Chapter 7: Reconstruction

The issue of the store was taken out of our hands late that year. A competitor of ours, who had a number of regional stores and was also a client of our buying group, approached us to see if we would be interested in selling. Our mercurial growth and profit spurt had gained a lot of attention at the buying group and I guessed they had mentioned it to this other firm.

Central Valley Hardware had been looking to expand further and we were ideally located to fit with their plan. The real question was ... did we want to sell? At first, no we didn’t. We were still pretty high about how much we had improved the business and felt there was more to be gained. I didn’t dismiss the idea for one reason. My grandfather was past normal retirement age and the delight he and Gramma had on their vacation reminded me that this was the time for them to be able to enjoy themselves for all their years of sacrifice.

This was a decision that both my grandparents had to be part of. On paper, Grampa was still the majority owner of Healdsburg Hardware. I now owned 25% of the store, with John holding an equal amount on his 21^st birthday. I was the effective manager of the store, but with the passing of my grandparents, we both would inherit the other half equally. Although Grampa wasn’t as active as he once was, I wanted to make sure he was well rewarded for all the hard work he put into its success over many years. He was reluctant to accept, but with a little subtle convincing by Gramma, we convinced him it was the smart thing to do. I’d put a lot of effort into the modernization of the operation over the past two years and it had paid off even better than I had hoped. He was more than entitled to his share.

All of Marianna’s concerts had been scheduled in Europe and thus, neither I nor her family had seen her for the past thirty months. The letters were now few and far between. Even Mama Alvarez said she was writing far more infrequently. I wondered what was going on in her life. It didn’t take long to find out.

“Nico, can you come to dinner tonight?” Mama Alvarez asked.

This was unexpected and I could detect a change in her voice. Something was wrong and now I was worried.

“Of course, Mama Alvarez,” I said immediately. She had taken to calling me Nico and I would never presume to correct her. It was a name of affection and I was flattered that she would use it to address me.

As usual, I was greeted warmly and their home and invited into the living room. What was unusual was how subdued everyone was. As I suspect, something was wrong. I waited patiently for an explanation.

“Nico, we have a letter from Marianna. I think you should read it,” she said solemnly.

I reached over and took it from her hand. It was in Marianna’s distinctive perfect handwriting. I leaned back and began to read.

I sank back in the chair, looking at the letter, but not seeing. I don’t think I’d ever been as crushed as I felt at that moment. Perhaps I knew this was coming, but it was the reality of seeing it in print that brought it all home. It was over. There was no happy ending for me.

I begged off staying for dinner. I don’t think I could have held it down. I drove home and sat in the kitchen, wondering what next. Gramma was the first to find me.

“Nicholas, you look terrible. Are you sick?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Mama Alvarez got a letter from Marianna. She’s getting married to that guy who is her manager. She didn’t want to tell me personally, I guess. So, all those dreams that we had for our future are gone, Gramma.”

“Oh no!” Gramma said, her face contorted in despair. “I never thought she would do that. She could not tell you? What is the matter with that girl? Oh, Nicholas, I am so sorry. You must be devastated.”

I nodded and sighed. “I had hoped we might have a future, but I can see I was wrong. This has to be the lowest I’ve felt in a long time.”

“Nicholas, I don’t want you to dwell on this. You are young, handsome, successful, and a very nice man. You will make some other woman a very happy lady when she comes along. I feel very sorry for you for what Marianna has done, but there is nothing that you can do about it. You have to put it behind you and get on with your life. You have a bright future and do not let this stop you from achieving it.”

I hugged my grandmother for some time. She was always a positive person and it rubbed off on anyone who knew her. I may not have felt like I had that bright future at that moment, but she was telling me that it was there for me and it was up to me to find it. I might not start right away, but I knew she would keep on me until I did, so I resigned myself to following her advice. There was just one problem. I had no idea where to go to find a new girlfriend. I’d been so wrapped up in the store and waiting for Marianna that I was completely out of the dating scene.

It took me some time to come to terms with the loss of Marianna. The Alvarez family would be flying to Florence in September to attend her wedding and meet her new husband. I received no invitation, but I wasn’t upset since I wouldn’t have had the courage to go anyway. I think that one final nail in the coffin of our former love affair was enough to make me realize that I had to push on into a different path for myself.

To confirm the total change in our life in Healdsburg, we decided to sell the store to Central Valley Hardware. The offer was too good to refuse and it would allow my grandparents to retire in comfort. For me, it was the excuse to move in another direction. It was time to visit Solomon Goldman and discuss my participation in his music store.

It took me some time to recognize that I needed something else beyond the store and work. I was stuck in place with nothing that I did aimed at simply pleasing myself. I hadn’t even attempted to find a date. Oh, I’d made a try at it by visiting a couple of nightclubs on the weekend, but I felt so completely out of place that I gave that up as a bad habit. There had to be a better way.

I did find a pick up ball team during the spring and summer and that gave me some exercise as well as the pleasure of once again playing my favorite game. It took my mind off Marianna briefly, but nothing outside of that brought me close to anyone of the opposite sex I might be interested in. As Labor Day approached, I was aware that it had been almost three years since she had left to become a concert performer. We heard little of her here in America, but then, I wasn’t looking any more. That dream had passed.

“Solomon,” I began hesitatingly, “I’d like to talk to you about investing in your music store.”

The look on his face was one of astonishment, then a huge smile. “Wonderful, Nick. I’m delighted that you want to become my partner. Let’s find some time that we can sit down and discuss how it will work. Do you have a lawyer? I’ll want you to be confident that it’s a fair agreement for both of us.”

“We have a lawyer we use for the store, so I guess he would be the right guy ... you know ... a business lawyer,” I said.

“Excellent. I really am pleased you’ve come to this decision and I want to make sure that you’re satisfied it’s going to work for you and me both,” he said, the big smile never leaving his face.

We set aside some time on the following Sunday to discuss an agreement in general terms. Solomon was proposing a straight 50-50 partnership, depending on how much I could afford to invest in the business. He had already ordered an appraisal of the business so that we could discuss the actual value of the store along with his “good will.”

We sat down two weeks later and he passed me a copy of the formal appraisal and we began to review it. It included the value of the property, of course, as well as the owned inventory, minus any consignment goods. Attached was a set of the last five years of financial statement that had been submitted with his taxes. The business was profitable, but the profits were showing a slow but steady decline. It would appear that the likely cause was a general decline in volume of sales and a write down on old inventory. There was nothing remarkable about the situation from what I could see. This business needed revitalization and that would be my first of objective.