1022 Evergreen Place - Debbie Macomber [103]
“Leave my daughter.”
“Leave Lori?” Linc couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“I’ll buy you out, make all the trouble you went to in getting that garage set up worth your while. All I ask is that you walk away from my daughter and don’t look back.”
How friendly he sounded. How cordial. Linc’s financial difficulties would disappear if he abandoned his wife.
Linc stared at him, still unable to believe that even Bellamy would suggest such a thing.
“I hear you’re late with last month’s payment to the bank.”
The only way Bellamy would know that was if someone from the bank had fed him the information.
“You made a mistake when you married my daughter.” His tone grew threatening again. “You saw her as an easy target.”
“I saw her as the most incredible woman I’ve ever known,” Linc countered. He meant it—meant it with everything in him.
Bellamy snickered. “And that’s why you married her…what, two weeks after you met?”
“Something like that.” After meeting Lori’s mother, Linc felt he should have insisted to Lori that they wait. In their haste to get married, Linc had planted the seeds of suspicion within her family. In retrospect he would’ve preferred to meet her parents first and give them the opportunity to know him. Bellamy might still have objected, but at least Linc would’ve made the effort. At least he would’ve created the beginnings of a relationship.
“There’s still time to fix this,” Bellamy said.
“You want me to leave Lori?” He shook his head as he said the words.
“Divorce her.”
The words hit him with such force, Linc stumbled back two steps. “I realize I was wrong. I should’ve come and talked to you first before marrying Lori. I should have—”
Red-faced, Bellamy leaned closer and when he spoke it was through gritted teeth. “Where you were wrong, young man, was in thinking you could get to me through my daughter.”
“Get to you?” The man seemed to assume the entire world revolved around him and his bank account. “I didn’t even know who you were.” Bellamy started to scoff but Linc talked right over him. “I married Lori because I’m in love with her. As for leaving her, I’d rather die first.”
Bellamy laughed in his face. “We both know my daughter’s incapable of making a decent decision. She’s an empty-headed—”
Linc had heard enough. He grabbed Bellamy by his fancy suit lapels and jerked him forward. “Don’t ever speak about my wife like that again,” he snapped. “Lori has brains and integrity, and if you don’t see that in her, I pity you.” He abruptly released the other man.
Bellamy straightened his sleeves and glared at Linc. “I could have you arrested for assault.”
“Go ahead.” If the man was determined to ruin him, he might as well do a thorough job.
“You stay married to my daughter and I’m cutting her out of my will. I swear to you that you won’t get a penny.”
“I doubt you’ll believe me, but I have no interest in your money.”
“You’re right. I don’t believe you.”
“Then that’s your problem.” Linc figured he might as well leave now, while his dignity was relatively intact.
When he returned to the garage, he saw that both employees were lounging around, idly entertaining themselves. One was working on a sudoku puzzle and the other was tossing cards into an empty coffee tin. Linc sent them both home.
An hour later, after he’d sorted through the bills that were stacked on his desk, he hung his head in abject frustration. He wouldn’t be able to make this month’s payment to the bank, either.
Unless something changed fast, Linc was about to go belly-up. He knew he had the option of filing for bankruptcy, but he refused to consider it. No matter what happened, he wouldn’t take the easy way out, wouldn’t walk away from his debts. He was the one who’d taken the financial gamble; he’d pay the price.
With his elbows propped on his desk, he shoved the hair away from his face. It was time to go home to Lori. At five-thirty, he posted the closed sign on the door.
Shoring up his resolve, Linc sat in his truck for several minutes before