The New Buyer Asked To See The Work Behind The Walls

June arrived in walking shoes with a flashlight and a notebook.

She skipped the tea Yvette had arranged in the front room. Leon led our tour. Yvette attended as an owner of the seller, but she no longer carried the office keys.

"Tell me about the water," June said.

I handed her the well reports and service records. Then I showed her the access panels. A pretty bath room was expensive trouble if a plumber had to break a wall to fix a valve.

"You labeled everything," she said.

"Someone will work here after I leave."

We walked through the guest rooms. I explained where I had used warmer bulbs, why the rugs stopped short of doorways, and how the bath floors sloped toward the drains.

Yvette lifted a shade.

"I chose the green. It was my vision from the start."

June glanced at the tile sample I had taken from my pocket.

"And this blue mark?"

"My approval line. The glaze varied by batch. We rejected two boxes that looked gray under the bath lights."

I showed her a spare tile from the accepted batch. The green held a little brown near its edge, like wet leaves beside a creek.

June turned it in her hand.

"Can we buy replacements?"

"I saved the maker's mix number and ordered ten percent extra. The stock is listed in the maintenance binder."

"I'd like that binder included with the assets."

Yvette started to answer.

Leon spoke first. "We'll put it in the contract."

June made an offer of $710,000 for the real estate and specified business assets. She would honor the guest reservations listed in an attached schedule and offer the current staff jobs on stated terms.

Alma read her offer with her own daughter before signing it.

I loved that nobody asked her to trust a toast.

The lower price upset Yvette.

"Your wife cost this family $30,000," she told Ellis during a settlement meeting.

He was sitting at the far end of the table. For once, he did not look toward her before answering.

"My wife didn't sign a false disclosure. I did."

"You were helping your mother."

"I was helping you spend money we owed her."

He sounded tired. I felt no urge to reward him for a sentence he should have said months earlier.

The settlement took two long meetings. Everyone had counsel. I rejected a clause that would have made me promise to describe the dispute as a misunderstanding.

"I can agree not to harass anyone," I said. "I won't sign a false account of what happened."

That clause came out.

The company also agreed to send the reopening guests and staff a factual correction. I had designed the guesthouse under a paid contract and funded construction through a loan. Ellis had not supported my business.

The final agreement recognized the loan and mortgage, required my full payoff from closing, and reimbursed $11,700 in agreed legal and accounting costs. The proposed $300,000 management payment was withdrawn.

Yvette agreed that the $42,000 had to return to the company. Signed closing instructions charged it against her own distribution. If her proceeds fell short, she remained personally liable for the balance under the settlement.

The company would pay its remaining bills under Leon's final accounting before winding down. Nobody would empty an account on the way out.

I would consent to this particular sale and release the mortgage only through escrow after payment. The settlement and approved sale would go before the judge.

Yvette read the signature page for a long time.

"After everything I did for this family," she said.

Her lawyer leaned close and spoke too softly for me to hear.

She signed.

The judge later approved the settlement and sale in a written order. Leon stayed in place through closing and the final accounting. The temporary restrictions would end under the terms of that order, rather than on anybody's promise.

June also offered me a separate $14,400 design contract for a later room update. She gave me time to review it.

"You're not required to hire me to get my consent," I told her.

"Good," she said. "You're not required to work free because I bought your old project."

I took the contract back to the motel and marked the payment dates in blue.

On the night before closing, Ellis brought the last box of my office things to my rented apartment. I had finally left the motel.

He set down my rulers and drawing tubes.

"Mom says she'll come tomorrow. She wants a family photograph at the building."

"I'm going to the closing office."

He nodded and held out his hand. I took the house key off my ring and gave it to him.

An hour later, Celia called.

"The documents are ready," she said. "Yvette asked whether we can release her money before we fund your payoff."