A Woman in Search Of...

The next afternoon Lori called. She found a building in Santa Monica about two miles from the Pacific Ocean. The place used to be a furniture store. Wendy wrote down the address and Lori said she could meet her there later in the afternoon.

According to Lori’s information the old furniture store stood one hundred and eighty feet long and seventy feet wide. It sounded like a perfect size for the nursery.

The drive to Santa Monica was only twenty minutes from Wendy’s house with the stunning beach and ocean on her left. The drive calmed her as she admired the ocean view when stopped at signals. Wendy hoped the building would be some place she could love and work with. She also knew Santa Monica was prime real estate, so Wendy’s sense of confidence in her ability to afford a place in this area made her leery.

She found the address and pulled into a parking lot. Right in front of her there was a small eatery with benches for outdoor eating. She pulled her car to the left where the empty furniture store stood. The rest of the area lay vacant. Lori emerged from her car and came toward Wendy. Lori dressed in a suit, looking very business-like. The two women acknowledged each other and turned to scrutinize the building.

“What do ya think, Wendy?”

“From the outside, it looks wonderful. I like the shingled roof, but what’s it like inside?”

“Why don’t we go see.”

Lori unlocked the door and they both entered. They moved around to scrutinize the inside.

The entire interior was left a mess with discarded items left on the ground including parts of a broken table. Damaged walls were obvious where hanging items or shelves for displays might have been. The very long rectangle shape impressed Wendy. They stepped to the closest end, near the entrance, where Wendy saw an office with a public bathroom sign to the side of it. She liked the fair size office. A counter in front of the office allowed room for a register, and anything else she might need. They ambled to the other end of the building and looked around, just empty space. Moving to the middle of the building they needed to step over some crushed asphalt that needed replacing.

“Well, Wendy?”

Wendy raised her hands and turned around indicating the whole area where she stood. “I love it. It has wonderful possibilities. I can already picture some of what I want to do here.” She looked around the ground. “I can also see it needs a lot of work.” She stared up at the concrete walls. “Some of the walls need to be repaired, definitely a new paint job, and a lot of clean up from all the junk lying around. I’ll need more light…to wake up the place. I think a glass ceiling might be great, lots of light with a lattice covering below, so the sun doesn’t burn the plants. But I love its location. I don’t think you need to look any further; I’ll take it. Well…if I can afford it. How much?”

Lori opened the folder she carried, “$65,000.”