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“David?”
“Hm?” David poked his head into the back of the store. “What’s wrong?” Patrick was using his worried voice, so he was trying not to panic.
“Come here for a sec,” Patrick said, staring at his computer. David joined Patrick at the table and stared at him, waiting for an explanation.
“Remember Alex?” Patrick asked, and pointed to the screen, where he had a spreadsheet open. “I think he’s scamming us.” David’s heart dropped, as visions of Revenue storming his family’s mansion and taking everything from them played in his mind.
"What?" David shook his head, trying to dislodge those unpleasant thoughts along with the lump in his throat and asked, “Are you sure?”
“I’m almost positive. These numbers just aren’t adding up. He’s been sending us fewer and fewer products, but still charging us the same price for them, which goes against the contract we have with him.” Patrick’s eyebrows knitted together as he’d scrolled through the spreadsheet. “The first month, I thought it had just been a mistake, so I called him up and asked him to correct it. He promised that he would, but then never did, and now this is the third month he’s reduced the number of products that he’s sent us.” He looked up at David seriously. “I think it’s time that we end his contract.”
David reared his head back. In their five years of running the Apothecary, they had never had a hostile vendor break-up. In all of his years of running his art galleries, David had never cut off an artist, no matter how annoying they were to work with. He prided himself on his vendor relationships, so he almost felt like it would be a personal failing to cut Alex off like that.
“Let’s not jump to the nuclear option just yet,” David said carefully. “Maybe there’s an actual reason for the reduction in products? Like, I don’t know, maybe a bunch of the sheep died so he doesn’t have enough wool to make the clothes anymore.” That had sounded more plausible in his head.
“Really, David? I think he would have told us if half his sheep died.” Patrick looked unimpressed. “I would understand if the reductions were just in the number of sweaters or blankets, but he’s not even giving us the right number of socks. Those take just a few hours to make for someone that experienced, and require much less wool.”
“Since when did you know so much about knitting?” David asked, intrigued.
“My mom’s knitting club. She talks about it constantly, so I’ve picked a few things up. She also sent me a few patterns to try out.” Patrick said dismissively. David perked up, absolutely in love with the idea of watching Patrick try to learn how to knit.
“The point is, there really isn’t an excuse for his behavior. I’ve tried reaching out to him multiple times this week, and he’s just been ignoring my calls, so I don’t think the issue is something fixable. I think he just thinks he can get away with scamming us.”
“Don’t we screen our vendors so stuff like this wouldn’t happen?” David asked.
Patrick looked annoyed now. “Vendor relations and screening are your job, David. I’m the finance guy, and I’m telling you what I’m seeing: the numbers just don’t add up.”
David pursed his lips. He still thought that Patrick was making this into a bigger deal than it needed to be, but he understood why he was worried. Plus, Patrick was right. Vendor relations were David’s area of expertise, so if there was a mistake, it would be his fault and he’d be responsible for fixing it.
“Okay,” David replied. “I get what you’re saying, and I’ll go out and talk to him tomorrow, so we can figure out what’s going on.”
“Wait, what? Alone?”
“Yeah?” David replied, feeling off-kilter. “Why?”
“I don’t know, David.” Patrick replied. “I don’t like the idea of you being alone with him, especially if things go sour.”
“What, do you think he’s going to attack me or something?” David asked incredulously. “Patrick, you’re making this a way bigger thing than it needs to be. And you’re just assuming the absolute worst of him.”
“Breach of contract is a serious thing, and something that we could technically sue him for,” Patrick pointed out. “I don’t think he’s going to attack you, but I also don’t think you should go alone, just in case.”
“Just in case of what?”
“I don’t know, David, just in case!” Patrick sighed. “I think we should just call a lawyer and have them deal with this.” David felt slightly hurt. Patrick had just said vendor relations were his job, but it didn’t seem like he trusted him enough to let David do it.
“No, that’s far too expensive and this is literally my job. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”
“It’s actually not too expensive,” Patrick pointed out, “Our profits have almost tripled since we opened that store in Elmdale, so we can easily afford to hire a lawyer, especially for something this cut and dry. I really think we should go for it.”
“Okay, no.” David said firmly. “You’re jumping the gun with this, and I’m worried it’s not going to work out in your favor. Remember the bathroom incident? When you were convinced that Ronnie was dragging her feet to make more money off of us or something like that? And now she still hates you?”
Patrick’s cheeks heated at the mention of Ronnie, and he ducked his head. “Whatever, David. Ignore my advice and just do whatever you think is best, then.” He snapped his laptop shut and threw it into his bag. “I’m going to lunch. You’re not invited.”
David almost gasped in outrage. He stood up and said, “Fine. I don’t want to have lunch with you, anyway. In fact, you know what?” David checked the time and was gratified to see that it was still early enough for him to make this next point. “I’m just gonna head over to the farm today, and figure out what’s going on, by myself. It’ll probably turn out to be a mistake, and then you’ll be apologizing to me.”
“That’s definitely going to happen, David. But we can’t both leave the store right now, and it’s technically my lunch break, so…”
David sat back down. “Fine, I guess I’ll just sit here for 30 minutes while you galavant around Schitt’s Creek, neglecting your work duties.”
