“I don’t know.”
“Okay, thenhowdid it happen? Dad isn’t stupid or reckless. He understands money and risk. He’s just not the type to randomly throw everything we’ve got into some scheme.”
“You mean, hewasn’tthe type,” Avery said sharply, then groaned and let his head drop forward. “I don’t know what happened, Raquel. I don’t know when, or how, or who he gave it to. All I know is that I have to drive to the bank’s headquarters in Yuma after this to see what can be done.”
His voice sounded hollow and icy panic spread through me in response. “They asked to see you in person?”
“No. They didn’t ask me anything.Iaskedthemif there are any options available to us and they said I could come in to talk about it.”
“What kind of options are you hoping for?”
“I don’t know, but we’re screwed if they can’t help us.”
My stomach turned into a pool of dread. “How screwed?”
For a moment, Avery didn’t answer, but when he looked at me again, the expression on his face stunned me. I hadn’t seen my brother look truly scared in a very long time. Not since we’d lost our mom, but right now, he wasn’t just angry or worried. He was terrified.
“The money in the business account is gone, Raquel.” The room tilted as I stared at him, unable to process the words, breathe, or even think. “All of it. It’s gone. If I can’t get this fixed…”
He trailed off, his jaw tightening before he finally finished. “We probably won’t be able to swing payroll, let alone order supplies for the shop.”
Understanding suddenly dawned that this wasn’t just something Dad had forgotten to do that we could roll back. It wasn’t just calling a customer to say their vehicle was going to take a day or two longer than expected. Avery couldn’t just log into our bank account and make a payment that had fallen through the cracks.
If he was right, and I didn’t doubt he was, we could loseeverythingwe’d spent our entire lives working toward and building. I couldn’t fathom it, but as I watched Avery rub both hands over his face again, I realized that it was true.
We could lose it all. Because of aninvestment scheme.
“What do we do?” I whispered, my heart tying itself into knots and my stomach suddenly just not there anymore. “How do we fix it?”
“I don’t know that we can, but the first step is going to see the bank,” he said slowly. “If they can’t recover the money, I’m going to have to get a lawyer to force Dad out.”
I blinked hard, convinced I’d misheard. “How would that help?”
“We can’t keep letting him make decisions if this is where we’re at, Raquel.” His gaze seemed haunted as he glanced out the window toward the workshop floor, his voice grim and tight. “I’ll have to try to get the business and all its problems transferred over to me. It’s either that, or we sell.”
No. No, no, no. Not that. Please, God, anything but that.
This shop was our life. Our childhood. Our family. It wasn’t just a business. It was where Mom used to sit balancing invoices and where Dad had taught us everything we knew. I’d bet my entire life on this place.
Quartz Pass Autobody and Tire was not only my livelihood. It was my home. I’d never moved away or chased a grander life in a bigger city because I had everything I needed right here.
If Avery sold, I would have nothing and that realization hit so hard that I was dizzy in its wake. “We can’t sell.”
“I know.” Avery checked his watch. “I have to go. I’ll call you, okay?”
He stood up and strode to the door, but when he reached it, he looked back at me, that same fear I felt clawing at my ribs reflected back at me from his eyes. “We’ll figure it out. Just keep the closed sign up for now, okay?”
I nodded, watching his truck disappear down the road just a few moments later. Silence washed over me in odd, unwelcome waves once he was gone, almost eerie in a place that was never this quiet.
There was always sound in here, signs of life, like the hum of an air compressor or the radio playing, but not today. I leaned back in the chair and looked around Dad’s office, my gazesnagging on the coffee mug next to the old computer and the stack of paperwork waiting like he’d be back at any moment.
It all looked so normal that it was almost impossible to believe the truth that Dad had Alzheimer’s and we could lose the shop. I didn’t even know what life would look like without this place, but I didn’t particularly want to find out.
As I kept looking around, my gaze landed on a framed photograph on the desk, and I smiled, feeling tears prick at the backs of my eyes as I leaned forward to pick it up. The edges of the frame were worn and smooth after so many years of being handled by my dad.
It was one of his favorites, a picture of all four of us back when Avery and I had been kids and Mom had still been alive. I couldn’t have been more than five or six when this had been taken, my head thrown back in laughter while Avery scowled at me, Mom looking at Dad like he’d hung the moon, and Dad grinning like he’d been the reason I was laughing.
After staring at it for a long moment, I hugged the frame to my chest and closed my eyes, feeling tears roll quietly down my cheeks as I held it close to my heart.God, I miss her. I miss all of it.
