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My fingertips rose to my lips. “He … he wouldn’t. Would he?”
“Of course he would,” Cole said with the shake of his head. “He thinks he’s doing the right thing, thinks that helping these people will hurt the town. He’s afraid, that’s what he is, but he’s trying to protect us. He’d even lie, cheat, and commit fraud to do it.”
“We can’t let him,” I said.
“We won’t let him,” Carson assured me. “We’ll take a look at the books and figure out what we can do. In the meantime, Daisy, will you take care of him? He won’t let any of us close enough to do it.”
I nodded, receiving appreciative looks from the brothers, hoping I could reach him.
For most of that day, I didn’t know if it was possible.
The insurance company confirmed the next steps, and all of them hoped that getting the process started quickly would help speed it along, but in truth it was going to be a minimum three months before we had an answer one way or another.
Keaton had reentered the room resolute, told us we’d figure it out, there was money to pull from, not to worry. Sophie came home from school, and everyone pretended for her sake, though I knew she knew we were shaken. Cole explained what happened, and she asked her questions, and then suggested we make cookies. So for a few hours we baked cookies and tried to distract ourselves from the circumstance. Keaton barely spoke. He stayed close to me, even though he was a thousand miles away. I couldn’t reach him, but he reached for me, kept me near. Pizza was ordered and picked at, and then it was dark out and everyone dispersed for their sanctuaries, wherever they may be.
For Keaton and me, that was his room.
We slipped inside, but when I tried to turn on the light, he stayed my hand, pulling me into his chest instead. He held me painfully close, and I held on to him in the hopes I could ease his suffering.
“I thought …” he whispered roughly, “I thought one of you was hurt. When I opened the door and saw them there, I thought … I remembered when she died and I thought …”
He squeezed tighter. I closed my eyes and tightened my arms.
“It’s all right, Keaton,” I promised. “It’s all gonna be all right.”
He released me only so he could look down at me. “When you say it, I almost believe it.” But he shook his head. “I have the money,” he said, though I wondered why he’d said I and not we. “We’ll get this cleared up. But … for the life of me I can’t figure out why Jimmy would accuse me of this.”
“It reeks of a setup. And the only person I can think who’d do it is—”
“Mitchell. Yeah, I know. And if that’s the case, we might be in more trouble than we can get out of.”
My blood simmered painfully, but I held onto the burn with both hands. “I hate him.”
At that, one corner of his lips flicked in a sad smile. “You don’t hate anybody.”
“Well, he’s a worthy exception.”
He chuckled, pressing a kiss to my temple. “That he is. Now come with me to bed, Daisy Mae, and let’s put today out of its misery.”
“With a bang?” I asked with a brow arched.
“Can you think of a better way?” The words brushed my lips as he inched closer.
“Not a single one.”
With a searing kiss, we did just that.
And it almost worked.
24
SNARE
KEATON
The math didn’t work.
I sat at Dad’s old desk that morning in the silent house, the only sound the squeak of his chair when I shifted. Sophie was at school, my brothers at work, and Daisy was at the farm, leaving me alone to wallow around in my mess.
Our equipment was being worked on, the completion—and the bill I’d have for it—looming. I’d met with our accountant to discuss options, and they were slim. We could sell off equipment, scale back, lay off a portion of our crew. We could offer no charity. In fact, we’d have to likely raise our prices. Because we weren’t just combating the massive expense of damages, but our trickling income and red budgets. It wouldn’t be enough, even after all that sacrifice.
I’d walked us too close to the edge, and there we teetered with my family’s legacy and future in the balance. He’d suggested I sell everything. It was the only way to get out of our predicament intact.
Unless I used Mandy’s money to bail us out. Again.
There was no contest. The money was there, no matter how much disdain I had for it. I believed without question that she would have wanted me to use it, especially if it meant saving the company. And for the first time, I didn’t feel guilty about touching it. I was too desperate to be righteous.