“I’m going to the Cafe next door and I’ll be back in five minutes, tops. I can eat here since you’re leaving anyway,” Patrick replied, and shuffled towards the door.
David pressed his lips together. He was not going to ask Patrick to get him anything because Patrick was being a jerk. He was strong enough to resist. But also, he hadn’t eaten for almost two whole hours. “Patrick?” he asked, right when Patrick was about to close the door.
He stuck his head back in, an irritated expression on his face. “What, David? What do you want now?”
“Are you still getting me a sandwich?” David asked plaintively.
Patrick sighed heavily, but David could see the corners of his mouth turn up. “Of course I am.”
David preened, but as soon as the door closed, he remembered that he was still mad and yelled, “Wait, don’t think that this means you’re right!” Patrick flipped him off and continued walking.
David was having second thoughts. Alex’s farm was almost two hours away, it was over a hundred degrees today, and David had worn a sweater. Why did he do these things to himself?
He’d messaged Alex that he was paying him a visit, but hadn’t received an answer. David was reconsidering whether this was the best day to have this conversation, especially since he hadn’t really thought out what he wanted to say, and whether it was acceptable to show up uninvited like this, but he was literally standing on Alex’s doorstep, so it was a probably little too late to back out now.
He knocked on the door and shoved his hands into his pockets. Everything was fine! He was just going to have a normal conversation with one of his vendors. The door opened, and David looked up to see Alex standing there and sizing him up.
“Hi?” Alex said, looking confused.
“Hey, Alex! I texted you earlier about how I wanted to have a quick chat about some of your products, I’m not sure if you got it.”
Alex pulled out his phone and squinted at it. “Ah, so you did. I’m sorry, David, I must have missed it. Is this urgent?”
“A little, yeah. I wouldn’t have driven two hours to get here if it wasn’t!” David laughed awkwardly. He was off to a great start.
“Well then, come on in, I guess.” Alex said hesitantly, and closed the door after him. “Would you like some tea or coffee?”
“Some coffee would be nice, yeah.” David sat down on the sofa and wrung his hands together until Alex walked back in with two cups. He placed one on the table near David, and sat down with the other one still in his hands.
“So.” Alex asked, “What’s up? Is there some kind of problem?”
“Um, I wouldn’t say there’s a problem?” David replied, his voice going up. “It’s more of a misunderstanding, really.”
“Okay.”
David fumbled with his bag and pulled out Alex’s contract. “We just noticed some product and payment discrepancies. For the past three months, you’ve been sending us fewer and fewer products, but continued charging us the same amount for them.”
David looked up, but Alex looked unfazed and just nodded. He continued, “Our contract clearly states that payment would be proportional to the supply of products you send us, and that you have to inform us if you will be unable to supply what you’ve promised.”
Alex held up a hand and stopped him before he could continue. “Okay, I think I know what this is about. You’re mad because I decided to pull out of supplying the store.” David wrinkled his eyebrows, very confused. What?
“I’m sorry?”
“Yeah, I just don’t think that the Apothecary is the right place for my products.” What was this man even talking about?
David was now quite off-kilter, but still tried to give a confident reply with this new information. “While I understand and respect that decision, I’m a little confused as to why you’re deciding to pull out now, especially since we have a six month contract. There’s a pretty steep fine for breaking the contract before then.”
Alex shrugged. “Well, I haven’t broken the contract, have I? I’m still supplying the store.”
“Well, there’s still a breach of contract, since you didn't tell us you were reducing your supply. I also don’t recall you informing us of your decision to pull out. I know my partner has been trying to contact you for a while, so it’s strange that I didn’t hear about this.”
“Yeah, so I actually already spoke to him about this.” Alex said. Okay, so now he was clearly lying, wonderful. Why was Patrick always right?
“I don’t recall him telling me about that conversation,” David replied, a little acerbically.
Alex scoffed. “Maybe he didn’t tell you, because he didn’t think he needed to. After all, you are just a pretty face for the brand.” What. The fuck. This conversation was taking an unexpected and entirely unwelcome turn.
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, I’m just saying it like it is, David. We all know who really runs your business.” Alex replied nonchalantly. He looked at the watch on his wrist and said, “Are we done here? I have a date to get to.” Wow. Okay, David was done being nice. Who did this man think he was?
David stood up angrily. “Yeah, we’re done. You're incredibly disrespectful, and should be expecting a call from our lawyers soon.” Okay, probably a lawyer, singular, but that didn’t sound as threatening.
“Sure, David,” Alex dismissed him and pulled out his phone.
David marched to the door, but couldn’t resist a parting shot as he left. “Oh, and one more thing: your house looks and smells exactly as I would expect the house of a middle-aged bachelor who thinks its okay to wear corduroy and denim together to look and smell like. I’d suggest not bringing your date here if you want them to stick around.”
David was halfway home before the anger wore off and the guilt kicked him. He was the one who’d brought Alex on. How had he missed that he was trying to con them? More importantly, did his other vendors also just see him as a pretty face? Maybe David really was a useless figurehead and the only reason his business hadn’t tanked was because Patrick was keeping it afloat single-handedly. David wouldn’t have even known that there was a problem with their inventory, if Patrick hadn’t said something. What kind of business owner would miss something that important?
