Another read: You’re the only man I can rely on.
His
reply was missing again: You need to stop saying things like that. Claire is my wife.
We now had something to fight back with socially, but the messages didn’t fix my garage.
Vanessa could be dishonest about Irvin and still be right that my bakery was operating from a space without the proper approval.
That was when the answer finally became obvious.
But the messages didn’t fix my garage.
“I’m closing the garage myself,” I said.
Irvin looked at me. “That’s what we’ve been trying to avoid.”
“And that’s why she has leverage. She can only threaten us with something we’re still trying to hide from.”
So I did the painful thing first.
I called every customer. I refunded orders I couldn’t fulfill and postponed the ones I could.
“And that’s why she has leverage.”
I rented time in a licensed commercial kitchen across town, an expensive fluorescent place that
smelled like bleach, and moved what work I could there.
Irvin started the proper approval process for our garage.
Then he put his phone beside mine.
“If she wants the messages discussed at the HOA meeting, we’ll bring them,” he said. “All of them. No cropping. No editing.”
I rented time in a licensed commercial kitchen
When Vanessa texted, Are you ready to do the right thing? I answered with three words.
We’ll be there.
***
