Suddenly the good vibes they’d been feeling floated away like a wispy cloud on a windy day. She and Spring were waiting for the bank manager to beg for a refinancing of their mortgage. With the continued downturn in business, it was impossible to make the monthly payments, let alone the exorbitant late fees on the account.
“Do you think they’ll give us a break? I mean, we’ve been good customers over the years.”
“We know that, but I think the only thing these folks take in consideration is getting their money, any way possible.”
Spring let out a loud sigh. “I don’t want to think about the diner closing, Summer. Mama sacrificed everything for it. ”
“I know, honey.”
“Summer,” her sister started with a hitch in her voice. “What if we can’t refinance the loan.”
Summer patted her sister on the leg and gave her a weak smile. “Let’s think about that if it happens. Happy thoughts, okay?”
“Okay.” The two sisters picked up their conversation about Summer’s engagement, but all talk ceased when the loan officer strolled into his office.
“Sorry to keep you ladies waiting,” he offered as he unbuttoned his suit jacket and took a seat behind the desk. “Can I get you something to drink, eat?”
“No thank you,” Summer said after looking over to her sister. “We’re fine.”
“Alright then, let’s get down to business.” He flipped open a thick file on his desktop, rubbed his hand down his face and shook his head.
Summer took a sharp intake of breath and glanced at Spring. Not good. “Is there something wrong?”
He lifted his head and quickly plastered a wan smile on his face. “Oh, no. Nothing’s wrong. I’m just making sure of my facts before I start talking, that’s all.”
A shudder worked its way down Summer’s spine and she suddenly felt cold on this sweltering, August day. And it had nothing to do with the air conditioning in the building. She had a feeling this little meeting was not going to end well.
“Ms. Hughes,” he began looking at both sisters, “I know you’ve been long time customers of the bank—”
“The whole family has, sir. We’ve stuck with you despite all the changes in name and management.”
“And we truly appreciate your patronage.”
“Do you appreciate it enough to refinance the mortgage?” Spring asked sitting forward in her seat.
“Spring!” Summer turned the best she could to face her little sister and give her the evil eye.
“That’s alright. I’ve heard much worse.” He closed the file and took a deep breath. “I’ve had the opportunity to review your whole file and know that your business is having a hard time as of late.”
Summer simply nodded, not trusting her voice right now. She swallowed a huge lump in rolled her lips inward.
“I’m so sorry, ladies, but the bank can’t refinance the mortgage at this time. There simply isn’t enough income coming in.”
The tears Summer had desperately been trying to hold back began to trickle down her cheeks. Spring leaned forward and snagged several tissues from a box on the manager’s desk and used them to wipe away Summer’s tears.
“So that’s all?” Spring asked with a note of sarcasm in her voice. “That’s it? All those on time payments don’t count, huh?”
“Spring, don’t take it out on Mr. Webb. He’s just doing his job.” Disappointment weighing her down, Summer struggled to get to her feet. “Thank you for your time.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Spring said as she followed her sister from the office. Once safely outside she added, “For nothing!”
Not bothering to chastise Spring again, Summer put her head down and waddled to the exit as fast as she could. Before she could step out into the bright sunshine, a voice brought her up short. Vance?
“Yeah, it’s nice to see you again, Vance,” a man’s voice said. “So California wasn’t all that they’d hyped it to be, huh?”
“Nope. The weather was on point, but I needed to come back home.”
Summer swiveled her head around to find Vance standing in the middle of the lobby, speaking to what looked like a bank employee. By this time, Spring had noticed him too, and tried to pull Summer out the door. Instead, she moved closer to hear more.
“There’s no way anyone could have talked me into giving up those big bucks to return here.”
Vance chuckled. “There are more important things in life than money, Ramone.”
“Like what?”
“Like—” Before Vance could complete the sentence, he turned his head and his gaze collided with his fiancé’s. “Summer? What are you doing here?”
She tried her best to calm herself down in order to respond in a coherent manner. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”
Vance’s face took on an ashen hue and he bit down on his lower lip. “I’m here to see some old friends.”
“Okay,” Summer drew out. Then her eyes narrowed as a thought sprung into her head. “Work friends?”
Vance slowly nodded. “Yes, I used to work here.”
Realization hit Summer like a two by four to her head. He worked for the bank that was trying to foreclose on the diner! “Tell me everything. Now.”
Vance tried to take her by the arm, but she stepped away. “Let’s go somewhere private to talk about this, honey.”
“Don’t honey me. You’ve got one minute.” She followed to the other side of the lobby, her arms crossed over her chest. With her toe tapping, she cautiously eyed him as he began to speak.
“Let me start by saying I’m sorry.”
“For what, exactly?”
“Not coming clean about my position with the bank. When I came to the diner the first time, I really came to check out the business.”
“Excuse me?”
“I am or was a mortgage specialist with the bank. My job was to determine if the process should begin.”
“You mean foreclosure on the diner, right?”
