Chapter 44
CHAPTER 44
“I ’m worried about you, honey.” Emma pushed Bea to the side and sat beside Rayna on the couch, sliding her arm around Rayna’s shoulders.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Oh, that is some bullshit right there,” Emma said. “It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and you called in sick to work. You never call in sick.”
“I’m taking a mental health day,” Rayna said. “Also, you know you don’t have to sit here with me, right? I’m sure you have a ton of stuff to do at the store.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Emma said. “You’ve been a mess since you and Stark broke up, and you need my support right now.”
“We didn’t break up. We’d have to be dating to break up,” Rayna said.
“Right, but Lucas said -”
“That Stark was going to tell me how he felt,” Rayna said tiredly. “Yeah, I remember. But instead, he talked about tearing down my house. I appreciate you telling me what Lucas said, Em, but he obviously misunderstood what Stark meant.”
“Maybe,” Emma said doubtfully.
Rayna wiped at the hot tears sliding down her cheek. “I miss him so much, which is ridiculous, but I…”
“You’re in love with him,” Emma said softly.
Rayna started to cry in earnest before burying her face in Emma’s shoulder. “I am, and I am so goddamn stupid, Em.”
“No, you’re not.” Emma kissed the top of her head, rocking her lightly back and forth. “Have you seen him at all in the last week?”
“No,” Rayna said, sitting up and scrubbing the tears from her face. “I’m doing everything in my power to avoid him. I leave the house and basically run to my vehicle without looking at his place, and I haven’t gone for coffee once at Grind My Beans, not even if I think there’s zero chance he’ll be there. Lucas returned the gym pass to Hollis for me, right?”
“He did,” Emma said.
“Thank you,” Rayna said. “I couldn’t risk going there myself.”
Emma sighed. “Honey, spending the rest of your life trying to avoid Stark isn’t going to work. You know that, right? Forgetting how small Harmony Falls is, he’s your next-door neighbour. You’ll see him eventually.”
“I know,” Rayna said, “but for now, I just need some space and time.”
She glanced at her phone when it rang, her brow creasing when she saw the number. “Why is the bank calling me?”
She hit the answer button. “Rayna Abrams speaking.”
“Hello, Ms. Abrams. This is Carla at the Harmony Falls First Bank. I’m calling regarding some overdue payments for Little Whiskers Rescue.”
“Oh, um, right. That’s typically handled by my accountant, Mack Roberts. I can give you his number if you -”
“We have Mr. Roberts’s contact information and have been trying to reach him for quite some time now,” Carla said. “He hasn’t returned our calls.”
“Okay, well, I can speak with him and have him make any payments that are due asap,” Rayna said.
“Unfortunately, the rescue’s outstanding debt is significant, and with no payments to your credit cards or line of credit being made for the last three months, we have no choice but to send the debts to collections.”
“Whoa, wait…just… what do you mean no payments for three months, and credit cards and line of credit? Little Whiskers only has one credit card and no line of credit,” Rayna said as unease drifted into her belly.
There was a moment of silence that only worsened Rayna’s anxiety before Carla said, “Ms. Abrams, in the last year, Little Whiskers has opened two credit cards and a line of credit.”
“No, that’s not possible,” she said. “I didn’t authorize that.”
There was some keyboard clicking before Carla said, “Mr. Roberts opened two more credit card accounts and a line of credit. According to our records, he has the signing authority on the account to do so.”
“How much does the rescue owe?” Rayna said through lips that felt like they’d been shot up with Novocaine.
“The total debt incurred by the rescue is one hundred and fifty-three thousand dollars and seventy-two cents,” Carla said.
“Oh my God.” Rayna immediately felt like she’d been hit by a sledgehammer. “I… are you sure? There has to be some mistake.”
“What’s wrong?” Emma mouthed.
Rayna swallowed the bile rising in her throat as Carla said, “Ms. Abrams, I think it might be best if you come into the bank. Can you meet with me today?”
“I can be there in fifteen minutes,” Rayna said.
“Perfect. See you soon.”
Rayna ended the call and stared at Emma, her body beginning to shake. This couldn’t be happening. It had to be a mistake.
