Page 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Emory

I watched the coffeemaker, hoping it would hurry the hell up. My cousin, Shayla, raised an eyebrow at my tapping foot.

“Uncle Jim is looking for you.”

“I know.”

“He told me to send you his way if I saw you.” The coffeemaker finally started streaming pale brown liquid into my cousin’s owl-shaped mug. “So…have I seen you?”

I grimaced. “At least let me have some coffee first.”

I already knew Dad wanted to meet about the Forrester situation. The same one I had made no progress on because I was stalling for time.

My stomach twisted uncomfortably. He wouldn’t be happy I was dragging my feet.

But you don’t live to please him in every way. Right?

Shayla picked up her mug and sipped her dark coffee. Finally, I could open the top of the maker and pop in my own pod. So bad for the environment. Grandpa was right. An old-school coffeepot would be better. Plus, I could grab a cup of coffee without standing around waiting to be?—

“Emory!” Dad called from the doorway. “Let’s talk when you’re done here.”

Busted.

I turned, smiling weakly. “You got it.”

Shayla shook her head. “You look so stressed. I don’t get it. You’ve got the dream job. You work for Uncle Jim, who’s a teddy bear if I ever met one. I’d love to do your job.”

I’d love for you to do it.

“You’re a natural at marketing,” I said instead. “Which reminds me, could you set up a sponsorship for my class reunion? With me being involved, it won’t look right if we don’t contribute.”

“Sure, but stop stalling.” She waved to my coffee cup, now brimming with amber liquid. “You’ve got very important work to do.”

I didn’t miss her little eye roll. Shayla was great at her job—but she’d always been a little jealous of my place here. If she knew how much I’d love to hand her my job, she’d probably be more annoyed. She was so perfectly suited to this business, and yet, I was the one who’d own it one day.

I grabbed my cup and took a quick sip of my bland French vanilla brew. “You’re important too, Shay. You do great work here.”

“Really?” She seemed surprised by the compliment.

“Yes. You’re amazing at wrangling all those campaigns,” I said. “I’ll catch you later about that sponsorship, okay?”

She nodded. “Sure. You know where to find me.”

I carried my coffee to my office, but Dad was already there, waiting.

“You’re not in your office,” I said, trying not to sound as if I’d been planning to hide a bit longer.

“No. I figured I’d come to you since we keep missing each other this morning.”

“Okay, sure.” I rounded my desk to sit. “I know you’re wondering about the Forrester foreclosure.”

“I am.”

I hesitated. “I met with Holden and his brother Gray. They’re working really hard to bring this business back from the dead.”

Dad sighed. “It’s too bad Mr. Forrester put them in this position.”

I seized on that. “Yes! I mean, surely we can do something for them. You’re always saying how banking is about investing in your community.”

He shook his head. “We gave Mr. Forrester all the chances we could afford, Emory. This is the result of a long deferral.”

“I know, but?—”

“File the paperwork,” he said brusquely, turning toward the door.

He stopped short to see Janine smiling apologetically while four men hovered behind her.

“What is this?” Dad blurted, sounding almost angry.

“Sorry, Mr. Gold, but these young men wanted to meet with Emory about their debt. They said it was urgent.”

Dad stepped back. “It’s more appropriate to make an appointment.”

Holden stepped forward, face set in tight, grim lines. “Sorry, sir. We felt time was of the essence.”

Holden held out his hand, and Dad shook it. Interesting. I’d noticed Holden never offered to shake my hand. I’d just figured he was too blue-collar to think about those sorts of business niceties.

Well, he was on his best behavior today. He shook Dad’s hand, then waved his brothers forward, introducing each of them.

“This is Gray, Axel, and Bailey.”

Dad shook each of their hands as they came into the room. “You brought the whole gang.”

“This impacts our whole family,” Holden explained. “We’re not trying to intimidate anyone. I just wanted my brothers to hear it straight from Emory.” He paused. “Or…whoever will make the final decision?”

Dad retreated behind my desk to stand at my shoulder. I stood up so everyone wasn’t towering over me.

“The decision has been made, I’m afraid,” Dad said. “Emory’s visit with you was a courtesy.”

I glanced at Gray, stomach in knots. I didn’t want to give up on them, but Dad had made up his mind. I wasn’t sure how much more I could do.

I’d hoped to find an alternative solution to paying the debt all at once—or at least some additional time. In some cases, that was possible. But this particular case was messy because Mr. Forrester had already exploited every loophole.

Gray looked me up and down, then winked as a small smile curled his lips. My face instantly heated, thinking of the last time I’d seen him.

The way I’d kissed him, bossed him around—at least until he took charge in bed. I’d felt like a completely different man in that room. Someone who knew what he wanted and went for it.

“…don’t want to sell our home,” Holden was saying. “We just got our family back together.”

“ Or parts of our property that subsidize our business,” Axel said with a pointed look at his older brother.

