Beau sips his coffee. “Around five.”
My eyes widen. “Oh, wow. Okay. I’m sorry. I’ll set my alarm clock early tomorrow.”
Rhett heads to the kitchen, and I follow him. “No sense in that, wildflower. You might as well get your beauty sleep. You don’t need to rush to the office. I can’t get in there till about noon anyway. Want some coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
“You still take it with extra cream and two sugars?”
He remembers how I took my coffee when I was fifteen. Why can’t this man be mine? It takes me a second to catch my breath. “No sugar, just the cream, please.” He stills for a moment, and I chuckle. “Ignore the innuendo. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know, honey.” He winks.
Actually, I would love to mean those words, but we promised we’d be platonic. And that’s a solid, adult decision because I don’t think my heart can take getting naked with Rhett again and leaving him in a few months.
Which it looks like I’ll have to do because the man does not want to stay married, and no amount of wishing will change him.
Jace and Beau shoot each other a look. I suppose I should get used to that. I’m the interloper here.
Rhett hands me my cup. “Thanks for taking off my boots,” he says.
“I felt bad you fell asleep like that after chasing all those cattle.”
Reaching out, he tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “A long day in the saddle is good for a man’s constitution.”
Ugh, I could get lost in his beautiful dark brown eyes.
Beau coughs. “I hate to interrupt, but we need to discuss those contract terms.”
“What’s there to discuss?” Rhett heads back to the table and sits in front of a stack of paper. “I’m gonna sign it. Where else are we gonna get the money?”
“It’s twenty percent interest.”
My eyes widen. “How much is the loan?” I ask the question before I can think better of it. Really, it’s none of my business.
“Hundred grand.” Beau waves at the stack in front of his brother. “We need the cash, but that’s a steep price to pay.”
I grab a seat next to Rhett and turn to him. “That’s a lot of interest, right?”
“We don’t have a choice. We have a major cash flow problem. And because of that drought last year, our cattle weren’t heavy enough for market last month.”
Jace chugs his water. “Our trailer broke down and needs work, so even if we wanted to sell a few heads to get by, we couldn’t swing it.”
Rhett taps on the table. “Yeah, the interest sucks, but the bridge loan allows us to hold off on making any payments until the due date. That’ll help me get caught up on the mortgage, make payroll, fix the trailer, get extra bales of hay—the list goes on and on. The only downside besides the interest is the collateral.”
I lean forward. “Which is what?”
“Our horses, our trucks, and all our machinery.” His voice gets quiet. “And if we lose that, I’m not sure how we keep the ranch.”
My eyes widen. “And if you don’t take this loan?” There has to be another way.
“We lose the ranch later this month, thanks to a second mortgage we didn’t know about.” He explains that his father took it out while at the nursing home. “I only found out about it a few weeks ago when I went to pay the final bill at Shady Pines and they finally gave me our father’s belongings. That’s how we missed the notice of default and the bank’s other warnings.”
“So if you hadn’t gotten those items, the bank could have foreclosed, and you wouldn’t have known until it was repossessing the ranch?”
“Pretty much. Because all of the invoices were being mailed to the nursing home.” He lets out a weary sigh. “Dad signed a power of sale clause that means the bank has a preauthorization to sell the property without taking us to court. It expedites the process.”
“Is there any way to contest the loan itself? Your dad was in a freaking nursing home. Did he have the mental capability to know what he was signing?”
