when my mom had a crab feast. I love steamed crabs, and showed Marilyn how to tear one apart and eat one. Afterwards, my mother asked Marilyn if she wanted a second, and Marilyn made a classic reply - 'Do I have to?' I damn near died of laughter.