Page 20 of Outcast
Okay, yes, I did! I liked it a lot! But I have so much work.
Allison:
Meet me for lunch. We’ll gush properly.
Emory:
And start up more gossip that we’re desperately in love?
Allison:
Screw it. Better yet, screw Gray and let people think what they want.
My heart lurched. I liked Gray. He was gorgeous, in an edgy, bad-boy sort of way. Though he’d most definitely been the good guy Saturday night. I’d felt safe with him. Butscrewhim? Judging by my reaction to Dallas’s fondling, I was so not ready to jump into the deep end.
I needed to wade into my sexuality, adjust to the new temperature, before I tried to swim.
But…
I really,reallywould love to swim with Gray. Once I could take off my floaties and be a big boy, that was.
I confirmed lunch plans with Allison, then forced myself to open the first file folder and get to work.
The Morrisons were six payments behind on their business loan. My heart sank. The loan had allowed Jerkers, an old-school soda shop, to revive a closed-down business that had been a historic part of Riverton for decades.
No. We had to get them back on track. I dashed a quick note onto a Post-it.Historic grant, community foundation? Fundraiser opportunity? We need to save this place!
I set the folder aside and opened the next one. The foreclosure. Fuck. There was no saving this situation.
With a heavy heart, I picked up the phone and delivered the bad news. Marie Garza took it about as well as could be expected.
“We really tried,” she said. “Times have been so hard.”
“I’m really sorry it’s come to this. Our hands are tied on this one because of the underwriting.”
“Oh, honey, I know you all did what you could.” She sighed. “Jasper got laid off. We’ve reached out to a bankruptcy lawyer. He told us we might actually end up better off.” She gave a sad laugh. “Isn’t that just a sad state of affairs? I wanted to be responsible, keep paying, but with one step, we can be debt-free. It’s too late to save the house, of course, but my mama’s got space for us until we get on our feet. I sure didn’t want this to happen, but it’s almost a relief to be at the end of the road.”
Damn. She was so matter-of-fact about losing her home. It almost made me sadder that she accepted it so easily.
“Good luck. If we can do anything for you in the future…”
“Honey, my credit will be shit,” she said with a laugh.
“You’ll rebuild it,” I said as Allison stepped into the doorway. “We’ll do what we can to help you with that, Mrs. Garza.”
“Oh, call me Marie. Gosh. I’m not your mother!”
“Okay, Marie. Take care.” I set down the receiver with a sigh and glanced at the clock. I’d gotten so caught up that I’d lost track of the time. “Sorry. I guess it’s lunchtime already, huh?”
“Yeah. How wasMarie?” she teased. “You keep charming all the ladies and gossip about us won’t be your only problem.”
“Ha. Funny. Ladies aren’t really on my mind today.”
She smirked. “I bet not. Let’s go stuff our faces and talk about your cute little crush.”
“Hmm, yeah. Let’s go to Jerkers, okay?”
I should give them the news face-to-face, but that wasn’t why I wanted to go. I’d been craving a burger and shake ever since I came across their file. Just one more reason I needed to save the dang place. I grabbed the Post-it note I’d written for Allison so I’d remember to ask her about it and stood.
