Mati plunked her head onto her knees and started laughing. “Holy Christ, no,” she said in a muffled voice. “Check your phone. I’m sure you’ll see for yourself.”
Reese shared a quick, worried look with David, then checked his emails. His heart fell. “Oh, dear.”
“What is it?” David asked.
Mati’s head came up. “Tell me.”
The house was mortgaged to the full value and possibly beyond, given the shifts in the market over the past year. Reese had no idea how they’d managed payments this large. Perhaps via a significant retirement savings. He scrolled further.
Or not.
Reese turned to Mati, putting his hand on David’s thigh and squeezing tight, hoping he’d understand. “Let’s go back to the house. It’s going to take a while to sort through all the data coming in, and they’re sending details I’d rather let you read first.”
Mati wilted, from pissed off to heartbroken in the blink of an eye. “It’s that bad?”
Reese remained silent, which meant the answer wasyes.
David’s hand curled around his. “Okay,” he said, giving them both a stern look, “I don’t completely understand what you two do for a living, but I’ve been listening to you work together, and Idoknow you’re wicked smart and more than resourceful enough to figure this out, good or bad. Now, you have to tell me what I can do to help.”
Mati smiled gratefully, but it was still sad.
Reese’s mind was made up. He’d buy the fucking bank that held those mortgages if he had to, do whatever it took to help Mati and her parents—but he didn’t say any of that. First, because he didn’t want Mati to kill him. And second, because it was entirely possible she wouldn’t need his help anyway.
They needed to assess, plan, and then execute on whatever she decided. They needed to get to work.
“Thereissomething you can help with,” Reese said, letting go of David’s hand. “You get in the back and cheer Mati up. I’ll drive us home.”
David grinned. “That I can do.”
Mati’s eyes widened with alarm when David crawled right over the seats and practically into her lap.
Reese drove the roads home with familiar ease while Mati and David snuggled in the back seat. Reese was sorry he couldn’t join them, but he was pleased with how much calmer Mati seemed. It wasn’t until they were parking in front of the house that it occurred to Reese that he probably should have updated Hodges about a few of the more personal changes that had taken place in Reese’s life since his departure for Boston.
As it was, Hodges happened to be out front shoveling when Reese pulled up. He did a double take when he saw Reese behind the wheel, the beginnings of a broad smile covering his face. Then he caught sight of Mati curled up in David’s arms in the back seat and looked horrified.
Reese jumped from the car. “Hello, Hodges!”
“Reese,” he said, tearing his eyes away from Mati and David and managing a smile. “It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to be seen,” Reese quipped, feeling oddly like he ought to hug Hodges. That wasn’t how things usually worked between them, but since Reese hadn’t spent any significant time away from the man in years, it seemed…right.
Before he could act on that impulse, Mati sprang from the car and flew across the driveway. “Hodges!”
Hodges’ eyes practically bugged out of his head, he looked so shocked, but he had the wherewithal to drop his shovel and catch Mati in a hug.
“Matilda,” he said with affection, clearly confused but also delighted.
Hugging really wasn’t their thing around here. At least, it hadn’t been.
Hodges would have to adjust.
Mati stepped back, holding Hodges at arm’s length to smile up at him. “I missed you.”
Hodges turned a marvelous shade of pink.
“I missed you, too,” he managed, awkward as hell, but sincere.
Reese figured it couldn’t get any worse, so as soon as Mati stepped back, he hugged Hodges, too.
