Page 143 of Worth the Fall

“Well, when you drag your feet and don’t provide your loan officer the things he needs, it can happen quite easily.” His smarmy smirk matches the tone in his voice. “One missing piece, one mistyped figure, is all it takes for the lender to throw it out.”

“You bastard.”

“Not from where I stand.”

“You knew my loan was denied, and you pretended it wasn’t to try to get me to sleep with you.” My fists clench and body vibrates with anger. “Get. Out.”

“Too bad, this place could have been all yours.” He holds his hands out to his sides and winks. “Good luck finding someone to lend you the money now . . . but then again, it doesn’t matter. Your dream is already being sold to someone else.”

And with that, he slams the side door shut as I stand there and just stare at it.

With each breath, each beat of my heart, each tremble of my hands, the anger slowly morphs into disbelief.

Then disbelief gives way to shock.

Then shock to devastation.

“Em, you okay? It sounded like something fell,” Leo says as he clears the doorway and looks around, his constant movement faltering when he sees me.

“Emerson?”

I just lost my loan.

“I’m fine. I just . . .”

I just lost my fresh start.

“I just need to get out of here for a bit. Can you handle everything?”

“Sure. Yes. You sure you’re okay?” Concern laces his tone.

“Yeah.”

I just lost my dream.