He could call Stan at the bank and try for a refi. He’d need to pay something, but maybe he’d use some of the wedding money to ease a bit of the debt.
Or, or, or… He wanted to talk to Cami. He needed her advice and friendship. But he’d just called her a liar, and maybe he should give her time to cool off. Give himself time to cool off.
He sat at Granddaddy’s desk. “Okay, God, what do I do now?”
Ben squeezed his eyes as if it might aid his spiritual hearing. After a few moments when he heard nothing, he reached for his phone.
“Mr. Graham, Akron fell through. I need a buyer for the inn.”
Unbelievable. Cami stared at the phone in her hand. She wanted to call Ben back, but he’d sounded so upset. As the packers moved about her, she tried to analyze this call from Ben.
This was Dad with Mama’s death all over again. Ben blamed her for something she hadn’t done. She hadn’t called Dean and his team. But if Ben wanted to blame her, then he could take himself to Sydney without so much as a goodbye.
Except she’d have to see him for Vicki’s wedding. What she really needed to do was have it out with Dad. What was he up to now? If he hated the inn, if it reminded him of everything he’d lost, why had he kept it in the system?
Meanwhile, the new condo owners wanted to move in this week, so she had to move out. She’d thought she’d have to put things in storage, but Max had called two days ago with the perfect downtown Indy apartment, and she’d signed the lease.
The movers were going to move her into her new place. She’d unpack when she got there. In the meantime, she’d sleep in Annalise’s spare room.
Standing in the middle of her living room, a burly man wrapped a glass sculpture she’d picked up at an art fair with Annalise three summers ago.
She felt hot and stuffy, overwhelmed, and in need of a quiet place to think.
A shatter arrested the movement in the room as the man wrapping the figurine dropped it. Shards scattered across the hardwood.
“I’m sorry, ma’am.” The foreman made a note on his clipboard. “Mike, get this cleaned up. Was it a special piece?”
She shook her head, tears budding. “Just the reminder of a fun summer with my sister.”
The figurine was a symbol of her life. Shattering.
A couple of men hoisted the couch as Cami wandered down the hall, passing empty rooms. In the spare room where she’d kept her shoes, she closed the door and sat in the middle of the empty space.
Only a few pairs had been moved to Annalise’s last night. The rest would travel with the movers. Her new place was downtown in a “highly sought-after area” and within walking distance to shopping and restaurants and a coffee shop. Astrid had also found an apartment in the same complex.
The place needed a bit of work, but she liked the idea of putting her stamp on her new place.
Beyond the walls and door, she heard the movers hauling off her Nashville life, but she had to sort out why Ben blamed her for the mix-up with Dean. His angry words sank deeper with each remembrance. At least she’d been able to text Dean to stop the work.
Cami’s phone rang from her shorts pocket, and Astrid’s face flashed on the screen.
“Hey, have you checked your email?”
“No, why?” Cami immediately switched her phone to speaker and opened her email. “By the way, I need you to nullify the Hearts Bend Inn contract.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Send the paperwork to the project team. No earnest money payout.”
“What happened?”
Dad happened. “I’ll tell you when I see you.”
Cami skimmed her email. There was a new message from Dad at the top of her inbox. The subject line: Congratulations, Geoffrey Swanson.
Cami closed her eyes and exhaled. “Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”
Astrid sighed over the speaker. “I wish. Brant announced that Geoff was moving to Indianapolis as second-in-command. I hadn’t heard any chatter about this around the water cooler. Took me by surprise.”
