Page 27 of Everyone Loved Her
Blaze went rigid, but before he could say anything in response, Lucas Wilson was walking across the parking lot, whistling an unsettling tune.
Chapter 13
“Listen,I’m just going to cut to the chase,” Greg, our family attorney, said, resting against his high-backed desk chair. “The financials are in bad shape, Beth. I think your best bet is to sell. He left you in charge of making the decisions when it comes to the place.”
I blinked at him a couple of times, eyeing the stack of papers on the desk. “They can’t bethatbad.” I scooped them up, and began to flip through them one by one, my stomach clenching with every new bit of information. By the time I set them back down and looked up at the balding, sixty-something lawyer, I knewexactlywhy my mom had put me up to this task. Sifting through all the debts and underpayments wasgrueling.
“Two-hundred-fifty thousand dollars,” Greg said with a sigh, totaling them up for me. “And that’s just barely scratching the surface.”
“Why did they take out a line of credit,” I groaned, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “I don’t know why they didn’t just sell off some of the equipment to pay for these.”
“Well,” Greg clicked the pen in his thin fingers, “Your father was a stubborn man, and you and I both know that he wasnotgoing to give in to anyone else’s advice. He’s defaulted time and time again, and still, he always kept trying to make it work.”
“So, you’d been telling him to sell some assets to pay this off, right?” I leaned my elbow against the conference room table, resting the side of my head against my hand. I didn’t want to blame Greg, but at the same time, their financial predicament was…bad.
“Look, I’ve been working on him foryearsto get this sorted out, thinking of the mess that it would leave behind if he didn’t get it under control. He didn’t listen, and now you and Andrea are having to suffer the consequences. He just kept thinking that he was going to dig himself out with hard work—but hard work doesn’t make lenders happy.”
“Did Mom not know?” I studied his face, watching lines gathering around his chocolate-brown eyes as he hesitated. He had to be at least ten years my mom’s senior—and I was pretty sure that we were related somewhere down the line...
“Andrea kind of knew, but she put all her trust in your dad.” He paused, letting out a heavy sigh. “I really don’t know what else to tell you, Beth. You got stuck with a hard decision. Honestly, my advice would be to sell the ranch, cut your losses, and use the money to buy your mom a house in town. You’ll make plenty to put back for your kids someday.”
“I want my future kids to be able to see where I grew up,” I countered, shaking my head.
He chuckled. “Well, you can point it out to them when ya drive past. That’s how it works for a lot of us. Nothing wrong with it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, but then relaxed. He was just doing his job, but… “I don’t think I can sell the ranch. It would absolutely devastate Mom—even if she’s not showing it right now.” I took a deep breath before I continued, already having considered the worst-case scenario. “I have nearly one-hundred-fifty thousand in savings. Will that keep the debt collectors at bay?”
Greg’s face dropped. “Don’t lose your life savings on the ranch.”
“I can build it back up,” I said with a shrug. “It’s just money.” I hesitated as the emotions began to swell in my chest and cleared my throat. “Greg, she’s all I have left. I don’t want to dump her off in some house in town. That ranch is everything to her.”And maybe it means more to me than I thought it did.
He nodded. “That’s up to you. Take those.” Greg gestured to the papers. “Once you’ve had a chance to really look them over and think about it, you come back and see me. I won’t let anything happen until then.”
I gathered up the stack of documents, shoving them into my messenger bag I’d brought. I had made it a point to dress a little nicer for the visit, putting on a pair of dark wash trousers and a white blouse—but that was as good as it got. I slung my black bag over my shoulder and rose to my feet.
“Thanks,” I forced a half-hearted smile. “I’ll try and come up with something over the next few days.”
“Yeah, of course, Beth. Like I said, I won’t let anything happen until you make up your mind one way or the other. No need to rush it.”
I turned to go, trying not to feel like I was drowning.
“Oh, one more thing,” Greg’s voice caught me as I opened the door.
“What’s that?” I stopped, peering back at him.
“You know, I have some good connections in the DFW area. It’d be a great way for you to be close without beingtooclose, if you know what I mean. Or also, my wife is on me to start slowing down…So I could use the help here, if you considered staying. It’s not criminal defense in Chicago, but it’s still interesting.Trust me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I gave him a grateful smile. “But right now, I’m just trying to take it day by day. I’m not ready to go back to work. I won’t be leaving town any time soon either, but I doubt I’ll stay too long.”
“Good on you to put your mom first like that,” Greg’s gaze was full of sympathy. “Y’all sure haven’t had it easy. But did you hear about Sarah Armitage?” he added suddenly. “I saw it on the news first thing this morning—and I just can’t even believe it.”
My mouth went dry at the mention. “Yeah, it’s horrible, really.”
“Shot to death.” He shook his head, despair written all over his face. “Can’t even fathom who would want to hurt that woman. Everyone loved her.”
I nodded, trying to ignore the sick feeling in my gut. “It’s shocking.” With that, I slipped out of the conference room, quickly making my way out of the law office. I hadn’t checked the news since the night before, and obviously, I had missed them finally breaking the story.
I pushed through the glass door and stepped out onto the quaint Main Street. A cool breeze blew through, whipping my hair around my face, and I peered up at dark gray clouds that were covering the sun. I hadn’t watched the news, but it appeared that it might rain. My eyes then drifted to the old truck waiting for me, parked right off the street. Iheaded toward it, already dreading the conversation I was bound to have with Mom when I made it home. But as much as it made sense to sell the ranch...