Page 55 of Love, Hate, Love

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. Ineededto 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 beenhere. 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.”

---