It's too late to call Albertsons' bluff, hoping that walking away from this deal will result in Albertsons coming back to offer 35% or 40% of the combined company to Rite Aid shareholders. There's also little reason to believe that the now-smaller Rite Aid will fare any better in the future than when it had 1,932 more stores. The naysayers may win next week's showdown, but Rite Aid will only be that much more desperate to sniff out a new exit strategy.