Chapter 3 - THE NEW LOAN
Rachel called Lakeside Community Bank.
She was not on the loan.
So they would not give her confidential details.
Fair.
She called Margaret.
This time her mother answered immediately.
“What did you refinance?”
Silence.
Then:
“Why are you going through old emails?”
“What did you refinance?”
Margaret exhaled.
“The house.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“How much?”
“That’s private.”
“I’ve been paying the mortgage.”
“You’ve been helping me.”
“Margaret.”
Her mother hated when Rachel used her first name.
“Fine. Two hundred and ninety thousand.”
Rachel sat down.
“The old balance was under one-forty.”
“I needed liquidity.”
“For what?”
Margaret did not answer.
Rachel asked again.
“For what?”
Finally:
“Family.”
That word again.
Family.
The same people who had laughed last night.
Rachel said:
“Send me the closing statement.”
“No.”
“Then I’m done.”
“You already said that.”
“No. I mean I’m done guessing.”
Margaret’s voice sharpened.
“You don’t get to audit me because you write one check a month.”
Rachel almost laughed.
One check.
Forty-six months.
More than $130,000.
She said:
May you like
“You’re right.”
Then hung up.
