her several times as my brain tried to digest her words. Was she actually going to accept my help? Yes, she was.
I smiled. "I'm okay with that. As long as you let me give you a really fair interest rate. Something low. How do you feel about zero percent?"
"You aren't going to give me a zero percent interest rate."
"Fine. One percent."
"I'm paying four percent on my house right now and three-point-five on my car. I'm not taking advantage of you with one percent interest," Cam said with a roll of her eyes.
It was time to bring out the big guns.
"Okay, I'm going to be completely honest with you. No matter what interest rate or loan term we agree upon, any interest you pay me will go into a savings account and be spent on your Christmas and birthday gifts every year," I told her.
"God, you're so cheap you'll use my own money to buy my gifts!"
"Zero percent and you don't have to worry about me spending obscene amounts of your own money on you every year."
"Why are we friends?" she asked, both frustrated and amused.
I had to shrug. "I'm not sure. You're the only person besides your parents who's willing to put up with me."
"Fine. Zero percent, but the term length will reflect the lack of interest."
"Awesome! Then you'll have your house paid off in fifteen years instead of thirty."
"How long do you think it will take to have the paperwork drawn up?"
When I tried to answer, she wagged a finger at me and said, "We will have an official contract, drawn up by your business manager or lawyer, or whoever handles this sort of thing for you."
"Well, I don't really have anyone who handles things for me except for Mr. McFadden who disperses my trust and keeps an eye on my investments."
"Then ask Mr. McFadden if he can do it or recommend someone."
"Look, Cam, I trust you to pay me back," I explained.
"I know you do, but I don't want to take advantage of you, so we're going to do it this way."
It was clear that this was a battle I wasn't going to win. "Fine. Can I go back to my contemplation of my inner eyelids?"
"Of course."
I started to lean back, then thought better of it. If the sale of her mortgage and car loans had gone through so fast, then Monica might decide to pull some shit before we could get our act together. "Actually, I'm going to call Mr. McFadden now. I have a feeling Monica will move quickly on this."
"Maybe, maybe not. Brody broke up with me, remember? She probably thinks she's won." Cam took a deep breath before she said, "Because she did."
She paused for a long moment then her entire demeanor changed.
"That ass. I can't believe him. I can't believe he didn't talk to me about all this before it got this far," she murmured.
"Who?" I had a feeling I knew who she was talking about, but I wanted to be sure.
"Brody Murphy. He thought he was being all noble and saving me like some damsel-in-distress."
Oh, I could totally see Brody doing something like that. Believing that he was breaking up with her for her own good, like some sort of white knight protecting his maiden. God, why were men so ridiculous?
I smiled at her. "Are you going to set him straight?"
"Damn, right."
22
Cam didn't go see Brody right away. No, she wanted to surprise him. It wasn't until the next day that she arranged to have a meeting with him just before lunch.
I had to admit, I was impressed with her sneaky skills. Cam was usually so forthright and honest that I'd forgotten how manipulative she could be when she put her mind to it.
It was probably my fault because I was a bad influence.
After her "appointment" with Brody, she was going to meet me at the bank so we could handle the transfer of funds so she could pay off her mortgage. Mr. McFadden, bless his heart, had done what I asked with little fuss and quite quickly.
He'd known me for years and knew that Cam was like a sister to me, so he didn't even bother to try and talk me out of my plan.
I could tell she was keyed up when she came into the bank, but I couldn't ask her what happened. There were too many people in the bank and most of them were trying, and failing, to listen to every word we said without letting on that