Owen's suggestion came at a time of perfect weakness. It didn't take much convincing. That very afternoon, Burt Solare accepted his new partner's proposal. After that, everything happened in a blur.
There were trucks and buildings-at Burt's insistence, confined to the woods on the other side of his land. Owen had underestimated the number of people they would need to hire. The employees numbered in the dozens at the Lubec plant alone. Soon the cacophony of the outer world began to intrude on Burt's rural life.
Within two years, Lubec Springs water blanketed the East Coast. In five it had exploded nationally. The next year the tidal wave spilled into the international market.
By the time his fiftieth birthday rolled around, the solitary existence Burt had longed for was long gone. Rather than remain the silent partner he had hoped, Burt had taken an active role in the growth of the business. The success of Lubec Springs was largely due to the advertising skills he had developed in New York. But, as had happened in New York, Burt's health suffered in inverse proportion to the health of his business.
He was fifty-five now. Rich several times over.
And with a gnawing wound in his gut that refused to surrender to all the medications he poured into it. For Burt it was finally enough.
For the second time in his life, he was going to chuck it all. He'd sell his home, his land and his interest in Lubec Springs. He would move farther up into the wilds of Maine, and if success came sniffing at his door this time, he'd shoot it, bury it and move to Canada. Hell, he'd take a dogsled to the North Pole if he had to. This time enough was absolutely, unequivocally enough.
The decision had been made a few days before. It was now just a matter of summoning the strength to tell Owen.
When he had first moved up to Lubec more than a decade earlier, the only twisting path through these woods was his own long driveway. Now a half mile from his house was an electronically controlled gate. On the other side was another road, this one paved.