Something's Gotta Give (Tempered Steel Book 3) (9 page)

Chance sat and she placed a steaming bowl of stew along with a generous portion of beer bread and butter on the table. He noticed apple tarts cooling on a rack on the counter as she took the chair opposite him.

“I know about Georgia and her fears. Missy Dee told me years ago.” Ginny started out. “I also know she thought Georgia has been in love with you since she was fourteen.”

Chance pushed the spoon around his stew. “She was a kid. I was kind to her.”

“Did you even ask why she doesn’t do the volunteer firefighting, anymore?”

Chance was perplexed. “I thought she still did. I assumed she wasn’t going out because of her ankle, then this mess with Trudy and Missy Dee dying…”

Ginny reached across the table and took his hand. “Chance, she went in that fire under direct orders to stay out. Joe knew how she felt about you and he didn’t want to risk her emotions getting involved if they were too late. She went in alone to find you. Luckily, Mac was right behind her and they were able to save you.” Ginny swiped at her tears again. “Joe put her on suspension until further notice.”

“She was the best damn firefighter he said he had, but she was useless when her emotions were involved.” Ginny looked into her son’s eyes and continued. “I noticed her myself when we came to the hospital. She was sitting in the chapel, crying and praying. I found her the next morning, holding your hand through the bed railing and sleeping in the chair. I don’t know exactly what went on between the two of you, but all of this does not sound like the kind of woman who doesn’t love you.”

Chance was in shock. He hadn’t known any of this. He swallowed down the lump in his throat.

“She’s hurting right now, son. And instead of breaking down the walls she’s erected by whatever means necessary, you’ve walked away to lick your wounds. You put yourself and your needs above hers. If you truly love her, she must always come first.”

Chance looked down in shame. Sam had said basically the same thing to him. His mother squeezed his hand.

“Now, don’t go getting all worried about it. It’s human nature. We are flawed individuals and we are going to screw up. But it’s how we deal with it when we do that determines the life we lead and what we value.” She patted his hand. “And I’m not saying she’s blameless in this mess either. You’ve got to have a stern talking to her when you’re back together about trying to do everything on her own. She’s got a family with us now. She needs to allow us in.”

Chance smiled and dug into his lunch. Georgia might think she was tough, but she had nothing on his mother. He could picture Ginny grabbing his Peaches by the ear and tugging her along if she didn’t get with the program.

The phone rang and Ginny got up to answer it as he snuck an apple tart from the counter. He was just taking his first bite, when she turned to him in shock. “Chance, Angel needs you. She’s been attacked.”

Chance was out the door and heading down the hill to his truck.

CHAPTER NINE

“What do you mean I don’t own the house? Missy Dee made me the executor of her will.” Georgia sat in the bank manager’s office, one week after Missy Dee’s funeral, reeling from the bombshell the man had unwittingly dropped on her.

Leonard Holstein sighed with deep regret as the president of the Jersey Farmers Bank. He hated this part of his job. “Georgia, were you aware that Missy Dee had taken out another mortgage on the home?”

Georgia was completely shocked. “No, I don’t understand. Why would she do that? We were fine. The daycare is doing well. She had the pension from her late husband, plus her Social Security and Medicare. Are you telling me something was wrong? Was she ill?”

Mr. Holstein sighed. “Georgia, the loan was taken out about thirteen years ago. Missy Dee came in and said she needed a loan for $60,000.”

“The loan was for $60,000?” Georgia asked incredulously. “I don’t understand. What would she need $60,000 for?” She tried to recall any major repairs to the house. Then she knew. “My God! My college tuition cost $60,000?”

Mr. Holstein nodded his head in the affirmative. “Yes dear. Apparently with the bills and everything from your momma’s sickness, there wasn’t a whole lot left and Missy Dee wanted to make sure you got a proper education. She took out that money to pay for your college. I take it you didn’t know, sweetie?”

Georgia sat back stunned. Missy Dee had told her that her mom’s life insurance had set aside money for her to go to school. She’d just blindly accepted it.

She looked to the bank manager, blinking back tears. “So how much does she still owe? I… I’ll set up a payment arrangement, Sir, or something.” Mr. Holstein shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, Georgia, but Missy Dee’s in default on the payments. From what I understand, she came in about a year ago trying to renegotiate, but my hands were tied. There was nothing I could do.” He looked up at her.

“I didn’t know. She never said a word. I’d offered to pay rent, but she wouldn’t have any of it,” Georgia cried. “I didn’t know.”

Mr. Holstein shuffled his papers in front of him, embarrassed. “I know, Georgia. She insisted we not tell you, but now there’s nothing to be done. I was going to come to you, myself, in the next month or two, if we couldn’t figure something out. I tried. But now it’s too far gone into foreclosure. The Board of Directors don’t live around here. They don’t see our community for anything but the next dollar.”

