“Damn it,” he said when he scanned the message.
“What is it?” Quinn queried.
6
Austin compressed his lips. He hated to be the bearer of bad news, especially after April had already been through so much today.
“It seems that they’ve already sold your town house.”
“That’s awfully fast. But isn’t that good news?” April asked, her sweet blue eyes wide as she gazed at him.
“No, because they essentially sold it to your ex at a rock-bottom price. So low that you make nothing on the deal.”
“Can they do that?” Quinn asked.
“April, my lawyer said your ex cosigned the loan.”
“Yes. I’d just started my job and didn’t have much of a credit history. Maurice pushed me to buy right away, saying it would be better for me in the long run. He negotiated the mortgage so that I didn’t need much of a down payment, and he got me a low interest rate, but the bank required that he cosign.” She frowned. “But I paid the bills. Every month without fail.”
“It seems he had a clause worked in so that if you defaulted on a payment, or the bank decided to call in the loan, he had the option to buy the property for the amount of the outstanding portion of the loan. It would have been in the small print. He probably had his lawyer go over the contract for you, right?”
She nodded. The color had drained from her face. “I trusted him.”
“Can he get away with this?” Quinn asked, anger flaring in his eyes.
Austin shrugged. “It looks like he did.” He turned back to April and took her hand. “April, I’m sorry I got your hopes up.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “You tried. Thank you for that.”
The waiter came and took away their plates, then brought by a cart covered with tempting desserts. April chose a blueberry custard tart, and Austin took a slice of decadent chocolate cake. Quinn chose mocha cheesecake. The waiter poured them each a cup of the restaurant’s special blend of coffee.
“Let’s do something to lighten the mood,” Austin said.
“Like what?” Quinn sipped his coffee.
“Something that will get us in the right frame of mind for the rest of the evening.” Austin nodded toward a table with a couple sitting together. “Do you see that couple?”
Quinn glanced at the couple who were holding hands and gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes in the secluded booth in a corner of the restaurant.
“Yeah.”
“I bet you a hundred bucks they leave separately.”
Quinn shrugged. “That doesn’t seem likely, since they look like they’re ready to race off to the bedroom together, so sure.”
They watched as the waiter placed a bill on the couple’s table. The man glanced at it, then dropped a pile of cash on top. He slid his arm around her and kissed her, their lips lingering. Then he stood up and walked out of the restaurant. The woman settled back in her seat and sipped her drink.
Quinn pulled out his wallet and snagged a hundred-dollar bill from inside, then handed it to Austin.
“How do you always do that?” Quinn slid his wallet back into his pocket.
“In this case, research, my friend. I saw that he was wearing a wedding ring, and she wasn’t.”
Quinn nodded. “Okay, but that’s still luck. They could be staying at the hotel on a clandestine romantic weekend, so they would have gone back to the room together.”
“True, but I also saw the man at breakfast this morning with his wife. They were sitting at the next table, and I overheard them making plans to meet for a show in”—he glanced at his watch—“about ten minutes from now.”
Quinn shook his head. “You and your crazy memory and attention to details.”