Holden nodded. “We don’t want to carve up our assets. We’re trying to rebuild something here, and we can’t afford to hamstring ourselves. But we need a chance .”

Dad shook his head. “I’m sorry. Your dad burnt his bridges here.”

Gray spoke up. “We’re not him. We’re not the kind of men he was. We’re working damn hard to prove it, and you must know we had no idea he took out this loan. We know it has to be paid. But if there was a way for us to make payments or a way to use our home as collateral rather than selling it?—”

“There is one way,” I said, straightening.

Dad shifted, face creased with a frown. “We can’t defer this again, and we can’t refinance at this late date.”

“No, I know.” I looked at Holden. “You own your other property outright, don’t you?”

“Yes, but?—”

I held up a hand to stop him. “How would you feel about a home equity loan?”

“I don’t understand how another loan helps,” Holden said.

Gray was keeping up, though. “We could take out a loan to pay off this debt on the business, right? Then make payments on the new loan?”

“That’s the idea.” I flicked a glance at my dad. “It would give them a fighting chance, at least.”

“Paying debt with more debt is never a good idea,” Dad said.

“But they didn’t take out that first loan. Don’t they deserve a chance to prove they’re upstanding members of the community?”

Dad’s gaze swept over them, and for a beat, I was afraid he’d still say no. Holden wore dark jeans and a dress shirt, but the rest of the guys were all in jeans and T-shirts. They wore their hair longer, and tats covered Gray’s and Axel’s arms. Hardly the sort of white-bread business associates Dad schmoozed with. The brothers ran an auto shop, so it seemed reasonable, but would Dad see their potential or write them off as more trouble than they were worth?

“You always say we’re about investing in the community,” I said. “That we’re here to help our neighbors achieve their dreams.”

Dad considered me carefully, one eyebrow arched. “It’s your call, Emory.”

My stomach flip-flopped. I’d wanted him to sign off on my plan. Tell me it was good business.

My palms broke out in a sweat. If I vouched for these guys and it didn’t work out…

Well, maybe I’d get the chance to hand my job over to Shayla after all.

I bit my lip, glancing back at Gray. He lifted one shoulder as if to say he’d understand if my decision didn’t go his way. Surely he’d be upset, though. He could lose his home or business.

I couldn’t stand by and let that happen when I had the power to do something.

“I’ll have to come out and see the property to assess how much value is there,” I said.

The youngest brother, who’d been quiet until now, whooped.

“You won’t regret it,” Holden said.

Gray rushed forward to shake my hand, his palm warm and strong around mine but gentle too.

“You’re going out on a limb for us,” he said, “and we won’t let you down.”

“There’s a process for approval,” I said, nerves spiking at how damn happy they all looked. “We’ll have to look at your books to ensure you can pay the loan.”

“We can do that,” Holden said. “Just let us know when you want to finalize the details.”

I nodded. “Of course.”

Gray gave my hand one last lingering squeeze.

“We’ve taken up enough of your time,” Holden said. “Thank you again for working with us.”

Gray’s eyes met mine. “It means a lot that you’re giving us a chance to prove our character. We know our foster dad didn’t exactly leave the best impression of our family.”

Dad nodded. “I sure hope you boys can pull it off.”

They filed out one by one. Axel paused on the threshold, the last to exit. “I never much liked bankers.” His gaze landed on me. “Maybe you’ll prove yourselves too.”

I gaped, shocked he’d go there.

Dad barked a laugh. “Fair enough.”

The door closed behind Axel, and I turned to Dad, feeling a little queasy now that it was done.

“How upset are you that I went rogue like that?”

“I’m not upset, Emory. Sometimes in this business, it’s a judgment call,” he said. “We’re not like those big banks where everything is black-and-white. You weren’t wrong to remind me of that. But…”

“You’re worried.”

“Not for the bank,” he said. “If they default on this loan, we’ll foreclose on their property. Considering how reluctant they were to sell it… Well. It won’t be a good outcome for them, will it?”

I sighed. “No.”

“They’ve got their second chance if they qualify for this loan. There won’t be a third.” He clapped my shoulder. “Let’s just hope you haven’t only delayed the inevitable.”

My heart tumbled. Maybe Dad was right and it would be worse for them to try and fail than to cut their losses now.

I didn’t want to watch them bleed out—but what if my fix only made it more painful in the long run?

My phone buzzed on my desktop. I dropped into my seat and picked it up to see a text notification.

Gray:

You’re my hero. You just saved me.

Emory:

It’s not a done deal just yet.

Gray:

Close enough. We’ll make it work. We have to. Thanks for vouching for us.

Emory:

Well, I owed you a rescue. If not for you, who knows what might have happened on that roadside?

Gray:

I guess we’re even then. But I’d still like to thank you. Maybe with dinner at our place. You need to check out the property anyway, right?

My heart skipped. For better or worse, I was committed to this course of action now. And really, it was better to give the guys a chance.

They were survivors. They didn’t deserve to go down without a good fight.

Emory:

Dinner sounds great.