Chapter 7 - THE CLEAN OFFER
Patricia’s revised offer included:
$1.47 million purchase price.
Closing after permanent temporary-housing transition.
Cross pays seller closing costs.
Sixty days post-closing occupancy.
Moving allowance.
No future Cross townhouse purchase tie.
No confidentiality clause about the dispute.
Samuel Price called it:
“aggressive but commercially respectable.”
Emily hated hearing that.
Then Judith asked:
“Is it enough?”
Samuel said:
“That is not a legal question.”
Then Alan asked:
“Would you take it?”
Samuel smiled.
“Also not my decision.”
Healthy professional boundaries irritated everyone.
Then Patricia explained why she raised price.
The grant reduced urgency.
The easement alternative gave the Hawthornes leverage.
If Cross wanted full control, it had to pay.
Market changed after information changed.
That was exactly what should have happened from the beginning.
Then Daniel’s role in Cross was suspended pending internal review.
Patricia did this herself.
Why?
Conflict problem.
Not moral awakening.
Lenders and minority investors had learned the project coordinator was simultaneously a family representative for the seller-side household.
Bad governance.
Daniel was moved to:
general operations,
no Crestview authority.
His bonus tied to Crestview was removed from calculations.
He lost the potential $72,000.
Real consequence.
Then he told Emily:
“I’m angry.”
“About what?”
“Losing the bonus.”
Emily nodded.
He continued:
“And I know why I lost it.”
No:
because you exposed me.
Progress.
Then Patricia asked to meet Emily alone.
Emily almost refused.
Then accepted in a lawyer’s conference room.
Patricia said:
“I still think your parents should sell.”
“I know.”
“I still think the easement is inferior.”
“I know.”
“I should not have threatened their safety.”
Emily waited.
Then:
“I should have said Cross would stop subsidizing a service and they would need another provider.”
“Yes.”
“I wanted the sentence to frighten you.”
“Yes.”
No euphemism.
Then Emily asked:
“Why?”
Patricia answered:
“Because Daniel was losing control of the negotiation.”
Emily stared.
“Not his negotiation.”
Patricia nodded.
“I know that now.”
Then Emily said:
“No. You knew then.”
Patricia smiled sadly.
“Yes.”
Better.
Then Patricia surprised her.
“I also came because Daniel told me you’re considering divorce.”
Emily did not respond.
Then:
“I am not going to ask you to stay.”
That was unexpected.
Patricia said:
“If you stay because I ask, I will have proved your point.”
Then she stood.
No manipulation.
At the door she paused.
“I will ask one thing.”
Emily waited.
“Do not make Daniel’s worst fifteen minutes the only thing he ever is.”
Emily answered:
“I won’t.”
Patricia looked relieved.
Then Emily added:
“But he has to live with what those fifteen minutes revealed.”
Patricia nodded.
Fair.
Then the Hawthorne permanent-repair bids arrived.
Lowest qualified:
$498,000.
Higher than hoped.
Grant:
$180,000.
Loan:
$140,000.
Net:
$178,000 plus contingency.
If easement sold:
more than covered.
Then Judith said:
“I want the easement.”
Alan said:
“I want the sale.”
Deadlock.
They had to resolve not Patricia versus Emily.
May you like
Husband versus wife.
That was harder.
