I needed a nap.
And perhaps later, something a little stronger.
Two steps up the stairs, a knock came at the door. Holding Blaze in one hand, I gripped the rail and squeezed my eyes shut.It’s fine. This is fine. Everything will be fine.
Twisting the knob and opening the door, I realized just how wrong I’d been. It was not fine. This was not fine. Everything was not fine.
A man with a brown satchel, a pointed hat, and a full envelope stared back at me. If there’s one thing everyone knows, it’s that a man with a satchel and pointed hat has never meant anything good. My gut grew arms and punched my organs, knowing something had to be bad.
“Can I help you?”
His dark gray brows arched high above wide brown eyes, wrinkles folded at their corners; the weathered skin of his face suggested he hadn’t aged well. “I’m looking for Chester McCarthen.”
Chester.I held back a laugh. Nobody in Honey Brooke called my father by his real name.
“He isn’t here.” I shuffled my feet, shifting my weight. “And he isn’t coming back.”
Thinned lips and a muffled sigh made me uneasy. “Are you the new owner? Next of kin?”
Why did my mind blank? Was I the new owner of McCarthen’s Sanctuary for Magical Creatures? It was the first time I’d been referred to as such, and it shook me. It was mine. Not my father’s. Not the town’s. Not Laken’s.
“Yes, I am. What is this regarding?”
The pointed-hat man studied me, taking me in for better or for worse. “I have papers to deliver.”
“What kind of papers?”
He handed over the envelope. “Last notification of outstanding debt papers.”
Oh, my mother of a poisonous porcupine Gods.Sometimes, when things continuously get piled on top of you and life drags you through the mud and the muck, all it takes is a gust of wind to topple it all.
This was my gust of wind.
“Outstanding debt?” I peeked at the papers. “How much money are we talking?” Scanning the words, I found it. Twelve thousand macs. “What in the fuck for?” Excuse my language, but what? How? Why? Why did this envelope feel like it hadmyname on it now?
Gods… that man. Twelve thousand in debt. How was this place still standing? How much damage had been done?The sanctuary used to function from donors and sales; where had they gone? My father truly let himself go and took the sanctuary with it.
The man’s eyes awkwardly darted side to side, the space between us filled with an uncomfortable silence. “The building…” he started and stopped. “The building the hellblazers burned down a couple years ago.” He had to be joking. “Your father paid to fix it with a loan using the sanctuary as collateral and that is the remainder.”
You don’t say.“How do I know this is real?” I asked, assessing him from head to toe. “How do I know you aren’t just trying to swindle me?”
Frowning, he dropped his belongings with a thud, opened his coat jacket, and pulled out… a license: Honey Brooke Bank Collection Agency.
I hummed. “I don’t know, sounds fake.” It seemed like exactly the thing someone impersonating a debt collector would show. Zeroing in on it further, his name, Collin Reds-worth, sounded familiar.
“You went to school with my little sister,” he scolded.Ah. That’s right. Chloe Redsworth.
I made a face. “Fine, I believe you.” I placed Blaze on my shoulder and examined the papers. “Twelve thousand macs. Okay, okay.” Forcing my glare to the man, I hid my panic behind bit lips. “When do you need it by?”
His features did not move. “Thirty days.”
Smothering my seething pain and sinking hope, I shrugged and bit my cheek. “Thirty days. Is that thirty daysfrom today? Thirty days from tomorrow? Are we counting weekends or is it thirty weekdays?”
Collin didn’t even blink; it seemed unnatural. His chest didn’t rise and fall. If I weren’t mistaken, I’d say he wasn’t even breathing. “Thirty days from today.”
I made myself smile. “Yes, well, thank you for stopping by. I’ll get the money to you in thirty days.” Absolutely. No doubt, no worries. Let me just pull it out of my ass real quick.
With a quick nod, he tucked away his folders, closed his bag, and made for the gate. I waved, happy and calm and completely composed. Little runt of an ass walked as if a stick were up his. If one more man with important papers showed up in my life, I’d be receding into the woods.
