Chapter Two
“Just sign right here, ma’am, and I’ll take care of everything else.”
Summer Lubbock picked up the pen and held her breath. She sat in the real estate office with her agent, Frederick, sitting across from her. He had drawn up the contract that laid out their fees and stipulations that she had to sign in order for them to list and sell her property.
The farm had been in her family for generations, and she hated that she was losing it, but she didn’t have much choice. Her parents had mortgaged it, and then when real estate prices went down, they were underwater. She had done everything she could to try to earn money to continue to pay the mortgage, but she’d slowly and surely gotten more and more behind.
Then, when her prized Paso Fino horse had developed colic, and she’d sent her to Virginia Tech to have surgery, she’d been slapped with a $35,000 bill.
There was no way she could pay it and keep current on the mortgage. She was doing her best to chip away at both, but at this point, she knew it was time. She should have just put the horsedown, but she had hoped that she would be able to save her, not just since she was pregnant and the foal would have been worth almost as much as the surgery cost, but because she loved her.
But she’d lost the mare, the foal, and now the farm.
She wasn’t very good at placing bets.
Definitely she should stay well away from Las Vegas.
She rolled her eyes, exhaled, and scribbled her name on the line.
“Excellent. I’ll get your farm listed. I’ll get all the information typed in, and the listing should be up online today or at the very latest tomorrow. I’ll send a memo around in-house to let all of our current agents know, so they can alert any potential buyers that they have waiting in the wings looking for property just like yours. It is a beautiful place.”
Summer nodded. She knew he was right. Her mother had mortgaged the place so she could remodel, and she had done a beautiful job. The house looked like a showpiece, with huge windows, skylights everywhere, and all brand-new and modern designs. The kitchen was her favorite. It was huge, with a big island and plenty of natural light. Summer had plants and candles sitting around, and the place always brought her comfort and peace and joy.
But no matter how much comfort and peace and joy it gave her, those things didn’t pay the bills. She could cook, but she wasn’t a great at it, and as the farm sank further and further into debt, she spent less and less time in the kitchen and more and more time trying to take care of her current clients and to get more. But no matter how hard she worked, it wasn’t enough.
“All right, there’s probably going to be a good bit of activity here at the beginning when the listing first goes up as buyers in that price range book showings. I would go home and make sure everything’s in tip-top shape, because I wouldn’t be surprised if you have several shows this week.”
“All right, thanks. You’re sure it’ll be okay if I continue to work outside while people are viewing the property?”
“It’s always best if the owner is completely off the property whileit’s being shown, but if you’re working, and you can’t stop, there’s not a whole lot we can do. However, my highest recommendation is that you vacate the premises if at all possible.”
“All right.” He had already said that, but she had explained to him that she worked on the property and couldn’t just cancel her clients because someone wanted to come see it. That was how she made her money, and until the farm sold, she needed to continue making an income.
After the farm sold… Then she had to sell her horses, which made her heart clench and she couldn’t spend more than a couple of seconds thinking about it. And then… She supposed she’d have to see how much money she had left after paying the mortgage off, whether it would be enough for a down payment on a smaller facility, or whether she would have to sell all of the horses and move somewhere to a smaller place with no barn or acreage.
Her degree in counseling gave her a little bit of a cushion. She could open her own practice, although from experience, she knew that starting her own business took a lot of time, money, and effort, and patience as she waited for word of mouth to get out, since that was the best advertisement—satisfied patients.
Regardless, she didn’t think she was going to starve to death, and she would just do the best she could.
Walking out of the real estate office, she blinked in the bright sunlight. The street seemed busier than usual, and she remembered that Mistletoe Meadows was having their a Christmas festival tomorrow. Because of their Christmas-like name, they had Christmas festivals year-round.
She had signed up to have two horses in the parade.
Back when she had originally signed up, she had hoped that one of the horses would have been Princess Sugarcube, who had just passed away.
She blew out a breath and turned left toward her car, thinking that perhaps she would stop in at Sunny’s bakeshop and grab amuffin since she wasn’t going to have time to do breakfast before her first client.
She didn’t typically have a whole lot of clients during the day, since most of her clients were children, and she saw them after school.
She smiled, thinking of her favorite clients, the McBride children, with whom she had been working for free for the last year. Their mother had died of cancer, and their father had neglected the business during her illness to the point where he almost lost it. From what she understood, he had spent a lot of time the last year trying to get solvent again.
She hoped he was able to, since, although she didn’t know Mr. McBride very well, his children were the sweetest and she wanted the best for them.
Especially Larissa, who wanted to be a horsewoman when she grew up, although she didn’t really know exactly in what way. She just wanted to work with horses. But she was only ten, and it didn’t matter. She just knew that she loved horses and wanted to spend every waking second she could with them.
Summer had spent a lot of time above and beyond the therapy time, showing Larissa everything she wanted to know and allowing her to follow Summer around as she cleaned the stables, took care of the horses, and occasionally exercised them. She was even there when the farrier and vet came to work on the animals. Larissa had been an angel, and Summer hated to see her time with her come to an end, but it almost certainly would. The odds of her being able to sell the farm and buy another place anywhere close to Mistletoe Meadows were very slim.
“Hey, Summer,” Sunny greeted her as she walked into the bakeshop, which was on the downside of the busy time of morning.
