Chapter 25
Leah
I sat down to call Monroe, running through the worst-case scenario in my mind. This was about the fiftieth time since he’d initially told me I was probably going to lose my home. One more mental go-around wouldn’t hurt if it kept me from having an epic meltdown like yesterday.
I still wasn’t sure how I’d meet anyone’s eye today. I didn’t cry, and now I’d be known as the ranch crybaby. Not only was I a felon, I was a bawling one. That thought alone might’ve set off another wave, except I didn’t have a tear left in me. I was probably dehydrated after yesterday.
I dialed Monroe’s number before I chickened out, like literally went to tend the chickens and let them out in a last-ditch excuse to not hear the bad news.
“Hey! I’ve got––”
I cut him off immediately. “Look, before you say anything, I want you to know that I appreciate everything you did to try to save my apartment. I know if you could’ve, you would’ve. I’m okay with it.”
“Leah—”
“I just want you to know that. It’s okay. I’ll rebuild and I’ll get another one.”
“ Leah , you’re not losing your apartment.”
I sat still for a second. “I’m not? How is that possible?”
“Tiffany had a few connections?—”
“Oh no, Monroe.” I groaned. This had been the last thing I wanted. “I told you I didn’t want you to do that. I don’t want you to ever put your marriage in a strained situation for me. My mortgage is too much to ask that of her.” I covered my face with my hand, wondering how many lives this situation was going to wreck.
“It’s not strained because I didn’t ask. It was offered by a distant relation. It’s not a gift. We’re going to pay it back and they’ll make something on it. It’s a win for them too.”
“Who is it?” I asked, trying not to sound too skeptical in the light of his happy tone.
“Tiffany’s third cousin.”
“Who? Have I ever met them?” I didn’t think Tiffany even had a third cousin she was close to.
“No. But they do deals like this all the time. It’s already done. I signed the paperwork last night. It was our best and only option, so I leapt at the opportunity.”
It was so strange to have given up my power of attorney and be informed after the fact that I had a new mortgage, especially when something didn’t feel right. Was I getting charged loan shark numbers?
“Did you read the paperwork over before you signed? Made sure there was nothing weird?” My brother had never been great with numbers, but he would’ve known better than to sign for some crazy interest rate. I hoped, anyway.
“Yes, and it’s all good. I didn’t sign over your second born, only your first.”
He laughed while I was still trying to figure out the catch.
“I’m glad you have a sense of humor about this, since mine is circling the drain.”
“I have no problem picking up the slack for my incarcerated sister.”
“What’s the interest rate?” I asked. There was a problem here somewhere. I knew it.
“Uhm…”
“You don’t know the interest?” I said. That should’ve been the first number he had in his head.
“I think it was five percent.”
“Five?” No way. That was too low for someone in my predicament. How was that possible? “Are you sure?”
“I’ll double-check, but I think so.”
“Where is the paperwork? Can you look now?” New York hours were later, but he still must’ve just signed it. He’d probably done an electronic signature. My guess was that he only needed to open an email.
“I can’t. I’ve got an appointment. I’ll get around to it later.”
“Monroe, this is––”
“Leah, love you, but I gotta go.”
He hung up and I stared at the phone for a few minutes. This definitely fell into the good news category, so why did it feel like something was oh-so off?
Was I becoming too screwed up to be happy? I used to be able to be happy. I needed to just be happy.
I strolled back into the main living area, still trying to muddle through the fog of emotions.
Kade was leaned on the counter, watching me. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Thanks for letting me use your phone,” I said. “Monroe seems to have figured out a way to fix my loan problem. I know he mentioned the issue I was having.”
“I’m glad.” He motioned to the table. “Sit.”
I walked farther in to see there was food out on the table.
“Thank you, but I’m not hungry.”
“You haven’t been eating enough. You’re losing weight.” His gaze swept me from head to toe.
If I was losing weight, it wasn’t from lack of food being available. It was because the stress seemed to be filling up my belly more than an eight-course meal.
“Really, I’m not hungry.”
My stomach growled so loud that the sound filled the room. Yesterday my body had decided to cry all over the place and now it was broadcasting hunger. It was like it had decided that it didn’t take orders from me anymore.
His eyes called me all sorts of names, but mostly Pinocchio.
“Fine, I’ll have a quick bite, but I don’t want to be late,” I said.
I sat, and that was when I saw the stack of bacon on a slice of toast, covered in melted cheese. I hadn’t eaten that in years, technically not since I’d been here . No way had he remembered that was my favorite. First the tea, and now this, like he’d kept notes or something. It had to have been an accident. Maybe he ate this every morning. Whatever the deal was, I couldn’t build it into some mythical act of kindness.
Whatever it might’ve been, it was too hard to resist. I took a bite, and he filled my mug with coffee as I did.
“So when you get done tonight, you’ll come here,” he said. “There’s nowhere else on the ranch for you to live, especially since I told the guys to bulldoze the shed this morning. After looking it over, I think it was a fire hazard.”
I stopped eating and just stared. He was bulldozing my shed? What happened if I had another breakdown? I didn’t even have a cold shed now. Shed life as I’d known it was officially over, and that alone was sending me into a bit of a panic.
I was going to eat and leave. I couldn’t risk another breakdown, and my body was untrustworthy at the moment. It didn’t help that Kade seemed to be more intent on watching me than eating his breakfast.
“Leah, I want you to know if there’s something wrong, something more than what I’m seeing with your current situation, you can tell me. I’ll help you any way I can.”
He was staring at me with a straight face, as if he believed what he was saying wholeheartedly.
It was like a gift from the fates, exactly what I needed to shore that wall back up nice and strong.
The last time I had really been looking for someone, anyone to help me, I hadn’t been able to get more than a few words out before he shut me down.
“I can always call you?” I said. “If I remember correctly, that’s what you had said to me before I left here ten years ago, and I remember how that went. I think I’ll pass on the offer. It’s easier than counting on you.” The hurt of that day still ran deeper than I could handle thinking about at this moment. No matter how many times I’d tried to forget, tried to get past it, I’d never been able to. His cutting me off, his words short and cold. It had been like getting freezer burn on my heart, and it had left one hell of a scar.
“When did you ever call me for help that I turned you down?” He froze, his face contorting as if he were trying to piece together what I was talking about.
He didn’t even remember.
It dragged me back into reality, the one where Kade didn’t even care enough to remember crushing me.
I shouldn’t have even brought it up. What was the point? Clearly it hadn’t been a blip on his radar.
“Forget it. I never called you. My mistake.” I tossed down my napkin, getting up from the table.
“Leah, when?” His voice was soft, almost like the way he used to talk to me, back when I thought he’d cared.
“Leah?” Missy’s voice rang out as she appeared at the door, breaking the moment before it could swallow me whole.
“I have to go. I have things to do.” If he couldn’t remember, I wasn’t going to tell him. This had been reminder enough for me why I couldn’t trust him.