Chapter 9 #2
They were right, but for some reason, he couldn’t concede the point. Maybe because he wanted to make up for leaving them . . . or maybe, deep down in his heart, he just wanted to see if the townsfolk were finally willing to see him as something more than just a Hennessy Hooligan.
He should have known better.
Mrs. Reed, the loan officer at the bank, spent no more than a minute perusing the loan application Jaxon had spent a good hour filling out before she smiled weakly and shook her head.
“I’m sorry, but you just don’t have enough income or collateral for us to give you a loan. Especially a loan of that size.”
“But you’ll get it all back with interest in just a few months.”
“If you meet your mother’s requirements.” Her penciled-in eyebrows lifted. “That’s just too big a risk for the bank to take.”
Jaxon felt his temper rise, but he knew getting pissed off wouldn’t make a difference. It would only confirm the woman’s belief that the Hennessys were a bad risk.
“What about my truck? It’s a fully restored classic nineteen sixty-two Chevy. It’s worth at least thirty thousand. Can I get a loan for that much?”
He loved the old truck Dawson had restored for him.
But if it meant not going home to his siblings empty-handed, he would take the chance.
Thirty thousand wouldn’t be enough to cover everything, but it would keep construction moving until he could come up with another way to get money.
And maybe if the bar was closer to being finished, Mrs. Reed wouldn’t feel like the bank was taking such a risk.
Unfortunately, that didn’t look like it was going to happen.
Mrs. Reed shook her head. “I’m afraid we don’t do auto equity loans on cars that old.”
He sat there for a long moment trying to come up with anything else he could use. But it was a futile effort. He didn’t own anything else.
He stood. “Thank you, Mrs. Reed. I’m sure there are other banks in Texas that will be happy to take my business.” He turned and walked out of the office.
But it was just false bravado. There wasn’t a bank in Texas, or anywhere else, that would loan them the money without some kind of collateral.
Feeling frustrated, he shoved open the front door to the bank a little harder than he should have . . . and cracked an old woman walking down the street right in the head.
“Shit!” He rushed out the door in time to see Birdie wobble like the last bowling pin in a strike. He grabbed her arm to steady her. “I’m so sorry, Birdie. Are you okay?” When she didn’t answer, he gently moved her over to the bench outside the bank. “Here. Sit down.”
She didn’t sit as much as crumple. Which caused him to be even more freaked out. He pulled out his cellphone to call 911, but couldn’t get reception.
“Goddammit!”
That snapped Birdie out of it. “Don’t you dare take the Lord’s name in vain, Jaxon Hennessy.” She waved at his head. “And what have I told you about wearing your hat in the presence of a lady?”
He snatched off his hat. “You’re okay?”
“Of course, I’m not okay. I was cold-cocked with a door and I’m likely to have a knot on my head the size of a goose egg.”
He reached out to move her bangs off her forehead so he could see, but she slapped his hand away.
“Don’t you dare touch a woman without her permission. Good Lord, didn’t your mama teach you a thing? She sure as hell didn’t teach you to look before you go shoving open doors. What had you coming out of the bank in such an all-fired hurry?”
He started to make up a lie, but then figured that after giving her a goose egg he owed her the truth. “I was turned down for a loan and was feeling a little frustrated.”
“And why do you need a loan?”
“To finish the renovations on Honky Tonk Heaven.”
Her eyes, that were so much like Tully’s, narrowed. “Your mama didn’t leave you money for that?”
“She did. Just not enough. Now how about if I take you to the county hospital and let them have a look at your head?”
“Absolutely not. I don’t want some doctor straight out of med school poking and prodding on—” She cut off as she glanced at something behind Jaxon. “Well, this is about to get ugly.”
Jaxon turned and saw Sheriff Gentry striding across the street.
Yep. Things were about to get ugly. The last time he’d talked to the sheriff was when he’d let Jaxon out of jail after arresting him for robbing the gas station.
“Listen closely, Jaxon Hennessy,” Birdie said under her breath. “If you have a brain in your head, you’ll keep your mouth shut and follow my lead.”
Jaxon straightened and waited for the sheriff to approach.
He had always thought of Del Gentry as a giant of a man.
Now he realized he was a good three inches shorter than Jaxon.
Still, he felt like a guilty kid when the sheriff’s sharp gaze landed on him.
No matter how many run-ins he’d had with the sheriff over the years—usually about something his siblings had done—he still couldn’t help looking up to the man.
Despite that night, the sheriff had always been a fair and just lawman and one helluva father.
And it wasn’t like he hadn’t had just cause to arrest Jaxon.
“What happened here?” Sheriff Gentry asked.
Before Jaxon could answer, Birdie cut in.
“Nothing happened here, but a simple accident. I was—”
“Birdie!” Tully came running up. Her face was flushed and her eyes concerned as she crouched in front of her grandmother and took her hands.
“Are you okay? Jimmy Lucas came running into the sheriff’s office hollering about you getting punched.
” Those big brown eyes pinned Jaxon with an accusing look just like her daddy. “You hit my granny?”
Birdie snorted. “Of course, Jaxon didn’t hit me.
Jimmy Lucas needs to get his eyes checked.
And so do I. I walked smack dab into the bank door without even seeing it.
It was no one’s fault but my own. And I’m fine.
Just fine.” She stood. “Now if y’all will stop circling me like a flock of buzzards around a dead corpse, I need to get to the seed and feed. ”
Jaxon should have let it go, but he knew the old woman was more injured than she was letting on.
“That’s not true.” Birdie sent him a warning look, but he ignored it and turned to her son.
“I flung the door open too quickly on my way out of the bank and hit Ms. Lowell. Not purposely, but still it was my fault. And I think you should take her to the county hospital and have her head looked at.”
Birdie rolled her eyes. “If anyone needs their head looked at, Jaxon Hennessy, it’s you. You couldn’t just leave well enough alone, could ya?”
“No, ma’am. I couldn’t.”
She smiled. “Good for you. I always knew you had a valiant heart.” She looked at the sheriff.
“Now stop looking all huffy and protective, Del. Like he said it was an accident.” She hooked an arm through his.
“While I’m not going to any hospital, I will let you buy me a cherry Dr Pepper and an ice pack at the mercantile.
” She hesitated. “And maybe call Laura to tell her about my accident.”
That seemed to get Sheriff Gentry’s attention off Jaxon. “Laurie should know.”
Birdie nodded. “And what better person to tell her than her husband.” She pulled him down the street.
Which left Jaxon with a brown-eyed girl who thought he was the type of man to punch an old woman.