financial institution in order to buy our loan. The bastard’s been ready to step in for months.”
“But there have to be rules. He can’t just give you thirty days if it’s a thirty-year note.”
“Probably, who knows how any of it works, but our problem is that it wasn’t a mortgage. They had two buyers at the time Dad bought the bar. To secure the sale quickly, Dad took out a line of credit. But when Dad got sick, everything changed.”
The mere thought of losing everything caused a burst of adrenalin to dump through my system. I curled my fingers around the edge of the table while I tried to slow my heart rate. Needing to center myself on an object to control my fear, I glanced around until my eyes landed on Rocky, the moose behind the bar. I tried to focus on his eyes, but all I could think about was the day my dad had hung him. How we’d joked about putting Christmas ornaments on his antlers and tying a bow of garland around his neck. That bittersweet memory sped my heart up instead of slowing it so I darted my attention to the stage. My eyes traveled up to Edger and his stupid tasseled hat and I tried to focus on the muted colors. I unfocused my eyes until all I saw was a kaleidoscope of color, but that didn’t work either because I remembered my father wearing that stupid tasseled hat on his head while he hung Edger above the stage. I tore my eyes away, desperate to focus on anything that didn’t remind me of my father, and they landed on Logan. My heart rate began to calm within seconds as I remembered how he’d known exactly what to do to calm my fears that morning. How he’d come to my rescue on the highway. How he’d handled my brothers, and taken care of Josh as if he’d been doing it every day of his life.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I gritted my teeth and nodded as my heart rate slowed further, not taking my eyes off Logan until I was in full control. I wouldn’t let this fear beat me. Not again. Never again. “It was only supposed to be temporary,” I answered, ignoring her concern, shoving off the table to keep moving and burn off some of the adrenalin, “but Dad got sick, so Matt looked the other way and extended the loan for another couple of years. We made monthly payments like a mortgage, but the principal was due at the end of each loan term. It’s up next month, but instead of applying for a new loan Matt agreed to extend the loan again since I was covering the payments.”
“Then how can Chance call in the note if the term isn’t up?”
I took a deep breath through my nose then let it out slowly; relieved I’d overcome another panic attack before answering her. “We hadn’t done the paperwork before Chance strong-armed them into selling him the loan under threat of pulling his money.”
Jamie blinked. “You mean if his father had died a month later, you’d of had another year or two to come up with the principal? That’s awfully convenient, don’t you think?”
I raised a brow. “What? The fact his father died just in time to buy our note so he could exact his revenge on my family.”
Her face paled and her eyes grew huge. “Jesus, Skylar, that puts a whole new light on Chance . . . Do you think—”
“Do I think he killed his already dying father, just so he could mete out his revenge before we renewed the loan?”
She rolled her lips between her teeth and nodded slowly.
“No!” I couldn’t help but laugh. “He would never kill his father just to punish us when he could just wait until the loan came due again.”
Max came trotting over and leaned against my leg. I reached a hand down and ran it through his soft fur without thinking. My whole body relaxed further, and the remaining anxiety melted away when he began to lick my hand.
“Will he be able to stay in the bar when it’s open?” Jamie asked, squatting to her haunches to rub Max behind his ears.
“He’s a service dog,” a deep rumbling voice mumbled behind me. “He can’t be refused.” I would have jumped when Logan placed his hand on the small of my back, before leaning down to rub one of his large hands across Max’s head, but