“So does he work for the bank or something?” I asked, leaning back against the wall behind me as I sat in front of her on the floor.
“No, McCreevey is much worse.” I saw a shudder tear through her body, whoever he was this man was bad news. “He knew me dad, heard the place was going under and reached out to help. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I took his offer to help.” She let out a deep breath, “He’s a part of the IRA, Irish Republican Army. He seemed like he really wanted to help because he got along with me dad. But when it started getting harder and harder to make the payments, he started visiting more often.”
“How much do you owe him?”
“Close to thirty thousand euros. I was able to pay quite a bit after St. Patrick’s Day last year, but since then I’ve been scraping by, selling my paintings when the money runs out. I gave him what I had today, most of that the money from your stay, but it’s not enough, it’s never enough.”
“We’ll figure this out. I’m not gonna let you lose the hotel,” I promised her. There had to be a way that we could find the money.
“I hope that’s true,” Ana said, patting my hand before standing to make her way toward her bedroom.
I stood and made my way over, grabbing a package of powdered donuts and two bottles of water from the pantry and leaving more than enough on her desk to cover the cost. I made my way back into the room, plopping down onto the bed and contemplating what we could do to help Ana. I didn’t know who the IRA was, but from the man’s display of aggression earlier, I assumed they weren’t the kind of people you wanted to end up in bed with. I ripped open the package and shoved a donut in my mouth as Joni woke and stretched lazily on the bed.
“I’m never drinking Scotch again,” she said, her voice scratchy.
“Me either,” I agreed, holding out the package of donuts to her. She made her way over to my bed, taking a donut and settling in next to me. “We gotta problem.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked, mumbling through the half eaten donut.
“Ana owes some people money, some bad people.” I explained what I’d walked in on this morning, how much hurt I could see in her eyes at the thought of losing the hotel, and how she’d ended up in business with these assholes.
“What can we do?” Joni asked. “I can call my parents and tell them we’ve been kidnapped and they need the ransom.” I saw the wheels spinning a hundred miles an hour in her head.
“Yeah, and then they call the police and that’s something I don’t want to have to explain when they find out that we weren’t actually kidnapped.”
“Well, I can call them and tell them we’re in trouble. No details, just tell them we’ve gotten ourselves in a bad situation and that we need help.”
“You think they would just send that amount of money without wanting details?” I asked, God her family really was made of money.
“Probably not all of it. But I know how to put on an act,” she said, smiling deviously at me.
“Well, you do your thing then.” The twinge of guilt twisted in my stomach as I agreed with her. I really didn’t want to lie to her parents, but technically I wasn’t; she was.
I escaped into the bathroom to shower while Joni went downstairs to the pub to get us all some food and call her parents. I let the water wash the guilt from me and focused on the reason why we were doing it; Ana. Even in the short time we’d been here in Ireland, Ana had become close to us. She was like a mother figure, but an amazing friend at the same time. I knew that no matter what it took we’d figure out how to help her.
Chapter Four
“Sit still, Ana,” I said, holding her head to keep her from moving, “If you keep fidgeting, I’m gonna end up burning you with the curling iron.”
“I can’t help it!” she fussed, “I’m not used to the horse and pony show. Don’t know how you two even talked me into going tonight.”
“We didn’t. McGee did. And you didn’t seem to against the idea last night,” I sang out, wrapping another section of her chocolate brown hair into the curling iron.
“Well, it’s funny what one will say when they’re snockered on Scotch.” I could see Ana rolling her eyes from the mirror that sat in front of us.
“Ok, turn. Time to start on your make-up,” Joni said, coming up beside us with a giant bag filled with every kind and shade of make-up you could ever need.