“Yes. But when I met you, I knew I couldn’t hold onto the case. I transferred it to someone else.”
“But you never disclosed who you really were.”
“I was falling in love with you, Summer.” He took a step in her direction but stopped when she held a hand up.
“But you knew all about our financial problems. I poured my heart out to you. About everything.”
“What can I do to prove how sorry I am?”
“Not a thing. We’re through.” Without answering, she began to walk away and headed straight for her sister. As she marched to the exit, she stopped and with trembling hands, pulled the engagement ring off her finger and threw it at his head, barely missing him. “I won’t be needing this any longer.”
Her heart in tatters, Summer hurried out of the bank, not bothering to see if he was following.
Vance stood transfixed in the middle of the bank lobby, not wanting to believe what just happened. But one look at the ring he’d picked up off the floor let him know it was real. Summer just broke up with him.
“Come on, Vance.” Ramone Mendes tapped him on his arm and led Vance into his office. He shut the door and poured a large cup of water for his friend. “Wish I had something stronger.”
Vance waved off the cup and closed his eyes. This had turned into the biggest fiasco, all because he hadn’t been upfront with Summer.
“Wanna tell me what happened out there,” Ramone asked as he settled himself into his large leather chair.
“We don’t have enough time for me to tell you everything I’ve done wrong.”
“Then hit the highlights for me.”
Vance took a deep breath and lowered his head into his hands. After a few more cleansing breaths, he began. “I was assigned to look into the financial stability of Summer’s diner.”
“I’m guessing Summer is or was your fiancé?”
“Yes. Well, after getting the case, I stopped by the diner one evening after a long day at work, just to check it out. I’ll have
to admit it was a stupid move. I should have gone in the middle of the day and introduced myself as a bank employee.”
“Go on.”
“Well, from that first meeting, I knew I was in trouble. Summer was like a ray of sunshine in my dreary life. We struck up a conversation about nothing in particular and I found myself heading there every night.”
“And you never told her where you worked.”
“Never.”
“And eventually you fell in love with her, huh?”
“Oh yeah! But I couldn’t figure out a way to tell her of my role with the bank. So being a coward, I decided to simply disappear from her life.”
“By taking the transfer to the west coast.”
“You got it. But instead of making a clean break, I went to see her that one last time and we kind of took it too far.”
“Too far as in making love without protection.”
Vance colored and nodded his head. “Yeah, things did get kind of crazy that night.”
“So you came back because of the pregnancy?”
“No, I didn’t know she was pregnant and she admitted that she didn’t have any contact information for me. I didn’t give her my last name.”
“So if you hadn’t returned here, you wouldn’t have known about your kid. Deep.”
“Yeah, deep.” Vance swiped a hand down his face. “Now she doesn’t want anything to do with me. What am I going to do?”
“After you crawl over to her house on your hands and knees begging forgiveness?” The pair began to laugh at Ramone’s attempt to lighten the mood.
“I have no clue, buddy. None whatsoever. But I know I’ve got to act quickly. The baby’s due in less than a month and I intend to be in the delivery room and every part of our child’s life.”
“Then I’d suggest we get busy.”
“We?”
“Yes, we. And if we’re successful, I want to be named godfather.”
“I was going to make you my son’s godfather already.” Tears pricked the back of Vance’s eyes at the thought of his soon-to-be-born son. “So what’s the plan?”
Chapter Eleven
“Another delivery, sis.” Spring tiptoed into Summer’s bedroom and placed the large vase of roses next to her bed. “These are more beautiful than the last bunch.”
Summer quickly glanced at them and shut her eyes tight to stem another flow of tears. Vance was sending flowers and other gifts to the house daily and it was getting tiring. “Take them away, please.”
“Why? They smell so good and really brighten up the room. Why do you have the shades drawn in the middle of the day?”
“And why are you here pestering me instead of running the diner?”
“Because the daytime cook has things well in control and I needed a break. You know it’s after lunch so there are only a couple customers there.”
Summer struggled to sit up and placed her feet on the floor. It was well past two o’clock and she’d only been out of her room once, to check on their father and grab something to eat. “I swear this boy is going to be ten pounds when he’s born. And he’s taken up residence right here,” pointing to a spot on her left side.
“Leave my nephew alone,” Spring joked. “Looks like he doesn’t have a lot of space in there.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Summer said while lovingly stroking her expanding belly.
“So,” Spring started hesitantly, “Have you spoken to Vance lately?”
“Nope.”
“You haven’t even called to say thank you?”
“Nope.” Summer pulled on her ratty robe which at this point failed to come close to closing around her. “And I don’t intend to, either. He made his bed, now he has to lie in it.”
“Looks like both of you were in that bed, together,” Spring pointed out while waving at her belly. “You two need to get back together, for my nephew’s sake.”
“Plenty of women raise children on their own. I’m no one special.”
“But the thing is, Summer, you don’t have to. Give Vance a chance to explain what happened.”
