Page 42 of Made for You

She purrs in response, at least I can manage to keep my foot out of my mouth with one woman.

I’m pulling the tape measurer across the boards when I hear footsteps at the front of the barn. I quickly rush out there, Emma shouldn’t be here for a few hours and no one else should be coming in here.

“Mornin’ Son.”

“Hey Pops, what are you doing out here so early?” Usually he’ll pop by a couple days a week but not 'til the afternoon.

“I really wanted to talk to you before Emma came home. About something kind of important.” He wrings his hands together, nervously.

I’m instantly worried that something is wrong with him or Mom. They’re both slowing down in their older age, but as far as I know, Dad was cleared healthy as can be after his rehab a couple months ago.

“Okay, let’s meet at the inn in 5 minutes? I’ve got to clean up here, and you can grab some coffee and a muffin?”

He nods and leaves the barn toward the inn.

I run back to clean up what I was working on so Midnight doesn’t hurt herself on any of the tools. She never has, but I’m always careful to clean things up before I leave for more than a few minutes.

I make it to the office in record time. Ready to get this conversation over with, and know what’s going on that Pops wanted to get up early to beat Emma here to have a conversation.

I join him at the table, not going to the kitchen first to see Violet like I so desperately want to since I know she’s in there.

“Son, this is important. I want you to listen and not freak out. Promise?”

“Yeah, Pops. What is so wrong?” I fidget with my jacket under the table.

“You need to quit this dream of keeping the inn going. You won’t be able to do it, and I can’t have you buried under my mess.”

I stay quiet, staring at him for a second before I respond. I need to absorb what he’s just said. I thought we were past this mess with him wanting to sell the inn.

“Now, I was contacted by a company, they want to buy the land and the inn. It’s a good price, you could buy a house, and start something you really love.” He keeps talking, but nothing he’s saying is making sense.

“What?” I finally stutter out. “You want me to just give up? After everything we’ve done, everything we want to do, everything we have planned? Pops, Emma is real excited about coming back after college to work with me. I can’t just give it up. We have dreams and plans. This was Granddad's dream. I’m not giving up.”

Pops slams his hands down on the table, causing Violet to pop her head in the door. Our eyes lock and I shake my head once. She looks between us and goes back to the kitchen.

“It’s not a question. You’ve got to. You can’t do this anymore. You can’t afford it. My mistakes will bury ya,” he repeats.

“What mistakes?” Wyatt’s voice comes from behind me.

“Ah hell. Now there’s two of ya.” Dad shakes his head.

“What. Mistakes?” I repeat Wyatt’s question again, slowly.

“Alright, I’m just going to throw it out there. I took out a mortgage on this place years and years ago. I’ve been robbing Peter to pay Paul.” He drops his head in shame.

“What do you mean a mortgage? This inn has been paid off since before Granddad passed away, since before you took ownership. There was nothing about a mortgage when I took over. In any of the paperwork.” I lean forward on the table, Wyatt takes the seat next to me. It would appear it’s us against Pops at this moment.

“I had to. I couldn’t afford to keep the place when you all started going to college. It needed too many repairs. Now that I’ve been in the hospital, I had no one to pay the bill. They’re talkin’ foreclosure.” At least he has the decency to look at me as he says this.

“Does Mom know?” Wyatt asks.

Pops shakes his head, “No one else knows. Just me. And now you two.”

“How much is left on the loan?” I ask.

“A hundred thousand. I’m six thousand behind right now. You won’t be able to make that by Valentine’s Day. You need to take the opportunity. Sell to this company and run with the money before the bank sells it for pennies on the dollar to the same men.” He pleads with me to take this deal he’s offering me as a gift. Except it’s not.

“No. He won’t do that. Liam lives and breathes for this inn, Pops. You know that. How could you do this to him?” Wyatt sticks up for me.

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