David continued along that train of thought the rest of the way home. By the time he’d gotten back to the cottage, he’d started doing breathing exercises to try and stave off a panic attack. He pulled into the garage and rested his head on the steering wheel, steeling himself to go in and tell Patrick about how he fucked up.
David walked into the living room to see Patrick sitting on the sofa, watching something on the TV.
“Nice of you to finally join me,” Patrick said dismissively. When he didn't get a reply, Patrick looked up, saw David’s face crumple, and his entire demeanor softened in apology. “David, I didn’t mean that! Sweetheart, come here, what’s wrong?” Patrick turned off the TV and made room for David on the sofa. Once David sat down, Patrick picked up his legs, put them in his lap, and wrapped his arms around him, enveloping David in his warm, familiar scent.
“You were right,” David sniffled, trying not to cry. “Alex doesn’t want to supply the store anymore.”
“Okay,” Patrick said slowly, “Why is that making you so upset, honey?” He stroked a hand through David’s hair, absolutely ruining his hairstyle, but David couldn’t bring himself to care.
“Because this is my fault! Like you said, vendor relations are my job, so it’s my responsibility to make sure our suppliers are happy.”
“David, why did he say he wanted to pull out of the store?”
David blinked back tears. “I’m not sure. He didn’t actually say why.”
“You didn’t ask?”
“Well, I didn’t get the chance to! He started talking about how he’d already talked to you about it and how-”
Patrick interrupted, “He did not talk to me about it. I’ve been trying to get a hold of him for weeks, so I don’t know why he’d say that.”
“Yeah, well, he said he talked to you about it, and when I said I hadn’t heard about that, he said that it’s not like you would have told me anyway, since I’m just ‘a pretty face’ and you’re the one who really runs our business.” David said, with air quotes in the appropriate places. He was still a little sniffly but he’d calmed down a bit, now that he’d gotten everything out.
“He said what?” Patrick growled out. “Who does he think he is?”
David just shrugged. “David,” Patrick began, “You don’t actually believe any of what he said, right?”
David shrugged again. Patrick grasped David’s face and turned it towards him. “Okay, listen to me. You built Rose Apothecary from the ground up. You’ve put your heart and soul into this store, and there’s no way you could think otherwise.” Patrick hugged him tightly. “You do so much, sweetheart. All I do is take care of the books and make sure you don’t spend an outlandish amount of money on unnecessary decorations.”
David let out a wet laugh, knowing exactly what Patrick was referring to. “Those bats were seasonally appropriate and perfect with our color scheme.”
“They also cost ten thousand dollars each! And you wanted four of them!” Patrick exclaimed and then shook his head. “My point is that you’re the reason our store has been so successful. There’s no question about it.” David nodded, and silently promised himself that he’d try to internalize what Patrick was saying.
“I think I’m just a little shaken up over this because we’ve never had a vendor do anything like this before. Sure, they come and go, but we’ve always had amicable ends to our contracts.” David explained.
Patrick looked at him pointedly. “And do you know why that is?” David shook his head.
“Because of you, dummy.” Patrick poked his forehead. Ow. “You’re so selective and careful about our vendors and so good at picking them and talking to them that we’ve literally never had problems for the five years we’ve been open. Do you know how impressive that is?” David bit his lip, hiding a smile. He hadn’t thought of it that way.
“I guess that makes sense. I wish I’d clocked Alex earlier, though.”
“Yeah, about that. I was asking around, and I don’t think we’re the first store he’s done this with. Do you remember Wendy, from the Blouse Barn?” Patrick asked.
“Of course.” She was sort of hard to forget, considering she’d been the first person to take a chance on him. And then he’d run her business into the ground but also got her three million dollars, so it had really been a win-win for everybody.
“Well, I heard that she tried to start up a new clothing business, and asked Alex to be a contractor. He always delivered on time and was the perfect gentleman for the first couple months, but eventually stopped supplying her all together. He still hasn’t paid her back, so she hired a lawyer.”
“I’m so glad she got actual legal advice from a real, legal lawyer instead of having Alexis and me dress up as lawyers like last time.” David laughed.
“Wait, what?”
“I’ll tell you about it later. Anyways, go on.”
Patrick looked at him weirdly, but continued, “Well, since you know her, I was wondering if you could talk to her and have her lawyer represent us too. I’m sure he’d be open to it, considering it would only strengthen his case.”
David hadn’t seen Wendy since that fiasco with Jilbert. He would never understand how Wendy hadn’t realized that a DJ named Jilbert who lived in his mom’s house at the age of fifty was a walking red flag. “I guess I could. It would be nice to catch up with her life, and see what other horrible men she’s dating.”
“You know, David, you’re weirdly good at becoming friends with late-middle-aged women,” Patrick mused. What is it about you?”
“Um, thanks?” David replied. “It’s my stunning good looks and amazing personality, obviously.”
“Actually, now that I think about it, it’s definitely your modesty.”
“That too.”