AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Good guesses all, but not correct.” Jack crossed his arms and smiled again. “Baseball cards.”
Zane’s eyes widened. “I heard about a 1914 Babe Ruth baseball card up for auction a while back that sold for just under two hundred thousand dollars.” Zane also had a fondness for baseball cards, and he had a box of them around the house somewhere. But as far as Cooper knew, Zane had never spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire them.
“I wonder if Preston was the anonymous buyer?” Cooper asked.
Jack shrugged. “It’s possible. Although the loan was for half a million. Maybe he wanted to ensure he had enough in case there was a bidding war.”
“My question is what happens to my job? If the investigation has shown that I’m not culpable for the loan, then do they have to let me have my job back?”
Cooper hadn’t thought about her ever leaving them. But he should have. She deserved to be vindicated and put back in place at the bank with back pay and an apology. “Do you really want to go back to your old job?”
She surprised him when she said, “Yes. I do. It’s what I’ve wanted all along.”
Chapter Fourteen
“You’re going back?” Zane was so shocked, he asked his question out loud. He didn’t want her to go. He wanted her to stay with them.
Abby turned to him. “Yes. Why are you so astonished? My feelings can’t be a surprise to you.” Her eyes narrowed as if he should be perfectly happy that she was about to leave them to go two hours away and live the rest of her life.
“I don’t know, I guess I just figured you were done with them. They weren’t very nice to you.”
“No. They weren’t. But I worked hard to get to where I was. I’m not throwing it away if I have a chance to go back.” She turned to Jack. “Can you help me?
Jack piped up. “You bet. I’ll even get you your company car back for you.”
“That would be great.”
Zane didn’t think this was great. Not at all. He wanted to tell her new lawyer to shut the fuck up, but the reasonable side of his brain kicked in before he said anything out loud. He glanced at Cooper and found a similar sullen expression on his face.
Thinking back to the last two weeks together, Zane realized that they hadn’t ever said anything about a future beyond her court date. The one time it was mentioned, she changed the subject and didn’t want to talk about it.
Early on he’d gotten the impression that she didn’t want to discuss her future because of superstition. She feared going to jail, and he understood. But now she was free. Free to be with them. But she chose to go back to her old life.
After a discussion with Cooper early on, they had decided to purposefully not discuss anything further than her court date. At the time it seemed like a good idea. But not so much right now.
“Where will you live?” The question came out before he could temper his tone. Which sounded very accusatory.
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t worry. I’ll find someplace to go.”
Jack intervened. “Listen. Why don’t we make an appointment for you to come back in a few days? I’ll have more information then, and you’ll have time to get settled again.”
She turned away just as Cooper gave him a dirty look. She’d been living with them for the past two weeks. He liked the arrangement. He wanted her to continue to live with them, but a two-hour commute, while not impossible, wasn’t optimal. And it didn’t sound like she planned to stay.
Jack made a phone call and had Abigail’s company car delivered to his office in less than an hour. That left Zane driving his car back, Cooper driving his truck back, and no Abigail with either of them or on her way to their home.
Once her car was delivered, she said good-bye to Jack, and the three of them were left alone together in an unwanted awkward silence on the sidewalk outside of his office.
Abigail opened the passenger door to her car and pretended to fuss with something in her glove box. Zane gave Cooper a resigned look and said, “Why don’t we help you?”
“Help me do what?”
“Find a place to live.”
Cooper shook his head but stopped when she looked up at them. Her gaze was cool. He hated it. Knew he’d fucked up but didn’t know how to fix it.
