It had been three months since the opening of Soothing Bliss, and business was on a roll. Timber could barely stock the shelves before the products went flying off and more had to be ordered. The spa was already up and running, and because her professional line of products had been prepared and packaged earlier than she’d anticipated, the technicians were already using them on their clients.
Today had been a long day. Several clients came in late for their appointments, so Timber had to stay even later than normal to close up. In the meantime she had plenty to do to keep busy, and once everything had been completed, she exhaustedly drove home. She was too tired to even eat dinner, and all she could think about was crawling into bed and calling it a night.
Even though running the store and spa had been more grueling than Timber had imagined, she was beyond ecstatic with the success of it all. The location was absolutely perfect, she’d built an impressive roster of regular shoppers and spa clients, and even her accountant was shocked at the profits that the company was bringing in. So as far as Soothing Bliss was concerned, Timber could not have been happier.
As for her personal life, she and Brian’s friendship was going strong. He was still seeing his girlfriend, even though they barely seemed to spend any time together. But for whatever reason, the couple was hanging in there with one another. He and Timber had managed to keep their relationship strictly platonic, and she’d honestly been too busy to even think about wanting anything more with him.
Brian, on the other hand, liked to drop little hints here and there about the two of them getting back together. But Timber never really took him seriously, especially considering he was in a relationship.
As for Alex, he’d call and text on occasion, but Timber ignored him. After all that he’d put her through, she couldn’t believe that he had the audacity to reach out to her. She’d heard through Eva that his last two movies bombed at the box office, and that his agent had dropped him. So his career was in limbo, and he was probably feeling sorry for himself and looking to her for sympathy. But Alex wasn’t someone who Timber wanted in her life, even as a friend. And while she’d been glad that he was gone, their difficult breakup had taken quite a toll on her. Thank goodness she had Soothing Bliss to keep her occupied and happy, which certainly helped to ease the pain, along with her remarkable friendship with Eva and her reuniting with Brian.
Timber pulled into her driveway and willed herself to get out of the car and into the house. She grabbed her mail on the way in, dropped her things in the bedroom, and headed to the bathroom to shower quickly. When she was done Timber climbed into bed, scrolled through her phone and answered only the most pressing texts and emails that she’d received that day. Everything else would have to wait until tomorrow.
Before drifting off to sleep, Timber shuffled through her mail and tossed the majority of it aside. But when she saw a letter from her landlord she opened it immediately, hoping that he wasn’t planning on increasing her rent considering it was already over her budget. When she opened the letter and scanned its contents, Timber realized that a rent increase would have been good news compared to what she had just read.
The letter had come from the landlord’s son. He was writing to inform Timber that his father had passed away, and unlike his dad and the generations before him, the son had no intentions of keeping the property where Soothing Bliss was currently located in the family. The son was already in negotiation with a buyer who had plans of turning the space into an art gallery, and was looking to close on the property and begin renovations as soon as possible. The son made it clear that if the deal went through, Timber would need to vacate the space immediately.
Sickness and sadness overcame Timber as tears streamed down her face. She jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to her office to scan the letter and email it to her attorney, just to weigh her options and see if he had any ideas or advice on how she could remain in the space. She then emailed the letter to her real estate agent Sue as well in hopes that she may have some inside information on the sale of the property and the potential buyer.
As Timber hit the “Send” button, the thought of buying the property herself came to mind, but she knew that she couldn’t afford it. And by the time she tried to look for investors to partner with her on purchasing the building, it would probably be too late, and the gallery owner would have already snapped it up.
Timber walked back upstairs and slid into bed slowly, still in shock from the letter. She thought about calling Eva or Brian. But she decided against it, not wanting to burden them with the awful news just yet. She would wait to hear back from her attorney and Sue in hopes that they’d come up with some sort of master plan that would enable her to stay in her amazing space. If they didn’t, Timber had no idea what she would do; especially after she’d put so much blood, sweat and tears into making Soothing Bliss absolutely perfect.
And then, right before an exhausted and emotionally drained Timber closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, she look a moment to just feel sorry for herself. All of the unexpected bumps in the road that she encountered were becoming more and more painful. From her disastrous work experience at Boris Pharmaceuticals to her heart-wrenching breakup with Brian to her devastating breakup with Alex, Timber had undoubtedly been through her fair share of struggles. But the one thing that she always had to fall back on was Soothing Bliss.
And now, just as business was booming thanks to her expansion into the space of her dreams, it appeared as though she was going to have to relocate. And unless she could find a property that rivaled her current location, Timber would be forced to move Soothing Bliss back into her basement and close the day spa altogether. The mere thought of it all was unconceivable. She wondered just how many more heartaches she could withstand, because right now Timber felt as though if this one didn’t work out, she may very well not recover from it.