Page 62 of Happy Harbor
“What’s going on exactly?” Joe asked, his eyebrows furrowed together.
“I received a phone call this morning from a lender. Nana apparently borrowed a lot of money a few months ago. She was four payments behind when she died, and I had no idea. There’s nowhere near enough money to catch it up in the two weeks they’re giving me. The investors can foreclose on the restaurant and just take it.” She rattled everything off so fast that she was out of breath by the end.
“Oh, my.” Ethel held her hand to her mouth.
“Do you know anything about this, Joe?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know, Josie. I would’ve told you if I did. Your grandmother could be a bit tight-lipped about certain things.”
“Ethel?”
Ethel’s face turned a shade of crimson as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Well, I... uh...”
“Ethel, please. I need to know what happened here.”
“Your grandmother was my very best friend, and I take that seriously, even though she’s gone now. She swore me to secrecy, Josie. I just can’t talk about it. She’s the type of lady that might just haunt me until the good Lord takes me home.”
Josie was angry, but Ethel was right about that. Adeline Campbell was just the type to haunt somebody.
“I can’t save her restaurant if I don’t know what’s going on. She wanted me to run the place, so why would she leave me in the lurch like this?” It was hurtful to Josie in ways she couldn’t put into words. That her grandmother would ask her to leave her life in Atlanta behind, and then make it so hard for her to keep the restaurant afloat.
Ethel sucked in a sharp breath. “I can tell you a little, but I won’t betray her confidence. I just can’t.”
“Fine. Tell me something then.”
“A few months back, your grandmother was making plans for you to inherit the house and the restaurant. She had some money in savings, and she was excited to gift everything to you. Then... well, something unexpected happened. She used her savings to keep the restaurant going and took out a loan for the unexpected thing, and that’s where the money went.”
“Something happened? What?”
“I can’t say, Josie. I’m sorry.”
“Can you at least tell me how to get that money back?”
Ethel shook her head. “You’re never getting that money back, dear. It’s gone.”
She stared at Ethel for a long moment. “Does this have anything to do with my mother?”
Ethel froze in her seat, pursing her lips. “I can’t say.”
“I’m going to strangle that woman!” Josie said, standing up. “It always comes back to her. I swear.”
“Josie, it’s not like that. Your grandmother loved your mother—” Ethel said.
“Thank you both for your time. I have to get to work.”
With that, she rushed out of the office so quickly that papers blew off the receptionist’s desk.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
It had only been a few hours since Josie learned about the past-due loan, and somehow she’d held her tongue around her mother at work. Diane was all smiles as she flitted from one table to another, chatting with Josie as she went about her day. Josie could tell she thought they were on good terms, and in all honesty, Josie thought they were getting there until her meeting with Joe and Ethel. It was obvious the missing money had something to do with her mother, and she was going to find out how.
“Whew! It’s been a busy afternoon, huh?” Diane said, wiping her brow with the back of her hand as she walked over to the table where Josie was sitting with her laptop. She was trying to redesign the website for the restaurant to add the new hours and karaoke night, but she couldn’t figure out how to work the antiquated thing. If she had money, she’d hire someone else to do it.
“Yep.”
“Something wrong?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the fact that?—”
