Chapter 25

A home stager can stage a vacant house with tasteful furniture and accessories.

After leaving the B&B, Tyrone and I drove to Antiques and Other Things to view the storage area Josh had identified for us. I hoped it would work since Louiston’s only self-storage facility didn’t have any available storage units at the moment.

I looked around the large space Josh took us to, imagining how it would look once we got shelving and our inventory in. “What do you think, Tyrone?”

“Looks good to me, but it’s really big. Do you think we are going to need all this space?”

“It’s a big space for the inventory we have now, but it will give us space to grow.”

Tyrone shrugged. “I guess you have to think big.”

I had always been cautious, sometimes too much so. Now I needed to have confidence that my business would grow and plan for it. And having a place to store the furniture we needed would help us do that.

“I think it’ll work quite nicely, Josh.”

“I’m glad it will work out for ya’ll. How about if I work up a draft lease agreement and we go from there?”

“Sounds good.” I could hardly believe it was actually working out. But then I thought of Monica’s situation and how quickly a small business could fall apart. I gave myself a shake and decided to think positively—not letting my mother’s and aunt’s negative views of the world affect me.

Josh closed the metal door behind us. As we walked back to the front entrance, he stopped. “While y’all are here, let me show you the paintings Damian Reynolds consigned with me.” He led us to a room with a closed door and pulled out a key.

“How can you sell them if you keep them locked up?” Tyrone asked.

“That’s the problem. I don’t know how I should handle them. They were valuable when he brought them in, but now that he’s dead, they’ll become even more valuable. And in all fairness to his family, they need the opportunity to decide whether they want to keep them.”

Josh opened the door and switched on a light. He’d hung the paintings on the walls, so we got a good view of them. “The ones on the left are his works, and on the right, works from other artists he’d collected.”

Tyrone and I stood stock still taking it all in. I had seen Damian’s paintings in magazines, but seeing them in person was quite different. They were impressive.

“Wow!” Tyrone had an excellent eye for color and design, and he was obviously impressed by the pieces in front of us. “These must be worth a fortune.”

“Yes, they are.” Poor Josh looked wistful, knowing what his share of the sale might have brought him. I’d always felt Josh was an honorable businessman, but this was proving it. He could have sold them and no one would ever have been the wiser.

“That’s why I’ve locked them up.” He closed the door behind us and locked it.

“You could always contact his agent. Since Damian was divorced, I don’t know whether his ex-wife has any right to them. I read Damian had a teenage daughter. She’ll more than likely inherit them.”

“I just want to make sure they go where they should and I get them off my hands, with a receipt showing that I turned them over. It makes me nervous having such valuable items here.”

“I’ll tell you what. I want to talk to his ex-wife and agent about something else. If I’m able to talk to them, would you like for me to get a sense of them and see who you might want to approach about the paintings?”

“If you would, that’d be great.” Josh visibly relaxed as though the worry of the paintings had been lifted from him. I just hoped that I’d not taken the worry on myself.