Page 66 of Wounded Christmas Wolf
“Excuse me, who are you?”
“It’ll only be a minute,” Holly said quickly. “Look, I know Rob talked to you about me. That’s why you called in the loan on the tree farm. I need you to know that the loan is fully up on its payments, but I also want to know what Rob said, exactly.”
Mr. Ingram huffed out a sigh. He looked tired and old. “Miss Porter, I’m sorry if things have been hard for your family lately.”
Holly scowled. “That part doesn’t matter. What did he say?”
Mr. Ingram cleared his throat and looked away. “He said you tried to seduce him to get the loan forgiven.”
Holly’s mouth fell open. “What?”
Jace growled.
“Mr. Ingram, that is a lie,” Holly exclaimed. “I’ve been trying toavoidRob. I certainly didn’t go to him to fix my family’s money problems!”
“I know you’ve been pursuing my son?—”
“I have not! He’s been—” She stopped, biting her lips.
“He’s been stalking her,” Jace said grimly. He glanced at Holly. She gave him a small nod to continue. Jace laid a protective hand on her arm as he continued talking. “A number of witnesses saw her tell him to leave her alone in town a week or so ago, which would have been shortly before he talked to you, from the sound of things. He?—”
Now it was his turn to stop. Holly picked up the thread. “He destroyed a valuable keepsake of mine to threaten me. He’s been sending me drunk texts, stalking and scaring me. I really am sorry, but it’s true.”
There was a long silence. Holly waited for Mr. Ingram to yell, to walk away, even to call the sheriff. Instead he sighed deeply and looked down at the ground.
Holly said, “I’ve been trying to deal with it myself because I don’t want to get Rob in trouble.” Okay, that wasn’t the main reason or even much of a reason, but it was going to be the one that sounded best to Rob’s dad. “Mr. Ingram, I’m sorry, but you know your son very well. Do you believe him? Or do you just want to?”
Mr. Ingram looked away from her.
Holly gave Jace’s hand a gentle tug, and he moved away from the door.
“Merry Christmas, Mr. Ingram,” Holly said softly. “I hope you and your family have a good one.”
“Merry Christmas,” Mr. Ingram muttered.
He went into the bank. Holly started walking back toward their truck, parked at the curb.
“That guy,” Jace growls. “He owes you an apology at the very least. And really a lot more than that.”
“Maybe. But Rob is his son. If I can just get him thinking about the kind of person Rob really is, maybe it’ll help.” She kicked at a pile of snow. “I can’t believe that jerk slandered me! Well, no, I can. You were right, I should never have tried to deal with it on my own.”
“You want to get the sheriff involved yet?”
“Maybe,” she said reluctantly. “Not right now, but after the holiday, I can at least talk to him and let him know what’s been happening. Just in case Rob tries something again.”
They got in the truck. She turned on the big engine and cranked up the heat.
“I’m sorry for bringing it up,” Jace said.
“You didn’t. I did. It’s time to stop hiding. I don’t know who I’m protecting. I thought it was Rob, but really I think it’s me. I was afraid what people would think, but ...” She shook her head and clenched her hands on the steering wheel. “It’s not like that’s going to protect my reputation if Rob is determined to ruin it for me. The truth is the best defense I have. So it’s the one I’ll use.”
“Good for you,” Jace said.
“Yeah, I just wish I’d figured this out a while ago.” Holly took a hand off the steering wheel to rub her face. “I hoped it’d blow over. Instead I got the whole tree farm, the whole family in trouble.”
“Youdidn’t.”
“I didn’t alone, at least,” she said with a wry half-smile. “Okay, yeah, Rob’s responsible for his own choices, but so am I.”