Summer turned toward her sister and narrowed her eyes. “Have you been talking with him?”
Spring averted her gaze and suddenly found a grouping of lint to pick off her pants. “You know what, I’d better be getting back to the diner for the dinner rush. See ya’”
“Not so fast, missy. Have a seat.” Sumer bit her tongue while her sister sat on the bed. Spring never could keep a secret and it would only take a few questions to get the whole story tumbling out. “Spill it.”
“Well, Vance came by the diner yesterday and we had a talk.”
“Go on,” Summer said while tapping her feet on the carpeted floor.
“He explained to me how things went down with his job and how he couldn’t tell you he worked for the bank.”
“You don’t say. Did he tell you why he couldn’t open his mouth and disclose his connection to the bank?”
“Well, he said something about getting into trouble at work and also getting into trouble with you, too if he fess up.”
“He’s certainly in trouble with me, that’s for sure.” Summer waited a beat before continuing. “So, is his job in jeopardy because of this?”
“He’s not sure. He said something about having a meeting with his boss today.”
Summer’s heart skipped a beat thinking about how Vance may lose the new position he loved because of his relationship with her. For a nanosecond, she considered calling him up and letting him know she was in his corner, but squelched that idea immediately. This was something he got himself into. It was up to him to get out.
“So what are you going to do, Summer?” Spring looked at her expectantly.
“Not a thing. I need to concentrate on keeping the diner open and keeping myself healthy. This baby is depending upon me.”
“For what it’s worth, here’s my opinion.”
“Oh boy!” Summer sat down on the bed next to her sister and braced herself for Spring’s pearls of wisdom.
“The man is obviously head over heels in love with you, despite his missteps lately.”
“That’s putting the situation lightly.”
“But Summer, it’s obvious that he’s sorry and doing his best to make up for what he’d done wrong. Give him a chance. If not for you, then for my nephew. He’s going to need a father.” Spring took Summer’s hands in hers. “You have to admit, we’ve had the greatest father in the whole wide world. Don’t deny that opportunity to this baby.”
Summer rolled her lips inward and looked into her sister’s eyes. “I’m not making any promises, but I will agree to talk with him if he stops by.”
Spring squealed and wrapped her arms gently around her sister’s neck. “You won’t regret doing this.”
Summer blew out a loud breath and once again stood up. As she walked out the door, she threw over her shoulder, “I hope not.”
“Glad you could make it, Ryan.” Vance walked into his boss’ office and took a seat across from him. He’d been summoned upstairs for a meeting. A meeting he had no idea was planned or what it was about.
“Nice seeing you again, sir,” Vance replied, trying his best to keep a tremor out of his voice. In this place, a meeting with the big man usually ended poorly for the employee.
“Let’s get to the point, shall we?” Frank Peters leaned back in his oversized executive chair and eyed Vance with an assessing gaze. “Tell me why you transferred out to LA and then requested to come back here within a year. And also what happened in the lobby a few days ago?”
Vance began to fidget then remembered where he was. Fighting nerves, he returned his boss’ stare and took a deep breath. “I left because of a situation I put myself in, here on the job.”
“Go on.”
“I take full responsibility for my foolishness, sir. What I did was fall in love with a bank client.”
Mr. Peters let out a laugh which Vance quickly joined in. “Well, son, if that’s a reason
to run, I’d suppose a lot of us would be out of here.”
“Really?”
“I think your situation is not that unusual. Love happens when it happens. We have no control over it.”
“But I haven’t finished my story.” Vance paused to collect his thoughts before continuing. “This woman’s business was, or is, in trouble, and I was assigned to begin possible foreclosure proceedings. After getting the file, I decided to stop in one evening and check the place out.”
“And let me guess. You fell for the owner.”
Vance bowed his head sheepishly. “Yes.”
“And let me guess, you never told her who you were, right?”
“That’s correct, sir. When I realized how deeply in love I was, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth. The only way I could see getting out of the situation was to transfer out to the west coast.”
“Why’d you come back, if I may ask?”
“I finally owned up to me feeling s and knew I couldn’t live without her. I came back with the intention of telling her everything and seeing if we could start all over.”
“So were you able to do that?”
Vance shook his head. “There was a slight complication which I was unaware. Before I left we had a one night affair which led to her pregnancy.”
“You did what?” Mr. Peters roared.
“Yes, I know. But I’m not going to say I’m sorry about the baby. I proposed to her after she finally forgave me for leaving in the first place.”
“So what was the little scene in the lobby a few days ago?”
“That’s when she found out about my connection to the bank. She wasn’t happy.”
“I suppose she wasn’t.”
Vance leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Sir, I’ve sent her flowers and gifts but she won’t talk to me. I’m at a loss at what to do next.”
Mr. Peters smiled and shook his head. “Well, as a married man who’s found himself in the dog house quite a few times over the years, I can tell you that the best way to apologize in this instance would be to give a her a little time so she can miss you.”
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