Cindy sat in stunned silence for a full minute.
“So you can see now, right?” Dana asked when she hadn’t responded. “How important this is? How you should put aside your petty differences and make the right choice?”
“Okay. Wow. There’s a lot to what you just said. Can we start with the fact that you made a very risky investment, with money you apparently didn’t have, with your insurance salesperson? Is that right?”
“That’s none of your business,” Tom insisted.
“Apparently it is,” Jonas put in.
“You can stay out of this,” Tom said.
“If you want me to stay out of it, you should get out of my house.”
“This is Cindy’s house, she rented it before she even met you.”
Cindy held up her hand. “You’re upset and angry, don’t add stupid to it. Jonas is my mate, and we need to get back to that fact that you’ve borrowed money for a high-risk investment. I’m assuming a lot of money, since you think that if it works out, it will set you up for retirement. I know you used to save for retirement. Is that what you used for the first investment?”
“That’s none of—”
“Does your alpha know about this?” Jonas asked.
“It’s none of—”
“Yeah, not their business, I got it.” Jonas just shook his head, looked to Cindy.
She took it to mean that he was ready to shut this down, but was following her lead. “Right, so it sounds like my summary was accurate. And I’ll go further. It sounds to me like Brenda walked you into both of these investments, when she was supposed to be advising you on your insurance needs. She failed you, and probably scammed you, and instead of acknowledging and dealing with your failures—and hers—you are here badgering me. Because she’s threatening you to do so. Isn’t that extortion?”
Tom stood. “We don’t need to be insulted like this.”
Cindy and Jonas stood as well. “No, you don’t. You can remove yourself from this situation and spend some time dealing with the one you’ve already landed yourself in, instead,” Jonas suggested. “I would highly recommend a chat with your alpha, as well.”
Dana rose. “I don’t know why we thought that you would step up and do the right thing.”
“What you don’t understand is that I am doing the right thing. But you’re so mired in yourselves and looking to blame anyone else, that you don’t have a hope of seeing it.” She gestured to the front door.
Dana looked like she was going to start ranting, but Tom put his hand on her arm. “It’s late and we’re out in the middle of nowhere,” he said, and gestured out the window. “Are you going to throw us out?”
Jonas finally snapped. A little. Cindy felt how tightly he was holding back. “You can’t possibly have expected to stay here.”
“This is our daughter’s home,” Dana snapped.
“Can they stay at the pack house?” Cindy asked Jonas.
He winced. “The paint smell is probably gone by now, but everything’s still covered in plastic. Probably wouldn’t take too long to get the beds cleaned off and made up—about as much time as it would take them to drive to the motel.”
She liked to think she’d come a long way in cutting her parents’ negativity from her life in the last half hour, but she still couldn’t stand the idea of sending them out this late at night.
“Cindy, I’m asking you if we can please stay the night,” Tom said. “We’ll leave in the morning and not bother you.”
“Tell me what you’re proud of her for,” Jonas said.
Cindy jerked. She felt a pulse of reassurance down their link.
“You can stay…if you can tell me how she makes you proud to be your daughter.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Dana said.
“And you both have to have an answer, if you both want to stay,” he added. “There are motels forty-five minutes away. It’s not a bad drive.”
