if you’d like me to return the rest, I—”
“No,” I said, holding my hands up to stop her. “No need to. I figure you’re going to spend a lot of time on this, and a lot of gas going back and forth to Calvin. This should cover it plus some. Consider the rest a donation if you have to.”
“Mason, I…”
I turned and walked out of the kitchen before she could give me the money back. I knew she was worried about me wanting something from her; we’d had this talk already. Nothing I could say would convince her otherwise, but I wanted to make sure she was paid fairly. More than fairly, in fact.
I knew it likely wouldn’t cover all the repairs and everything she needed, and God, how I wish she’d accept more. But I was already pushing it with the wad of cash. Hopefully she’d see that I wanted nothing from her in return, and she’d allow me to help her in the future.
“Want to grab a bite to eat on the way home?” I asked Calvin. Not only did I want to make sure the old man ate, I dreaded going home. I knew Eli was still pissed at me for prioritizing this over another client meeting, but my priorities had shifted lately.
“Sure, as long as you let me pay this time,” Calvin said with a frown.
“Not a chance,” I muttered under my breath with a chuckle. I spoke quietly enough that he hadn’t heard me, which was good. I didn’t want him changing his mind. I wanted to make sure he had a good dinner, something other than ham sandwiches.
Danielle
“If you’re comfortable with it, I thought Oscar might stay here while I ran some errands,” I said, patting the dog on the head and scratching his ears.
“I think we’re ready for that, don’t you, pup?” Oscar walked over to Calvin, his tail wagging as he greeted the old man.
We’d been working together for over four weeks, and every day, it felt like I had to do less and less. I could just stand back and watch Oscar take over, caring for Calvin in ways even I hadn’t anticipated. They just connected in a way that felt magical, and I felt like we were getting closer to letting Oscar stay with the man full-time.
My heart felt heavy at the thought, but I knew the day was coming. I had to prepare for it one way or another.
“Call me if you need anything,” I said. “I’ll swing back by after I finish my errands - they shouldn’t take too long - and pick him up.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Calvin said, smiling brightly at the dog as if I wasn’t even in the room.
I took Skyler’s hand in mine and led her to our car. I hated dragging her along with me on errands like this, but I’d promised her, if she was well-behaved, we’d stop for ice cream afterward. But who was I kidding? I had the world’s best daughter. I knew she would behave herself.
In a way, the promise of ice cream might have been more for me, because I was dreading the task at hand. I’d been putting it off for weeks, hoping that the insurance check would arrive at some point. But I was told it could be another month or so since they were really backed up.
Mason’s payment had bought me some time. I was able to pay a month’s worth of bills, plus our living expenses. I tried to fix up my office and part of the rescue to hopefully resume operations, but the money did run out eventually. And I was still behind two months on the property, and after the third month, it would go up for auction. Greg had made it very clear to me what would happen if I didn’t get caught up. Not only would I lose my business and our home, but I’d likely lose my daughter as well.
I had to save the property.
Desperate times led to desperate measures, which was why I ended up parking outside of King Payday Loans. There was no sign to advertise this was, indeed, a business. My GPS had taken me down a back alley, which was a dead end, and I was parked near a dumpster. The front of the building used to be a hardware store, but they had closed down a year or so ago. I didn’t even know they had offices and businesses in the back. I’d