“I’m not sure what he’s capable of, but do you really want to take that chance?”
He gets out his phone, calls his son, and tells him to go next door until he gets home. A modicum of relief settles in. At leasthe trusts me enough to validate my fears. That, or Cyrus showing up scared him more than I’d like to think about.
“Okay, so I won’t leave Christian alone at the house until this is resolved. If he can’t go next door after school, he can come to the shop. And my siblings are always there for him, twenty-four seven. But Kenna, we need to be smart about this. Is there anything you can tell me about Cyrus? Something we can take to the police? Build a harassment case?”
I feel bad that he’s thinking all these things. Guilt eats away at me knowing he’s torn up inside, and all because I’m too scared to reveal my true circumstances. “I told you before, going to the police is pointless.”
“There must be something, though. You worked for the guy as his assistant. You must’ve had access to information about him. Emails? Maybe things you didn’t think were pertinent then but are.”
“I wasn’t privy to sensitive information. He even did his own billing.”
“Just think about it. Even the smallest detail could be important. We can talk more when I come back. Or if you come up with anything, you can text or call me.”
I lift a brow. “You’re coming back?”
He grins and tucks my hair behind my ear, his fingers tickling my neck. “Did you think I was just going to dump you in my cabin in the woods and leave you to fend for yourself?”
I motion to all the food. “I’d hardly be fending. You’ve set us up pretty nicely. And speaking of that…” I reach for my purse. “What do I owe you for the food?”
“Don’t worry about it. And I’m not going to abandon you here. I’ll come back tomorrow after work.”
“Carter, you shouldn’t do that. You have Christian.” I pull a few hundred dollars from my wallet. “Here.”
He pushes my hand away. “Stop giving me money, Kenna.”
I lean over and tuck the bills into his front pocket. This amuses him.
“Well, this might be fun,” he jokes, glancing at my purse. “How much more do you have in there?”
I roll my eyes and laugh.
“Seriously, Kenna, I don’t want your money. There’s already a pile on my counter I’m never going to touch.” He hesitates. “But I have to ask… did you rob a bank or, I don’t know, run some sort of money laundering scheme? It’s okay, you can tell me. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not a criminal, Carter.”
“Phew.” He mocks relief.
I gesture to his pocket. “Put it in Christian’s college fund. I’m not your charity case.”
“I never said you were.”
“Then quit treating me like one and take the money.”
He holds up his hands. “Fine.”
“And don’t come back tomorrow. You have a son. And a business to run. And siblings who are worried about that business.” I look up at the antlers. “Speaking of your siblings, doesn’t Mia ever come here? Between those hideous things and the ridiculous bedspread, I can’t imagine.”
“Mia’s not big on fishing. And don’t knock the bedspread. I love that thing.” He looks around. “I love this cabin.” He sighs. “This place holds some of the only good memories of my childhood. Which is why it bums me out that tomorrow when I meet with the others, I’m going to suggest we sell it.”
“Sell it? Really?”
He nods sadly. “I thought about it the whole way here. It’s ludicrous to hang onto it when we have the balloon payment looming over our heads.”
“There’s got to be some other way. If you love this place, you should keep it.”
“I don’t think it’s possible. Even with the proceeds, we’ll come up short. We knew the payment was coming due, but we were foolish. We thought we’d be able to save more this year, but with how it’s looking now, we’ll be refinancing for sure.” He leans forward, forearms on his knees, staring at the old wood floor covered by an area rug with, you guessed it,fishon it. “It’s not the end of the world, but damn it, we were really counting on owning the shop outright and then starting to realize all the profits. I was going to be able to save for Christian’s education. Now… I don’t know. He might have to settle for going to the local college in Calloway Creek.”
There’s a college in Calloway Creek? Oh, right. I recall Mia saying she met a grad student. I wonder if they offer personal finance courses. My brain gets way ahead of me when I think how nice it would be to finally earn a degree.
