Page 68 of The Spotted Cottage By the Sea
“That is what you agreed to when you signed for the loan,” the woman responded. “Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
“No. That was all.”
Sheila ended the call and stared down at the floor.
There had to be a way out of this. After all they’d done, they couldn’t lose the tea shop. Patty couldn’t lose her home and her life. Eliza couldn’t lose what she’d worked so hard to build. There had to be something she could do.
But it wasn’t Sheila’s only problem. A notice of default for the house meant her time had run out. The house would soon be foreclosed. It could be a matter of weeks or months, but she was going to lose that too.
She just needed a little time! The tea shop was going to be profitable. That much was obvious. Maybe she could work out a payment plan with the bank? Maybe she could take out another loan? Her sisters would loan her the money, but both of them were broke, too. It was like a family curse. Would they ever escape it?
There was one option she had been avoiding. One she hadn’t even wanted to consider, one she thought she never would stoop low enough to do.
But there was no place for her pride. Sheila picked up her phone and dialed.
No answer.
She stood, pacing across the room before sitting back down on the bed. She called again.
“Sheila?” he asked. “Is this a crank call?”
At least he was in a good mood. “Hi, Brian. No, I need to talk to you.”
“Whew boy. This sounds serious.” He laughed. “Trouble in paradise?”
She let out a slow breath. “Things are going pretty well here, actually. Really well. We reopened the tea shop last night. Had a great turnout.”
“Good for you.”
“Eliza did an amazing job with the website and planning the event. Your mom is really happy, Brian.”
“That’s good, I guess. Is there a point to this call?”
Instead, she gritted her teeth and said, “There’s a problem.”
“What’s that?”
“Ray took out a loan before he died. I don’t think your mom realized she signed it, but now they want to liquidate the tea shop and sell everything off. Maybe even the property. I’m not sure yet.”
He let out a gruff laugh. “Of course they do. That’s how business loans work when you don’t pay them. I thought you were supposed to know these things?”
“We just need some time, Brian. I need a little help making the payments, but then the shop is going to take off and –”
“You’re unbelievable, you know that? You got my mom’s hopes up and then you come begging me for money?”
“I’m not begging.”
“I thought you were supposed to be good with money? Why don’t you pay it?”
“Because I’ve been putting four daughters through college,” she snapped. “Without any help from you.”
“We don’t believe in babying our kids.”
We.He meant his new wife Kylie, who liked to tell everyone her parents hadn’t helped her pay for school and how much stronger it had made her.
Brian embraced her mythology fully, while still living in a house they’d bought for her.
“It’s not babying. It’s supporting.”
