Rugged Daddy

All I had to do was hear back from the bank. As if on cue, my cell rang with the call I’d been expecting from them.

“Miss Palmer, this is Mark Kipler from the bank.”

“Hello, Mr. Kipler. I’m glad to hear from you?”

“I wanted to call you as soon as I could regarding your application for your loan.”

“Well, thank you for your promptness.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t offer you a loan at this time. The collateral you have doesn't exceed the amount of debt you’ll be in once we offer you this loan. That makes you a risky investment.”

“I understand, Mr. Kipler, but you have to spend money to make money,” I said.

“I understand that fully. My wife owns a business that she runs from our basement, but when you’re fronting with other people’s money, it’s a different game.”

“I’m keeping up with my payments. I haven’t missed one.”

“And when you whittle that loan down a bit, we can consider looking into this one again.”

“Mr. Kipler, I don’t have any other options. I need that money to expand. Otherwise, I’m going to go under,” I said.

“I’m sorry, Miss Palmer, but there’s nothing I can do. Bank policy states we can’t re-examine someone for a loan once they’ve been turned down until a six-month period has passed. If you keep good on your payments, we can talk again in six months.”

I sighed as I leaned against the edge of the counter.

“Thank you for calling, Mr. Kipler.”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t help,” he said.

I hung up the phone and put my face in my hands. That loan had been my last shot. It was the last bank in town, and I’d known it was a risk since my original loan had come from there. But everyone else had turned me down, and I was desperate. If I couldn’t expand to keep up with that damn bakery up the road, I’d go under. I’d have to close my doors, and I would be three hundred thousand dollars in debt with no way to pay it off.

I already had the expansion plan figured out in my head.

There was an empty rental property next to me that would really set me up to compete. I could move the front of my store over a door, which put me closer to the road instead of tucked away on a corner with a side entrance down an alleyway. I could knock out the wall and have two spots to make food with, one for sweets for takeout and another for sweets in-house. I could have a small coffee bar and a sitting area. I could really compete with the bakery up the road if I had somewhere for people to get coffees, teas, and sodas, as well as have places to sit.

Of course all that planning didn’t mean crap, if I didn’t have the funds to put the plans to action.

“Anyone in here?”

I smiled and shook my head as Nicole’s voice reached me. “Come on back, Nikki.”

/>

“Who does a girl have to sleep with around here to get a bagel and cream cheese?”

“Nikki! Shut up and get back here.” I looked up as she walked in, but her face fell when she saw mine. Was I that transparent?

“Okay. I’m making coffee, and you’re going to talk. I’m also grabbing a bagel with some cream cheese. I’ll leave some cash in the register.”

“One bagel isn’t going to make a difference,” I said.

“Tough. Now how do you get this thing to open?”

“Press the red and the purple button down together.”

I heard the register ding open before she pulled her wallet out.

I’d known Nikki for years. We grew up in Whitefish together and had plans to get out of this small town one day. But life happened, things spiraled, and pretty soon, I was buying this hellhole for my bakery, and Nikki was trying to come back from the largest loss a woman could ever experience.