Free Relentless (Fallon Sisters Trilogy: Book #1) by P. J. O'Dwyer

smile. "Until I woke up freezing my ass off."
    "Did you forget to mail it?"
    She frowned. "The bill?"
    "Hell yes, the bill. Did you forget?"
    "I wish." She'd gotten a peek at the contents of the envelope before she'd been distracted with her prowler.
    "Bren, you're not funny. Stop this nonsense and tell me what's going on."
    The teakettle let out a hiss, and she turned the burner off. Bren poured the steaming water into two cups and dropped a tea bag in each one, then set them on the table. "Sugar?" she asked as she grabbed the sugar bowl off the counter.
    Her father nodded.
    Sitting across the table, she moved the sugar bowl toward him and handed over the turn-off notice. "We're broke."
    His eyes widened. "I'm serious."
    "So am I, Dad." Her face fell forward into her hands, and she shook her head and moaned, "I'm a loser, Dad. A big fat zero."
    Daniel muttered something and tossed the notice on the table. He pulled at her arm. "Nonsense. I didn't raise losers. You're having a tough time of it. That's all."
    Bren lifted her head. "Tell that to Bernie."
    "Bernie? The bank manager?"
    "One in the same." She sat straight up. "It's not just the electric bill. Tom and I struggled every month to make the mortgage. I'm not good with budgets like he was. I owe Bernie, the bank, close to five K by the twenty-fifth of this month."
    "Twenty-fifth. That's two weeks away. How much you have saved?"
    Bren shook her head. "Half."
    "Twenty-five hundred?"
    Bren nodded.
    "Savings?"
    "None."
    "Why the devil didn't you tell me?"
    "I didn't want to worry you. I thought I could handle it. It's my problem."
    "I'll not listen to this talk. It's our problem." Bren's father tossed his glasses down on her kitchen table. "I guess you think you created this recession all by yourself?"
    "No. But—"
    He put up a hand. "Just tell me what old Bernie suggests we do about it." She frowned. "You're not going to like it. I don't like it."
    "Try me."
    "Subdivide."
    He fell back against his chair and rubbed his temples. "Lord, heaven, saints preserve us." He sat up. "He's not serious?"
    "It was a suggestion. Kind of like a preventive measure. I... we can continue to struggle, but eventually the bank will foreclose."
    Daniel tapped his finger to his lips. "He's right. How much do we owe total?"
    "Close to five-twenty-five."
    "That much?"
    "We refinanced a few years ago, remember?"
    "All I know is I signed some papers."
    "I told you what—"
    "I know. It just slipped my mind. At the time I was dealing with your mother's illness."
    "I don't want to break up our land, Dad."
    "I don't want to be homeless."
    There was that, too.
    Her father's brows met over his nose, and he placed his glasses back on. "You'd get more with the house."
    "Your house? The house Kate and I grew up in?" She leaned over the table. "I can't. I won't—"
    "You will. It's just a house."
    "But Mom... her memories."
    Her father put a hand over his heart. "They're here, Bren."
    Yes they were, but, still, she loved her childhood home. Unfortunately for Bren, her sentiments ran to objects, as well—the house being one of them, her old bedroom part of it. he kitchen where her family had sat down to dinner every night when she was a child.
    Mom was dead. Her sister Kate was married—married to an asshole who kept her under lock and key. Tom... Tom she couldn't think about. And Bren was left with her father, whom she was disappointing in a major way. He would never say it. That was her dad. He felt it—had to feel it—but would never consider putting it into words. Failure seemed to follow Bren like a dark shadow.
    She grabbed her father's hand. "I'm sorry, Dad."
    "It's not your fault, sweetheart."
    "What about Kate?"
    "She should know. Regardless, I don't think she's in a position to offer a solution."
    "Will you come with me to talk to Bernie?"
    "Of course." He squeezed her hand.
    Being tossed off their land wasn't an option. Losing a part of Grace would have to be.
    By the next morning Bren and her