“That’s it, you little piglet. If you’re good, I’ll give you a bite of my egg.” She put the skillet on to heat and got omelet fixings out of the refrigerator.
Her father came into the kitchen. “I overslept. You should have woken me.”
He’d been out late the night before with Gina. “I tapped on your door. I thought I heard you say okay.” In fact, she was sure he’d answered her. He’d probably gone back to bed.
“You were mistaken.” He settled at the table. “Get that animal out of here.”
Annie sighed and scooped up Wilson, who squeaked in protest. She stashed him in her bedroom, then hurried back to the kitchen to pour coffee for her father. She needed to tell him about the foreclosure notice. Wetting her lips, she tried to decide how to bring it up. She didn’t want to upset him when he was about to get to work. She stirred cream into his coffee, then went back to the stove. Maybe she should tell him tonight instead of this morning. She was such a coward.
Wilson dashed under her feet. She must not have latched her door. He had something in his mouth. He nudged her leg, then dashed past her. She recognized the red seal on the top of the paper and realized he had the letter from the bank. “Wilson, give me that.” She made a grab for him, but he evaded her and ran up her father’s pant leg.
He sputtered hot coffee on his shirt as Wilson burrowed into his lap. “That stupid animal. I want you to get rid of it.” He shoved Wilson onto the floor. The mongoose dropped the paper on Edega’s feet then broke into a series of barks. Edega frowned. “What’s this?”
As her father leaned down to pick up the paper, Annie leaned back against the stove and closed her eyes. The fireworks were about to begin. She should have told him right away. He hated secrets. She opened her eyes and squared her shoulders. “I was just about to tell you about that.”
He smoothed the letter out and began to read it. His frown turned ferocious when he realized what it was. “Foreclosure! A Tagama doesn’t lose his land for nonpayment. How is this possible?”
“Our expenses here are just so high,” she began.
He held up his hand. “This never happened when your mother was alive. I expected you to be able to handle things in her place.”
“We didn’t have a huge mortgage when Mother was alive,” Annie said.
He shook his head. “Don’t make excuses, Annie. You should have come to me about this before we got to this stage.”
“I tried,” she burst out. “But you wouldn’t listen to me.” He didn’t make Leilani kick in any money toward her upkeep, but she and her father pooled their resources. Still, it wasn’t enough. With Leilani’s help, it might have been.
“I always listen. Don’t try to make excuses for your failure and blame someone else.” He pushed away from the table. “We must take care of this. How much money is in the bank?”
“Not enough.” He wasn’t going to listen. She wanted to crawl back into bed and drag the covers over her head.
“How much?” he demanded. She told him. “That’s not enough to even make one month’s house payment.”
“I know.” She shoved her hair out of her face. “That’s what I’m saying. We don’t make enough money to keep up this kind of high payment. You thought you’d get grant money back in to pay what you took out, but it’s never come.”
“But what are we going to do?” His tone was that of a bewildered child.
She lifted her head and looked at her father. “Tomi says he’s had an offer for our property. Three million dollars.”
Her father gasped, and his eyes bulged. “That’s not possible. Who would offer so much money?”
“A casino is coming in and turning this area into a resort destination with a theme park and housing subdivision. They want it right away though. They intend to break ground very soon, so we have to move quickly.”
His eyes grew thoughtful. “If we lose the house, they would buy it for practically nothing from the bank. Why would they just not wait for that?”
“They probably don’t know we’re in trouble. And even if they did, it would take time to foreclose. They don’t have the time to waste.”
“Let me think it over. I don’t like to be rushed into a decision. Tomi is back now. Perhaps he will help me decide. And speaking of your brother, why has he not come to see me? You have seen him several times, yet he makes no visit to see me. He dishonors me.”
“He’s been . . . taking care of urgent business. I’m sure he’ll be here to see you soon.” Her father was never going to listen to her. Annie watched him turn away and exit the room the way he always did when he was finished with a conversation. She pinched the bridge of her nose and wondered how she was going to fix this. If the offer to buy the house slipped away, they could lose everything.