AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Mae and I are picking ours up Thursday afternoon after we get back. Why don’t you come with us and look for something then?” Honor suggested.
Mae Lockhart was Honor’s best friend, and Roxanna had hit it off with the bubbly blond construction company owner right off the bat. “That sounds like a plan. Listen, I’m going to let you guys go climb your cliffs, and I’m going to tackle my desk.”
“Oh no,” Asher said gravely, his voice low and ominous. “You’re taking on The Desk?”
“Yeah. Or more accurately, the whole office area. My insurance info is in there somewhere. Wish me luck.”
“Text me when you’re done so we know you made it out alive.”
“Ha ha.” Her smile as she hung up turned to a grimace when she eyed the mountain of crap on her desk and nearby surfaces. She had her own mountain to climb, though even with her fear of heights, Honor’s Hawaiian cliffs sounded like tons more fun.
Knowing she couldn’t put it off any longer, she scooped up an armload of paper from the desk and set it in the middle of the empty space on the floor. After adding another pile from the extra chair, and everything from the top of the file cabinets, she sat pretzel-leg to start sorting. She was halfway through the first pile when she came across a bundle of unopened mail. She remembered tossing it on the desk a couple of weeks ago, intending to sort it later, but she’d gotten distracted with a delivery, and then it had gotten buried and forgotten.
It was mostly junk, but as she reached the bottom, there was an envelope with the name of her insurance company in the return address window. She smiled with relief. Exactly what she needed.
She slid her finger under the sealed flap, but the moment she pulled out the enclosed letter, a foreboding sensation zigzagged down her spine. When she unfolded the letter, one specific line jumped out at her.
Please be advised if we do not receive payment in the next seven days, your policy will be cancelled and your coverage will lapse.
Seven days. Her hand shook as she darted her gaze to the date at the top.
October 7.
Twenty-three days ago.
White-hot waves of nausea rolled through her stomach with the confirmation she had no insurance. None. Nada. Zilch. Worse, since she’d bundled the renter’s coverage with her business insurance, she was totally vulnerable at the moment.
How in the world was she going to replace all her things?
Panic and despair welled up in a dizzying whirl until she forced herself to take deep breaths to calm down.
She was alive. She had her shop. She’d be okay.
The mental litany allowed another calming breath. Thanks to Asher, she had a place to stay, and also she had a little in her savings. She’d get by okay.
“It’s your own damn fault, anyway,” she muttered to herself, angry she’d buried her head in the sand after her accountant left. Although, Mirela should’ve had this bill paid before she left. She’d assured her everything was up to date that last day.
Don’t go blaming someone else for your stupidity.
True, she should’ve double-checked everything, no
w she had to deal with the consequences. Starting with, no more putting off the crap stuff just because she hated doing it. She knew it was more than that—when it was hard to understand, it made her feel stupid and inadequate, but she had to stop with the excuses and grow a damn spine.
As that truth sank in, she eyed the chaos spilled all around her.
Starting right now.
The next envelope she opened contained a personal check made out to her for twelve hundred dollars from a woman in Colorado Springs. She didn’t recognize the name, so she tucked it back into the envelope to ask the girls about it on Tuesday. Maybe one of them had taken a deposit for a weekend Lift Your Spirit seminar? Nothing was on the books that she could recall, and it was dated a few weeks ago, but Tessa might have forgotten to write it down with her pregnancy brain.
It would be a surprise she’d welcome right now. The income would be nice, and the weekend seminars were always rewarding.
The crap she was doing today was not, but she forced herself to sit her ass on the floor and keep working until the last paper was sorted and every single piece of mail was opened. Unlike Honor scaling her cliff, there was no sense of accomplishment for Roxanna as she counted the three unpaid invoices on one pile, and a second late notice for the shop’s electric bill.
She needed to take care of that before they contacted her building owner—Asher. She was still making payments to him for the business loan he’d given her to open the shop six years ago. She didn’t want him to know she’d fallen behind on other things.
“You’re just like your mother.”
Her grandmother’s shrill, disapproving voice made her cringe. She hadn’t heard that voice in real life or in her head for years.
