I’d say it’ll take a few weeks to refurbish the place, work out the menus….”
“Menus?” Brady had served microwave nachos, popcorn and beer nuts. You didn’t need a menu for the basics. “You’re going to change Brady’s?”
“Brady’s is not going to be Brady’s.” And a big smile spread across her face, dispelling the polite, almost icy mask she’d been wearing and transforming her into an angel. Tony was so entranced with how she looked he almost missed what she said next. “It’s going to be Belinda’s.”
“Belinda’s…Bar?” he asked warily.
“Belinda’s is going to be the coolest tearoom in all of Dallas.”
Julie gathered that sexy Tony Veracruz was not happy with her announcement. He stared, his jaw hanging open, for several seconds as he processed her news.
Lord, he was gorgeous. Those well-defined cheekbones, that smooth olive skin and brown eyes a girl could drown in. Funny, she’d always thought her ex-fiancé, with his aristocratic clean-cut blond handsomeness, was the best-looking guy around. But Tony’s earthier looks struck a chord deep inside her.
When he’d said she was pretty, the compliment had given her heart palpitations. But how silly was that? He probably told a half-dozen women a day they were pretty.
“Did you say…?” Tony’s voice trailed off.
“Yes, isn’t it great? I’m turning Brady’s into a tearoom.”
“On Jefferson Street?”
“The perfect place, don’t you think? Oak Cliff is in the middle of a renaissance. I see revitalization all around us. The historic district is right across the street. Those mansions in Kessler Park are only a mile away. Then there’s the Bishop Arts district—lots of sophisticated restaurants and bars going in there.” She was using all the same arguments she had used to convince her parents to okay this venture, though truthfully they hadn’t cared much what she did with Brady’s so long as it brought in some cash.
The moment she’d seen the place, despite its coat of grime, the thought had flashed into her mind: Julie Polk, owner and manager of the classiest tearoom in town. Wouldn’t Trey be surprised? When she’d given him back his ring, he’d told her she would never make anything of herself without his help. But she was going to show him and his whole family how wrong they were.
Besides, she also wanted to transform Brady’s into Belinda’s for herself. After her disastrous broken engagement, she needed something she could call her own; something no one could take away from her.
She resumed counting beer mugs. They were nice, heavy glass ones, and she could use them as iced-tea glasses. Almost everything else would have to go, though. She’d been doing a quick-and-dirty inventory since she and Belinda had arrived this morning, and the results were depressing.
“But Brady’s is a neighborhood institution,” Tony argued. “You can’t close it for good.”
“I don’t really have a choice,” she said practically. “I know absolutely nothing about running a bar. I do, however, know a great deal about managing a tearoom.” She’d spent a year as manager of Lochinvar’s, the oh-so-tony tearoom inside Bailey-Davidson’s, the upscale department store owned by her ex-fiancé’s family.
Belinda’s was going to be much cooler than Lochinvar’s, which had been around for fifty years and attracted mostly older matrons. Belinda’s was going to bring in the younger women, the rich hipsters who frequented Hattie’s and Caribe in Bishop Arts—the ones who knew Oak Cliff was the cool place to be, the ones who thought Deep Ellum was just a bit too grungy and Highland Park too stuffy.
“But Brady’s is a gold mine,” Tony argued, following her along his side of the bar as she moved to count the next shelf of glasses. “It’s packed most nights with hard-drinking men and women who buy lots of beer.”
“What a charming picture. Anyway, I’ve looked at the books. The place might have been crowded, but the customers weren’t spending enough money. Brady’s profits were way down. There’s almost no money in the accounts either.”
That didn’t surprise Tony. “Brady spent it as fast as he could make it. He was a soft touch. He gave money away to any hard-luck story that came his way. He even hosted free Thanksgiving dinners for the homeless.”
“He did?” Julie was surprised. According to her mother, Brady had never done anything that didn’t directly benefit Brady. “That sounds so nice.”
“You didn’t know him?”
“Not really. Anyway, the point is, the books don’t lie.” She’d been taking classes at community college with an eye toward a degree in business management. She knew a bit about accounting. “Brady’s was barely breaking even.”
“Okay, so maybe the place isn’t a gold mine. Yet. But with the right management skills…” He looked pointedly at Julie.
“I’ve done the research. The demographics are changing. A more upscale establishment on this street will be cutting-edge. Belinda’s should be extremely profitable, even with the investments I’ll have to make to refurbish the place.” Julie was counting on some quick profits. Clever Belinda, with her perfect SAT scores, was going to attend an Ivy League university. And since the Davidsons had withdrawn their pledge to finance Belinda’s education, it was up to Julie to figure out how to pay the staggering tuition by next fall, only a year away.
Even though Belinda was certain to get some sort of scholarship, there would still be huge expenses. And her parents couldn’t contribute anything. They could barely take care of their own bills.
The real-estate agent had told Julie it could take months or even years to sell Brady’s for a fair price. And all the mortgages and liens Brady had on the building would eat up the proceeds from any purchase.
Opening the tearoom was a much better idea. She could sell everything—and there were some collectibles tucked in and around Brady’s, like the cigar-store Indian and the vintage pinball machines and neon signs. With the proceeds and her own little nest egg, she could transform this place into a posh yet cozy oasis that would provide her and her family with income for years to come.
Eventually, she would have to pay off Brady’s creditors. Fortunately, however, they’d been willing to work out terms when she’d explained she wanted to get the place back in business.
Julie had done the math. She really could manage this.
“You can’t do this,” Tony said. “Please, Julie, I’m begging you. You’ll be destroying a piece of Oak Cliff history.”
Julie stopped counting beer mugs. She kept losing track, and who could blame her when this gorgeous man was distracting her? She wondered exactly what he’d be willing to do to get her to change her mind, then immediately banished the thought. She’d broken her engagement less than a month ago. She was still reeling over her fiancé’s betrayal and the astounding realization that he and his whole family had expected her to brush his indiscretion under the rug. She had no business letting sexy Tony Veracruz heat up her blood.
“Mr. Veracruz, look around you.”
He did. “Yeah?”
“This
