Page 97 of Edge

“Oh, I’m definitely going to reopen. I just haven’t decided where that will be yet.”

I exhaled in relief. “If it was easier, I’d get up and hug you!”

She gave me a strange look. “You sound like you were worried.”

“I was. I didn’t want to pester you, but not knowing what you were going to do was driving me crazy.”

Her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “You still want to work at the diner?”

Her reaction wasn’t what I expected, and I suddenly felt unsure of my answer. “Yes, if that’s okay.”

“Oh, honey, it’s perfectly fine. I assumed you’d want to go back to being a phlebotomist once you’re all healed.”

“I thought about it, but I really like working at the diner. Even with everything going on, I was much happier there than I ever was at the hospital.”

She smiled softly. “Well, you’ll have a job and a place to live when I reopen, regardless of where that is.”

“Thank you,” I breathed. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Just knowing she was going to reopen was enough for me. I didn’t need to know all the details. “Is there anything I can help with?”

“Actually, yes, there is. I need to see what commercial properties are available in Croftridge. There’s no point in considering Croftridge if I can’t find a good place for the diner. You can help me look for properties online if you want. I should probably look at some residential properties, too.”

“There are several vacant houses on the farm. If you can’t find something you like, you can always stay in one of those until you do find something,” Byte said.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I’m happy to help you search, but I don’t know what I’m looking for,” I told her.

“Preferably something in town or close to it, with an existing building around the same size as the one in Cedar Valley. It doesn’t matter what kind of business was previously there. Pretty much anything can be gutted and transformed into a diner.”

“Couldn’t a real estate agent help with this?” Edge asked.

“Yes, but I’m not ready for that yet,” Irene said. “I want to see what’s out there first.”

With that, we started scouring the internet for commercial properties in Croftridge. It was refreshing to have something purposeful to do. By dinner time, I had a list of several properties I wanted to show Irene.

“I think this one is promising,” I said and passed the laptop Byte had loaned me to her.

“You’re right. And I wouldn’t have to do a lot of renovating since it used to be a restaurant. But I wonder why it closed.”

“Let me see,” Byte said and looked at the listing on the screen. “Oh, if I remember correctly, that place closed when the owner passed away. His kids weren’t interested in running it, so they closed it and put the property up for sale.”

“How long was it open?”

“I’m not sure. It was open when I moved to Croftridge, so at least twenty years. Do you want me to find out when it opened?”

“No, that’s not necessary. If it was around for over twenty years, that tells me location and accessibility weren’t an issue.”

“It’s in a great location,” Edge added. “It’s downtown, but not in the middle, so traffic isn’t an issue, and it’s not far off the exit ramp, so you can catch highway traffic as well.”

“Sounds like you know something about business locations,” I said.

He shrugged. “Not really. I remember eating there with my family not long after it opened. The owner came over to talk to my dad, and that’s what he said about the location.”

“It seems like a great location, but it’s been on the market for a while,” Irene said. “I wonder if there’s a reason why.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“It could be anything from ridiculously high taxes to a problem with mold,” Irene said.