“Rayna, honey, what’s wrong?” Emma asked.
Her fingers trembling, Rayna called Mack. The nausea intensified in her stomach when she heard the robotic, ‘The number you are calling is no longer in service.’
“Rayna, talk to me,” Emma said.
“Em… it’s bad,” Rayna said. “It’s really fucking bad.”
* * *
“The bank said Mack can’t be charged with fraud? Seriously?” Lucas sank into the kitchen chair, absentmindedly petting Bea when she sat on his feet. Lucas had come over as soon as he’d finished work, bringing all three of them dinner from Nan’s Diner, but Rayna wasn’t able to eat a single bite.
“No, because….” Emma glanced at Rayna, who stood by the sink, staring out the window.
She tried to smile at Emma, but it was hard to smile when her entire world had come crashing down on her.
“Because I’m a fucking idiot,” she told Lucas before sitting in the chair beside him.
“No, you’re not,” Emma said immediately.
“I gave Mack total control over the finances of the rescue, and I never bothered to check what he was doing with said finances,” Rayna said. “I basically gave him carte blanche, and now the rescue is fucked.”
“You had a lot on your plate, honey,” Emma said.
Rayna barked harsh laughter. “It’s no excuse, Em.”
“There has to be something we can do,” Lucas said.
“The bank has agreed to hold off on sending the rescue to collections if I can pay off at least fifty percent of the debt owed in the next fourteen days,” Rayna said.
“Okay, that’s a start,” Lucas said. “People in this town love you, Rayna. We’ll throw a big fundraiser to raise the cash needed.”
“People aren’t going to donate because of my stupidity,” Rayna said.
“You’re not stupid,” Emma said firmly. “You trusted someone who took advantage of that.”
“They won’t care about the reason,” Lucas said. “You do so much for the community, and you provide a valuable service. People will be happy to donate.”
“Even if I could raise seventy-five thousand in two weeks, I still have to pay off the other seventy-five grand. I can’t keep the rescue running under that kind of debt. There’s just no way we would get enough regular donations to help the animals and make monthly debt payments.”
“Fuck,” Lucas said. “Any chance we can find Mack and force him to pay the money back?”
“He’s gone,” Rayna said dully. “Emma and I went to his apartment after we left the bank, and the building manager said he had moved out last week. His cell number is no longer in service. It doesn’t matter anyway. Even if I could find him, I have no way of making him repay any of the money. What he did wasn’t illegal, remember?”
“If we can prove that what he spent the money on wasn’t for the rescue, then maybe we could, I don’t know, sue him or something,” Lucas said.
“I have no money to pay for a lawyer,” Rayna said.
“There must be something we can do,” Lucas repeated.
“There is,” Rayna said as dread settled in her stomach. “I can sell my property to Isaac Stark.”
“No,” Emma said. “We’ll come up with a different solution.”
“There isn’t one,” Rayna said. “You know I’m right, Em. Stark was willing to pay eight hundred grand for my property. I doubt he’ll pay that now, but I can offer the property to him for five hundred. That will give me enough money to pay off what I owe on the house and the rescue’s debt and leave me with enough cash to keep the rescue operational.”
Emma took her hand, squeezing it tightly. “Honey, you love this place, and you worked so hard to buy it.”
She shrugged, blinking back the hot tears with effort. “I do, but I have no choice, Em. The rescue is more important than a house. Besides, we both know this damn place is falling apart around me. Even if this hadn’t happened, fixing up the house was always a bit of a pipe dream.”
“Oh, Rayna.” Now, Emma looked like she was going to cry, and she took Lucas’s hand when he held it out to her. “I think you should take some time to think on this before -”
“I don’t have that luxury,” Rayna said. “If I want to save the rescue, this is my only option.”
Tears slid down Emma’s cheeks, and Rayna gave her a faint smile. “Don’t cry, Em. It’ll be okay.”
Emma shook her head before reaching out and hugging Rayna. “Stop comforting me. I’m supposed to be comforting you.”
Rayna buried her face in Emma’s shoulder. “I love you, Emmy.”
“I love you too, honey.”