1105 Yakima Street - Debbie Macomber [20]
“Yes, I think so.”
“What about Tanni and Nick?”
“I’m pretty sure they’re available. I’ll have to check.”
“Wonderful. I want all of you to meet my children.”
“Your children,” she repeated.
“Yes, I feel they should meet the woman I intend to marry.”
Shirley froze. The bag of popcorn she held fell from her hand and spilled its contents on the floor.
Six
Linc Wyse stepped outside the Wyse Man Garage and leaned against the building. Staying inside that office a moment longer would’ve been intolerable. The bills were piling up and he had nothing to pay them with. His bank account, which had been substantial and was supposed to carry him for six months, was nearly empty.
The frustration was killing him. Marrying Lori and keeping it a secret from her family, which hadn’t been his choice but hers, had created a fierce enemy in Lori’s father. Linc had tried but he’d been unable to convince Leonard Bellamy that he loved Lori, that he hadn’t married his daughter for her money. Not that Lori had any money now, except what she earned herself. But Linc didn’t care; he never had.
Despite that, Bellamy was out to ruin him and he was close to succeeding.
As Linc stared out at the street, a familiar truck passed, slowed down and then came to a stop in front of the garage. His brother-in-law. Linc straightened when Mack McAfee rolled down the driver’s window and called out, “Hey, Linc, how’s it going?”
Linc managed a grimace that he hoped would pass for a grin. “It’s going.”
“You don’t look that busy. Do you want to join me?”
“Where are you headed?”
“Mary Jo’s working late, Noelle’s at day care and I just finished helping a friend move. A beer sounds good to me.”
“It does to me, too, but I’d better stay here in case a job comes in.” The mid-September sunshine made for a warm afternoon, not that Linc noticed the weather much. With no work, he’d sent the men home. No point in paying for idle hands—but it would be just his luck to have two or three people show up and find no one there. That was a chance he couldn’t afford to take.
“Tell you what. I’ll pick us up a six-pack and be right back.”
Mack returned within fifteen minutes, got out of his truck and handed Linc a can. They sat in the office. Leaning back in his chair, Linc pulled the tab off the cold beer and took a long swallow, enjoying the taste. “Thanks,” he said to Mack, saluting him with the beer.
Mack nodded. “Haven’t seen much of you lately,” he commented.
Linc hadn’t been getting out. He didn’t have the inclination or, these days, the extra cash. But rather than respond, he shrugged.
“You look like a man who’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.” Mack leaned back, too. “Trouble?”
Once more he answered with a shrug. He was tired of holding everything inside and yet he was used to keeping his own counsel. Fixing his own problems. But this time he couldn’t. Bellamy was blackballing him—no other word for it—and the business was sinking fast. Not even Lori knew the extent of what her father had done, nor did she fully understand their financial situation. For that he had only himself to blame. Linc had told her next to nothing about any of this. Lori was angry enough with her father. Foolish and unrealistic though it seemed now, Linc had hoped to bring father and daughter together. It’d never been his intention to drive a wedge into their already strained relationship.
“Everyone’s got trouble,” Linc replied when he realized Mack was waiting for a response.
“True, but not all trouble is created equal, if you know what I mean.”
“Right,” Linc agreed.
“I’m here if you want to talk about it.”
Linc regarded the man his sister had married. He’d liked Mack from the start, although he’d initially had doubts about their living arrangement. He’d gotten over those doubts pretty fast. A firefighter and paramedic, Mack had helped deliver Noelle, Mary Jo’s baby girl. While it had bothered him that Mary Jo didn’t live close to her family, he’d felt better