              Georgia looked up at him. “Are you telling me I’m going to lose my home?”

“Yes darlin’, I’m afraid so. We’re going to have to foreclose within the next 90 days on the home and the property. Unless you come up with $60,000, actually it’s $67,528. She was only making interest payments, and then not even that, sometimes.”

Georgia sat back in shock. She was losing the only home she had ever known. The home that housed her business. All of it would be gone because she had nothing. There was no way she could come up with the money. Unless…

“Do you think you can give me a loan for the amount?”

“I’m afraid you have to get in line with the rest. It will have to go through foreclosure then you can just buy it outright or we could short sale, I suppose, but again, that’s up to the bank and the Board of Directors. They see that property as worth a lot more than $67,000. Between the location and the acreage, they’re talking about selling it around $350,000-$375,000, and I don’t think we can get them below that.”

“Is there anything we can do? Isn’t there any way I can just pay the 67,000?”

The bank manager shook his head.

Georgia suddenly felt very faint. “Can I have a glass of water, please? I’m not feeling very well.”

Mr. Holstein hastened around the desk to get the water and Georgia was alone for a moment. She didn’t know what to do. She held her head in her hands.
I have no home. I have no one. I am pregnant. My God, what am I going to do?

Mr. Holstein came in with a glass of water and she drank it greedily, praying it would stay in her stomach. “I don’t know what to do next. You have to tell me,” she murmured.

Mr. Holstein nodded. “I guess I would say it would be best to start packing up some things. You find yourself somewhere else to go with the daycare. There are plenty of properties here in town, and I can connect you with one of the realtors if you don’t already know one…” He faltered at the look of desolation on her face, but Georgia nodded.

              “Yes, I guess that’s the next step. Thank you for your time.” She got up and a wave of dizziness passed through her. She grabbed hold of the chair.

“Are you all right, Georgia?” Mr. Holstein came around the edge of the desk. “Do you want me to call Chance?”

“No!” she said. “No. I don’t know what you heard, Mr. Holstein, but Chance and I aren’t… we’re just friends. No, I’ll be fine. I’ll just get some fresh air and figure out what I’m going to do with my life. Thank you.” She stood up, straightening her shoulders, and walked out the door as her world crashed around her.

              Georgia wandered around town in a daze. She couldn’t believe she was homeless. There was nothing left for her here. She glanced up as she passed the police station and saw Chance’s truck. She wondered if something had happened with the vandals. Perhaps there had been an opening in the case. She prayed the Coalsons would find out what was going on before anyone else got hurt, but right now she couldn’t think about anything but her loss.

              The door to the police station opened and Miss Maisy walked out. “Oh Georgia, thank goodness. Have you heard what I’ve gone through today? Vandals and crazies and I had to shoot a man! It’s enough to make a good woman sick. You want to come with me, go get a drink of sweet tea at Kate’s?”

Georgia stopped and looked at Miss Maisy. “What? What are you talking about?”

              Miss Maisy gave her a long, hard look. “Georgia, honey, I’m talking about what happened to Angel. She was almost raped and murdered in her own home. Didn’t you know?”

Georgia fell back against Chance’s truck. “I had no idea. I was just coming from the bank.”

Miss Maisy took her by the hand and led her back into the police station. “They’re all in there. You need to go in there, she should have a friend. She’s all right. I was there and I shot at him. I shot the bastard, but he got away. Now the whole town’s looking for him. You best get in there for her.” She gave Georgia a little shove.

              Georgia walked quickly into the police station, and nodding towards one of the police officers, he pointed her back to Ben’s office.

The door burst open and Georgia Haines came through. Chance dropped his arms from Angel so fast she would have fallen if she hadn’t made a quick grab for Ben’s desk.

“Angel, are you hurt?” Georgia inquired. “I just heard about it.” She completely ignored Chance. He frowned at her rudeness until he noticed the blush covering her cheeks.

“Oh, for the love of….” Ben mumbled as he came around to help Angel. “Georgia will you put this boy out of his misery and get back with him. And Chance, she knows you don’t care about Angel that way. It’s been Sam and Angel since Sam was old enough to know what to do with a woman.”

It was Angel’s turn to gasp.

“Sorry, Angel, but facts are facts. Speaking of the stubborn ass, have you contacted him?” he aimed his question at Chance.

“I couldn’t reach him. That’s why I called Chance,” Angel answered.

Ben reached for the phone.

“Oh, please don’t. He’ll just find a way to keep me under lock and key,” Angel pleaded.

Georgia glanced at Chance, who looked caught between a rock and a hard place. She couldn’t help but save him. “In this town, honey, he probably already knows and is on his way.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be along soon. He was in Alton all day with those friends from his Navy days. They are helping with the investigation,” Chance volunteered. He looked longingly at Georgia, but she was checking Angel’s wound. Now that he knew all she had given up for him, he simply wanted to hold her.

