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Maybe she’d finally had enough. Even a saint would have run out of patience by now. But ignoring him like this didn’t fit with her kind ways.
“Lexi!”
“Would you quit yelling?” Ellie shouted from the lounge. “We’re watching a movie.”
“She’s in there, but she’s not answering.”
“Do you blame her?” Ellie said, her voice still way too loud. “You really think that’s the way to make her care?”
His shoulders slumped, and he stepped away. Nope. It wasn’t. He was so bad at this relationship stuff. Maybe he could make it up to her tomorrow.
* * *
“Mr. Reilly.How good to see you again. Here with your brother, I see.”
“Millie.” Good to know her eyes still worked. Maybe she’d see these projections and not weep. “Did you get the financials I emailed through last night?”
She nodded, her position across the bank desk suddenly feeling very far away. “Mr. Reilly—”
Honestly, did she get a power trip out of calling her old school friends like they were of his parents’ generation?
“—I’m afraid these budgets and projections aren’t going to meet our requirements. I’m sorry, but I must inform you that I am forced to start proceedings to call in our loans.”
“No. You can’t do that. It’s Reilly land. It’s ours. My great-grandfather settled it.”
“Jackson—”
So now she wanted to be a human.
“I understand this is hard, but I’m not authorized to offer anything more.”
Okay, so maybe she didn’t. He stared at her, images of the ranch lifting and swirling through his mind like Dorothy’s farm caught in a wicked witch-type twister. He could barely grasp what was being said. He leaned forward, elbows on knees, and did his best not to plunge his head into his hands. There was no reason to add to Millie’s pity.Lord, I’m sorry. I thought I could do this, but I can’t. I really need Your help.
Words rushed over and around him, but he could barely comprehend anything, as a stubborn thought teased him still. He opened his clenched hands, a silent submission to God’s will.
“Could you please clarify exactly how much is due immediately?” Cooper asked.
Millie said the sum, the amount beyond Jackson’s dreams. Maybe he could sell a kidney …
Cooper pulled out a checkbook and scribbled a sum. “Will that cover it?”
Jackson watched, feeling removed from reality, like watching a play from behind glass, as Millie glanced at the piece of paper, then glanced at him, then at Cooper. “That will stave off the most immediate debts, but there’s still the longer-term loan for which we need to come to some kind of arrangement.”
“How long until we need to do that?” Cooper asked.
She named a date four weeks from now, and the two of them talked around him some more, then he found himself shaking hands, still in a daze, struggling to comprehend what had just occurred.
“What just happened?” he asked once they got out onto the pavement. “You paid the debt. It wasn’t your debt to pay.”
“Actually, I think it was.”
“What?”
Cooper motioned to the bench across the street, where Rhonda Ingalls, one of Trinity Lake’s busiest busybodies, watched them with avid curiosity. “Hey, are you hungry? Let’s go to Joe’s.”
Five minutes later, they were sitting in the diner’s corner booth, having ordered two Trinity burgers, fries, and chocolate shakes like the overgrown boys they really were, the younger two Reilly brothers who’d rarely indulged in such treats growing up.
Their drinks arrived with Marlene’s promise the food was on its way, which meant the fun and games of this conversation could begin.
