Page 108 of Pack Scratch Fever
But I never expectedthis.
“I can’t pay you back now, Dad,” I whisper. “You guys don’t even need the money.”
“It’s not about us needing the money, Piper,” my mom adds sharply. “And it’s not a lawsuit. It’s a payment plan. All you have to do is agree to it, and everything will be fine. We’re doing this for your own good.”
Alvin stares back at me through the glass door, still perched on the counter.
“Why are you doing this to me?” A lump forms in my throat, and my eyes sting.
“Like I said, Piper,” my mom snaps, “you’re twenty-six years old with no degree, and no real job. A cat rescue doesn’t matterin the long run. This will be good for you. We just want the best for you.”
“Honey, you’re wasting your life there,” my dad adds. “The way you’re acting,you’rea waste. And that’s not how we raised you to be.”
Sweat beads on my forehead, and my vision blurs.
“That’s not true,” I argue weakly, my voice pathetic and small. “I’m not a waste.”
“Then stop acting like one,” my mom says.
I can’t afford a payment plan with my parents. That inheritance rightfully belongs to me, but I can’t pay for a lawyer to fight them.
It would be easier just to give them what they want.
I begin to plan.
Blair could get me a job atScents,and even if I just work one or two shifts, maybe that could cover the payments to my parents each month.
“A thousand a month is generous, Piper. We could be asking for a lot more.”
My dad’s voice echoes in the car speakers as my hopes are dashed.
A thousand a month.
It’s impossible to do that.
I catch Blair looking at me, concern on her face. She worries her lip, and I can tell something is wrong.
Whatever call she took upset her.
A thousand a month.
I can’t think. My chest aches, and I wonder if this is the beginning of my first panic attack.
“Piper? Why are you breathing so loud?” my mom demands. “What’s wrong with you?”
I can’t pay them back. Their lawyer will ruin me. I’ll have to quit the rescue.
But then a familiar face enters my vision, and my stomach plummets.
A man with cropped copper hair and thick-rimmed glasses walks into the building carrying a manila envelope, and Blair’s face crumples.
Our property manager is here.
It normally wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But Blair and I have known for a while that the rent here is a steal, and if Chet is coming by unannounced, it’s likely bad news.
My parents are still babbling nonsense about the list of my supposed failures, and I snap.
I end the call without saying goodbye, turn off my car, and stumble through the front door of the rescue.
