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Oh. She thought he was joking.
Well, she’d find out the truth once he turned up dead.
“He didn’t take half my business. I . . . I ended up having to close the shop. I thought we were doing okay. I didn’t even know anything was wrong. Matt said he kept it from me, so I didn’t worry. And by the time he told me, the business was bankrupt and I was a failure.”
Fuck.
Reuben actually felt that old, dead, shriveled-up organ in his chest crack a bit.
His poor baby. He could only imagine how awful she felt.
“I had to lay off the lady I had working for me. Matt hadn’t wanted to hire her, but I was getting so busy and tired. He was right though. I shouldn’t have hired her. She gave up a job to come work for me, then she couldn’t find another job for ages. I gave her as much money as I could gather to help tide her over.”
“Baby.”
“I hate being a failure. I hate that everyone knows I’m a failure. I let them all down, Reuben.”
“Hey, that’s not true. Owning a business is risky and hard. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I lost all their money, though.” Her confession was filled with pain and self-loathing.
He’d do anything he could to take that away. To make everything better for her.
“Their money?” he asked.
“My parents and my three brothers . . . they all invested in the business to help me get started. My dad even let me use some of his land to grow flowers. Land he could have profited from by growing corn on it. I lost it all.”
“They wouldn’t have given you money that they weren’t prepared to lose.”
“I don’t know if that’s true. After the business failed, I heard my mom and dad talking about how tight things on the farm were going to be and how they were probably going to have to postpone retirement.” She sniffled.
“Oh, baby.”
Fuck. He hated that she felt like this. Why the fuck hadn’t her parents made certain that she couldn’t hear them?
“I’m going to make it all better.”
She reared back, her eyes wide. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.” This was an easy fix. He’d just pay off her debts. Done.
“Reuben, you can’t.”
“I can. All I need is their details and how much you owe them.”
“I’m not giving you that.”
He narrowed his gaze at her. “You won one argument today, baby. Do not push your luck.”
“I . . . what? I didn’t win any arguments? It’s impossible to win arguments with you. You are so stubborn.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment, Daddy!” She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a pouting look.
She was so gorgeous, even when she was grouchy at him.
All he wanted was to tuck her into his pocket and keep her with him always.
