Page 53 of Take My Heart
‘Santi’s charges extra to come to Haydon Falls.’
‘It doesn’t matter. People aren’t going to wait until Friday to leave their house. They’ll want their driveway plowed before that.’
‘What do you want me to do? I can’t use the plow if it doesn’t work.’
‘You better figure something out or you’re not going to have a business, at least not a snowplowing one.’
‘Okay, seriously, why are you lecturing me about this? I’m already stressed enough.’
‘I’m not lecturing you. I just know you tend to let things slide when shit doesn’t work out. You’d rather pretend it’s not happening than deal with it.’
‘I’m not pretending it’s not happening. I’m trying to fix it right now.’ I get back in the truck and check for any loose wires. ‘I’ll talk to you later.’
‘Hey, before you go, Nick told me you have some girl over there.’
‘Yeah. I found her on the road yesterday. Her car went into the ditch.’
‘And she’s still there?’
‘Well, yeah, where’s she gonna go? The hotels are booked and nobody’s supposed to be on the roads right now.’
‘Is she leaving when the storm ends?’
‘I don’t know. I assume she will, but she’ll have to get her car out of the ditch first.’
‘You’re living with a girl,’ Jason says, laughing. ‘Never thought I’d see that.’
‘I’m not living with her. She’s just staying with me for a few days.’
‘What’s she like?’
‘She’s nice. She’s been a good distraction from all the shit going on with the plow.’
‘You can’t be distracted when your business is at risk. You need to be a hundred percent focused on it until you turn it around.’
‘Yeah, got it,’ I say, annoyed he won’t stop lecturing me.
‘What about the house payment? Did you make it this month?’
‘Yeah,’ I lie. The truth is, I didn’t make it. I didn’t have the money. But I have some time before the bank starts sending me notices.
‘You’re not lying to me, are you?’ Jason asks.
‘I made the payment. Stop worrying about it.’
‘I’m worried because we could lose the house if you don’t pay.’
‘Like I don’t know this?’
‘I’m just saying, if you can’t make the payment, let me know. I’ll loan you the money to pay for it. I don’t want to get foreclosed on.’
I don’t want him giving me money. He’s already given me more than he should have for repairs and he had to make the last two house payments. I was counting on snowplowing jobs to bring in income, but it didn’t work out that way. This is our first big snowfall and now my plow is broken.
‘You know, maybe you should think about getting a roommate,’ Jason says.
‘Why the hell would I get a roommate?’
‘To help you pay the mortgage.’
