Chapter Five #3
Cora took a deep breath, trying to channel some of Lolly’s infamous calm under pressure. “Leonard, please explain. Slowly. And in English, not legalese.”
“Well, there’s a private lender who holds a loan against the property,” he replied.
“It wasn’t . . . um . . . it wasn’t disclosed to the estate because it was a private agreement.
But when you called to initiate the sale, it triggered a notification to the lienholder, and that’s when the paperwork started showing up. ”
Leonard fumbled with his briefcase, finally extracting a wrinkled document. “According to this, the loan goes with the property. It’s . . . substantial.”
“How substantial are we talking?” Winston demanded. “A hundred bucks? A thousand?”
Leonard’s face went pale. “It’s closer to one hundred thousand dollars.”
The room exploded again. Bea’s cookie tin crashed to the floor, scattering snickerdoodles in every direction. Aggie blinked rapidly, and Winston’s grip on his chair went so tight his knuckles turned white.
“One hundred thousand dollars?” Cora whispered, feeling like she’d been hit by a truck. A very expensive truck. “That can’t be right. The café was paid off.”
Leonard gave a helpless shrug. “I’m just the messenger. The document is quite clear.”
“Wasn’t the estate already settled?” Cora asked, trying to make sense of it all.
“We’re wrapping up the probate process, but creditors still have a few days to notify the estate of any outstanding debts,” Leonard answered, his eyes drifting to the cookies that were now spread out on the floor. He looked as if he was a half-second away from stress-eating one.
Bea followed his gaze and, in an uncharacteristic move, ground one under an orthopedic sandal. Apparently, Leonard had worn out his welcome, and even Southern hospitality had its limits. “You can’t do this,” she said firmly.
Leonard’s gaze darted back to Cora. “I’m afraid we don’t have a choice. The lienholder has every right to file a claim against Lolly’s estate.”
Cora slumped back in her chair, her mind spinning. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. She was supposed to swoop in, sell the café, and leave with enough money to restart her life. Instead, it felt like she’d stepped into quicksand.
“But why?” Bea asked, her voice softening with concern. “Why would Lolly take out such a large loan?”
“And why wouldn’t she tell anyone?” Aggie added, her earlier indignation fading to worry.
Winston cleared his throat, cutting through the tension. He turned to Leonard. “What are the terms of this loan?”
Leonard’s face, if possible, went even paler. “Ah, yes. Well . . . the lienholder has called in the debt. You have less than a month to pay it off.”
Cora shot to her feet, sending her chair clattering to the floor. “A month? How am I supposed to come up with a hundred thousand dollars in a month?”
“Sell a kidney?” Aggie suggested. “I hear they fetch a pretty penny on the black market.”
Bea swatted her arm. “Don’t be ridiculous.” She paused, then added, “Though I have a cousin who’s a urologist. Maybe he knows someone—”
“Ladies, please,” Winston interrupted, ever the voice of reason. “Let’s hold off on the organ trafficking. There has to be a logical explanation for all of this.”
Cora rubbed her temples, feeling a headache starting to bloom. “Logical? Nothing about this makes sense. Lolly wouldn’t have taken out a loan unless she had a good reason.”
“Maybe she was in some kind of trouble?” Bea said. Her hands twisted together on the table in front of her. “Did she have any gambling debts?”
Cora snorted. “The only gambling Lolly ever did was playing bingo at the senior center. And I’m pretty sure the jackpot there was a fruit basket, not a hundred grand.”
“What about medical bills?” Aggie offered. “Maybe she was sick and didn’t want to worry us.”
A chill ran down Cora’s spine at the thought. Could Lolly have been hiding something like that from them? From her?
Winston shook his head. “I don’t think so. Lolly was as healthy as a horse. Remember last Fourth of July when she out-danced everyone at the town picnic?”
The image brought a reluctant smile to Cora’s face. Lolly had always been full of life, right until the end. None of this added up.
“Okay,” Cora said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s try to think this through. Leonard, can you tell us anything else about this loan? What was the money used for?”
Leonard shuffled through his papers. “I’m afraid I don’t have that information. The agreement only outlines the amount and the terms.”
Cora frowned, trying to piece it all together. “So we have no idea why Lolly took out a loan or what she did with the money?”
Leonard nodded miserably. “That’s right. And without paying off this debt, you won’t be able to sell the café. And if you can’t pay it off in a month . . .”
He let the sentence hang, but they all knew what it meant.
Cora swallowed hard. The Salty Spoon would still be sold. But now the money she was counting on, the money she needed to rebuild her life and get back to New York, was tangled up in someone else’s mess.
There would be no quick sale. No clean break. Just another disaster she hadn’t seen coming.
“There has to be something we can do,” she said, her voice steady despite the storm inside her.
Aggie rested her hand on Cora’s shoulder. “Absolutely. We’ll figure this out, honey. The Spoon isn’t going down without a fight.”
Bea squeezed her hand, her grip firm. “We’re with you, Cora.”
Before she had a chance to respond, the café door slammed open with a force that made the windows rattle. All heads turned as Jack Harlow stormed in, his eyes blazing, jaw set in determination.
The air seemed to crackle in a way it hadn’t moments before. Dressed in a white T-shirt that clung to his broad shoulders, colorful tattoos swirling along his muscled forearms, and a pair of khaki cargo shorts, he looked every bit as formidable as the chaos that had just upended Cora’s life.
“I could hear the shouting from halfway down the block. Somebody want to tell me why it sounds like a war zone in here?” His sharp gaze swept the room before landing on her.
Cora’s heart skipped a beat. Whether from surprise or something else, she didn’t want to know.
Jack Harlow was unsettling, but she couldn’t look away.
She opened her mouth to say something, but the words got stuck.
How was she supposed to explain the mess Leonard had caused that morning?
And what was Jack doing here, looking like he was about to hand-deliver his own heap of trouble?