“It’s not bad. I don’t think she needs to go to the hospital.” She glanced at him then turned away and walked to the opposite side of the room, where she studied Chance from between her lashes.

“Fine. Now that we’ve all determined where Sam is, whether Angel needs stitches, and that Chance doesn’t want Angel, he wants Georgia, can you all please leave so I can get some damn work done and find the bastard that did this?” Ben looked at each blushing face in turn.

“Angel, if you think of anything he said or did, which could help, let me know.” Ben retreated behind his desk, dismissing them.

Chance stepped up to hold the door open for the women and Georgia breezed through with Angel in tow. Angel stopped in the doorway, a frown on her face. “Did I tell you that he said his boss wanted him to do something and that I was his, er, payment?” Angel shuddered as she flashed back to that moment.

Ben sat up. “Did he say anything specific?”

Angel gulped. “No. Just what he wanted me to do to him, and then he was going to take the stuff in the safe.”

“I’m going to need specifics, Angel.” Ben saw her pale and relented. “It can wait until Sam gets back. Until then, I want someone with you at all times. I can’t spare someone here. You know we are limited. Can you stay with Frankie or Georgia until we catch this guy?”

Georgia nodded, but Angel shook her head. “No! Absolutely not! And put them in danger? No way. And you know Frankie’s got her hands full with her father’s illness.”

Chance rolled his eyes. “Now, Ben, do you really think Sam’s going to let her stay by herself with the bastard still at large? Especially since they are back together?”

Ben turned a dull red. “Uh, sorry.” He shuffled some papers. “I was unaware of your reconciliation.”

“Don’t know how you could have missed it, Ben. It was the talk of Kate’s Café this morning.” Chance winked at Georgia.
Please just smile at me. Blush, Peaches. Throw your arms around me and kiss me, anything.

“I was running late. I didn’t stop in for coffee this morning.” If anything, Ben got even redder.

“Yep,” Chance smirked and sidled closer to Georgia. He leaned over and affected a stage whisper. “That was also commented on. Folks wondered just what was keeping him in bed so late.” When Georgia turned to him, he winked at her.

Angel snorted and covered her mouth with her hand as Ben stood up and leaned over his desk. “None of your damn business, Chance Coalson. Now get your ass out of my office before I haul you in for obstructing justice!”

Chance grabbed Angel’s elbow and helped her, laughing, as they exited the police station, Georgia following silently behind.

Georgia knew she had to get away from Chance as soon as they hit the street. Just seeing him again was making her weak in the knees and wanting to fall into his strong arms and tell him all her troubles. She glanced back to find him helping Angel into his truck and hurried to her car. She opened the door, only to have it slammed back closed. Chance wasn’t going to let her go that easily.

“Why are you running, Peaches?” Chance frowned at her.

Georgia closed her eyes as fierce longing quickly spread throughout her, just from the sound of his voice. It warred with the exhaustion and the nausea that now seemed to be a part of her life. She swayed.

“Dammit, Georgia. You’ve made yourself sick trying to be so fuckin’ brave.” Chance leaned into her, blocking her escape as his arms closed around her. “Come home, darlin’. Come home with me and let me take care of you. I know you didn’t mean what you said. You were scared. I’m scared, too. Love is scary, baby.” He soothed a hand down her strawberry locks.

Home. It sounded wonderful. But she didn’t have a home, anymore. And seeing Chance again only made her ache more. There was no reason to stay in Grafton, if she couldn’t have Chance. She wouldn’t be a damn burden, either. She could do this on her own. She could raise their baby. At least she’d have a part of Chance just for her.
It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?

She pulled out of his arms. “No. You need to take care of Angel. I’m fine. Just tired.  I’ll go home and take a nap.”

She opened the car door and then turned to him. “Why won’t Ben ask Chief Terry to assign one of his men to watch over Angel?” It seemed a logical solution to her.

Chance leaned in to whisper. “Georgia, honey, Terry was the one who looked the other way when Trevor Devereaux bribed those two police officers to plant the drugs on Sam. Nothing was ever proven, but Ben’s made our family his personal business from then on. He can’t stand Terry, and we sure as shit don’t trust him.”

“How on earth did he move up the ranks?” Georgia was incensed at the thought that justice had not been served and poor Angel had suffered for fifteen years because of it.

“Politics, baby.  Somebody in this town wanted the cops in their pocket. Until now, as long as they left us alone and nothing happened around here, Ben’s been hesitant to start an internal investigation with no real proof.”

Chance took the opportunity to kiss her cheek and Georgia’s breathe hitched. “Please. Chance, stop.” She pushed at his shoulders.

“Never, Peaches,” Chance murmured against her skin. “I’ll never stop loving you.”