great? Good? Awful?” He shook his head. “It’s been too long. I’m not sure what to say.”
She laughed, so nervous she couldn’t even react normally around him. “It would be great, except I don’t have another place to move into.”
“Oh.”
“The buyer paid cash and getting the place in a week was a condition of the sale and I really needed the sale...so I took the offer.”
“You need money?” He frowned. “You own an investment firm.”
And here was the tough part. Her wonderful, funny, smart husband had done what he’d had to do to buy Seth’s share. Had he lived, that loan would have been a footnote in his life story. As it was, it had all but destroyed his legacy. The last thing in the world she wanted to do was tell Clark’s best friend that he’d failed—
No, the last thing in the world she wanted to do was tell her parents Clark had failed. Seth, at least, would give Clark the benefit of the doubt. Her parents—her mother—would have a royal fit, then belittle Clark every time Harper mentioned his name.
“I had to sell the firm. Clark had leveraged it to get the money to buy your share and the market plummeted. It was like a perfect storm, Seth. I couldn’t pay the loan and I couldn’t sell the firm until I dropped the price to a few hundred thousand dollars over the amount we owed.” She shifted the focus of Seth’s disappointment from Clark to her. “And that money’s almost gone because I needed it for living expenses while I had the baby and waited to sell the condo.”
A hush fell over the room. Harper refused to say anything more. He might not belittle Clark the way her mom would when Harper finally told her parents she was broke, but Seth was an entitled rich kid. He’d dropped out of his family for a while, but when he and Clark had graduated university, Seth had used his connections to land them jobs in an investment firm. He’d gotten family friends to pony up the starting funds when he and Clark wanted to open their own company. When the business was more than on its feet, he’d found the money to buy out their investors. And when he needed to go to work for his family’s company, after his dad’s death, he’d easily handed over the firm’s reins to Clark, not caring that he was giving up what could have been a gold mine if he and Clark had stayed around to run it.
Seth might have lived poor for a few years while he finished school, but he had no concept of genuine, lifelong struggle. And Harper wouldn’t let him think less of Clark because he’d lost what he and Seth had built.
After a few seconds, Seth sighed. “And you sold your condo because that was mortgaged, too?”
“I didn’t realize until after Clark died that we’d spent every penny he’d earned.” She gave him time to digest that, then added, “He really liked you. He liked the life you brought him into. I know why he overextended us financially. And I’m not sorry he lived the way he wanted to while he had a chance. I’m not asking for anything except some help figuring my way out of this. Some advice.”
“Even if you rent, you’re going to need more than a week to find a place.”
“I know.”
Three-month-old Crystal stretched. Her head rose above the bundle of blankets she’d been snuggled into, revealing a tiny pixie face and a head full of short, shaggy black hair. Realizing the baby was waking from the stroller-induced nap, Harper slid the diaper bag out of the bin behind the seat. “I’m going to have to warm a bottle.”
Seth looked at Crystal. “Is she waking up?”
“Yes. She won’t fuss if I have a bottle ready.”
He rose, as if confused. “Okay.”
“Just let me warm the bottle and I’ll be all set.”
She took the diaper bag into the kitchen and removed a bottle. As she opened the cupboard door to get something to hold enough water to warm it, she watched Seth peer into the stroller from about six feet away.
“You can actually get close enough to look at her.”
Seth grimaced. “Not on your life. I have a niece a few months older than she is and I’ve never even held her.”
Harper clicked her tongue. “Seth! Babies are wonderful.”
“They look like they are. And my brother absolutely adores his. But they’re small and fragile and they frequently leak bodily fluids. I’m keeping my distance.”
She nodded, grateful for the small reprieve in talking about the mess she’d gotten herself into. She filled a mug with hot water and slid the bottle inside. Knowing it would take a few minutes to warm the formula that way, she walked back into the living room.
Seth said, “She’s pretty. Looks a lot like my niece. Dark hair. Pale eyes.”
“Sounds like your brother.”
He laughed. “He has a talent for getting his own way about things.” But Seth’s laughter quickly died. His solemn dark eyes met hers. “You do realize how much trouble you’re in.”
“And you’re about to tell me the only answer is to go back to my parents.” She shook her head. “That has to be my last resort. My mother was abysmal to Clark until he started that business with you. Then she was constantly on his back to be more, to push for more, to have more. If I go home now and tell her that I not only sold the investment firm, I sold the condo to get out from under loans, she’ll lose all respect for him.”
Seth silently studied Harper. Still beautiful. Still tempting. And in so much trouble financially he wasn’t even sure how to counsel her.
He spent his days haggling with contractors, hammering out contracts with some of the savviest businessmen in the world and fighting to make sure McCallan, Inc. stayed at the top of its industry. Yet he had absolutely no idea what to say to one little woman.
If she were anybody else, he’d easily tell her, “Suck it up, Buttercup. You’ve got no option but to move back in with your parents.”
Except, she wasn’t staying away from them for herself. She was holding back, probably waiting until she had herself on solid ground, before she had to tell her parents her husband had put her into debt. She was protecting Clark.
How could someone who’d fought his own condescending father most of his life not respect that?
The baby stirred again. Harper went to the kitchen and got the bottle.
Just as the little girl began to fuss, Harper was back, bottle in hand, lifting Crystal, settling her on her lap and feeding her.
It all seemed to simple, so easy. He’d seen his sister-in-law, Avery, do something similar. But Avery had tons of help. Not just Seth and Jake’s mom, but Avery’s mom, her dad and a nanny. He’d always thought Avery made being a mom look easy, but he’d apparently missed a lot about parenting in his years of avoiding babies.
“So, I’m kinda broke, but not really,” Harper said, feeding the hungry baby. “With the sale of the condo I have a hundred thousand dollars to play with. Either to use for a down payment on a new condo or to live on until I find a job.”
He sat back down,
