Chapter 14: The Lender

The Thursday before the party I carried my father's tool bag into Dutton Collision.

It had been in my trunk since January, when he replaced my cracked taillight in my driveway and forgot it.

My mother had called me a thief to a waiting room full of strangers.

I was not going to give her a second one.

The shop was loud with compressors, and one of the men saw me first and turned his sander off.

"Your dad's in the office," he said.

"I'm not staying. I'll leave it by the door."

"He'd want to see you, Corina."

I looked toward the glass office, where my father sat with his glasses on, going through a folder of invoices.

He did not look up.

I had unblocked his number the night before, for no reason I could have said, and he had not used it.

I set the bag on the bench by the door.

The side door opened behind me, and a man in a gray overcoat came in with a leather folder under his arm.

He wiped his shoes on the mat.

"Good morning," he said to the office manager. "I'm looking for Russell Dutton."

"That's me." My father had come out of the office with his glasses still on. "What can I do for you?"

"Mr. Dutton, I'm with Lakeland Credit Union, in collections. I wonder if there's somewhere we can talk."

"Here's fine. I've got nothing to hide from my guys."

The man hesitated.

Then he opened the folder.

"I've been trying to reach you since January about the second lien on this property. I've sent six certified letters."

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