Know Me Well (Wishful 3)

“No, it won’t.” Liam felt Riley brace herself, and when she lifted her head, tears glimmered. “There is no insurance.”

~*~

The admission was like lancing an infection. A quick, sharp pain, and then the words spilled out in a flood, with barely a pause for breath. “I screwed up and missed the renewal payment, and it’s lapsed. I found the bill right before the robbery. I guess it got lost in all the shuffle and chaos from the flood and my mom coming back and...I know it’s no excuse. It’s a titanic screw up, especially when people are depending on me for their livelihood. Jessie and Ruby have been all worried since Walgreens opened, and I’ve been telling them everything will be fine, but it’s not fine. I barely made payroll last month. And I kept thinking things would turn around, that I’d find a way to fix it, but it just got worse and worse, and then the flood, and then I couldn’t tell you because you trusted me not to run the business you spent over thirty years building into the ground, and now I’ve destroyed everything.” Riley sucked in a shuddering breath, and felt the hot burn of tears spilling over. “I’m so sorry, Molly.”

On the opposite side of the counter, Molly looked heart-broken and horrified. And it felt every bit as horrible as Riley had known it would to have let her down.

“That’s why you went for the gun. Because you were trying to keep them from getting away with the stock.”

Shoulders hunched, Riley nodded once before dropping her eyes.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You risked your life because of some damned insurance?”

Riley’s head snapped up and she glared at Liam. “I risked my life to save my business. That was thirty or forty grand they walked out with—and whether the police find it or not, it’s evidence. I can’t recover from that with all the other debt I took on trying to stay afloat, so yes, goddamn it, I took a risk.”

“A risk that could’ve gotten you killed!” Breathing hard, he made a visible effort to reel himself in. In softer tones, he said, “Do you have any idea what that would do to me?”

“Yes. Yes, I know exactly, because I felt the weight of that possibility every single day you were deployed. And I spent twelve years being furious that you put yourself in harm’s way. So if you need to be mad about this, be mad. I absolutely understand that. But maybe you could save it for later, when my professional life isn’t falling apart, because I’m pretty much at my limit.”

Liam let out a long, slow exhale. “Sorry. Not dealing too well. My issue. I shouldn’t be taking it out on you.”

When he reached for her, Riley didn’t hesitate. She snuggled into him. “I’ll train harder if it’ll make yo

u feel better.”

“We’ll talk about that later.” He brushed the hair back from her face, used his thumbs to wipe away the tears. “Other problems to fix right now. I made you a promise the other night, and I intend to keep it. How bad is it?”

“Not sure it could be much worse. Strangely, it’s not even the money I’m most upset about.” She turned her head to look at Molly. “It’s that I disappointed you.”

“Okay just…wait a minute.” Molly took a few deep breaths before coming around the counter and taking Riley by the shoulders. “Honey, you haven’t disappointed me. And you haven’t screwed anything up. I took care of the insurance bill weeks ago.”

Riley blinked. “You—what?”

“You had a lot on your plate with the flood, and Liam was doing his level best to distract you, which I fully supported, so when I found the bill, I went ahead and paid it. I couldn’t find the line of credit info, so I just paid it out of pocket. Business as usual. I didn’t see any reason to bother you with it. But God, I wish I had.”

“There are no lines of credit,” Riley murmured. Her heart thrummed a desperate tattoo against her breast. “The policy hasn’t lapsed?”

“No, it hasn’t. What do you mean there are no lines of credit?”

“I’m not ruined.” Riley’s knees went to Jello, and she had to grab hold of the barstool. “Oh, thank God. Thank you.” She launched herself at Molly, wrapping her in a tight hug. “Thank you, thank you.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” Molly framed her face with both hands. “I’d never forgive myself if something had happened to you. What do you mean there are no lines of credit, honey?”

Riley scrubbed the tears from her cheeks.

“I don’t use them. After all the debt I clawed my way out of with my mom, I don’t use it unless I absolutely have to. So I never opened any for the business.”

Molly stared at her. “You’ve been running the pharmacy for over a year without a revolving line of credit? And actually keeping it in the black?”

“Barely. But yeah. The thing is, I’ve been stubborn and proud and really, really foolish. Things are bad. I’ve been hanging on by a thread. And things would be so much worse, if y’all hadn’t been looking out for me despite myself. I’ve joked in the past that you have to hold a gun to my head to get me to ask for help—not something I’ll be kidding about in the future, by the way—but it seems like that’s true. Because this is me doing what I should’ve done months ago.” She took a bracing breath. “I’m asking for your help. Because I’m in way over my head, going under for the third time, and I don’t know what to do.”

Molly wrapped an arm around her in another hug. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out together.”

Together.

She’d spent most of her life believing that together was something to avoid, that depending on someone else made her weak. And her way had almost lost her everything.

Definitely time for a change.