Chapter Seven

“How in the hell is that possible?” Karli said through gritted teeth. “Did he just not pay it?”

Jordan shook his head as he scanned the notice.

“I have no idea, Karli. You need to call them.”

“He wouldn’t let me handle the bills. I offered to, and I am perfectly capable. But he said, ‘no, Karli, let me worry about that. You focus on your blog.’ Jackass,” she snarled. “I wonder what else he failed to pay.”

“Get them on the phone,’ Jordan urged. “It could just be a misunderstanding.”

“Believe me, I intend to,” she answered as she dialed.

Jordan watched, a reluctant witness, as Karli turned progressively paler during the call with her mortgage loan servicer.

“Okay,” she murmured quietly. “Thanks for the information. I’ll be back in touch.”

She hung up and looked at Jordan with disbelief in her eyes.

“The letter’s accurate,” she said flatly. “The last payment he made was late December. Three months before he died. The one I made for April? They applied it to February.”

She leaned on the counter, trying to regain her composure.

“How can I fix this? He didn’t have any life insurance,” she lamented. “I don’t have that kind of cash lying around to get it caught up. And even if I did, I would need to save it for…” she trailed off, suddenly looking self-conscious.

“Save it for what, Karli?”

She shook her head violently as she bit her lower lip.

“Karli… what is it? Maybe I can help. But you have to let me in.”

“I’m pregnant, Jordan,” she blurted out, and another tear escaped custody and rolled down her cheek.

“I’m a twenty-eight-year-old widow, and I’m pregnant, and the COBRA coverage through Evan’s work is too expensive, so I don’t even have health insurance anymore.”

He stopped in his tracks, watching her carefully.

“How far along?”

“Doctor Hollard said eight weeks. And I don’t know what to do,” she continued stormily. “And now, I’m even more worried about being able to keep up with the bills. How am I going to do this, Jordan? How am I going to care for a child, when I’m not even sure how much longer I’ll have a place to live?”

He closed the distance and rubbed his hands up and down her upper arms.

“I told you before that you wouldn’t have to do any of this alone, Karli. So, what makes you think you’d have to do this part by yourself?”

She gaped at him.

“What?”

“My lease is almost up at the apartment,” he explained, his voice calm and level. “Why don’t I move in with you? I can take the third bedroom, cover the mortgage payment and the utilities, take some stress off you. If you are okay with it, that is. Or,” he said, “if it is easier on you, sell or rent out this place, and come move in with me. I have plenty of space in my apartment – that second bedroom has nothing in it right now. We would just add you to the lease. Easy.”

“Jordan…why would you do that?”

So much for ‘make sure she’s okay, then leave’, his brain interjected. Watch yourself, Baker. Thin ice.

“Evan was my best friend,” he said simply after a long pause. “What kind of best friend would I be if I walked away from you when you obviously could use some help?”

“I…I…” Karli’s voice faltered.

“You don’t have to decide right this second,” Jordan told her. “Think it over. The main point I was trying to make is, you’re not alone.”

He glanced at his watch.

“I really don’t want to leave while you’re upset, but I have to get ready for work soon,” he said. “They asked me and Tim to come in at five today. Would it be okay if I come back tomorrow, bring lunch with me, maybe? And we can talk some more?”

She nodded, a small smile combating her tears.

“I’d like that.”

“It’s gonna be all right, Karli. I promise,” Jordan said, and hugged her.

“We’ll figure something out, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.”

And he reluctantly turned and walked out her front door.

***

Jordan thought he’d done a rather good job of staying calm, sensing that calm was what she needed at the time. But his mind was reeling, his insides knotting at Karli’s news. Not just the pregnancy, but the fact that Evan had failed her on yet another level by dropping the ball on the mortgage payments.

“If Evan was here right now, I’d punch him in the mouth,” he muttered as he drove back to his apartment.

Wait, hold up, his psyche amended. That is not exactly true… I would not only punch him in the mouth, I’d beat his ass, he fumed. How dare he put her in this position?

Because Jordan was sure he knew what Evan had spent the mortgage money on.

Not that he would ever tell Karli if he could help it. He saw nothing good at all coming from Karli finding out her dead husband had been keeping a mistress the last six months of their marriage.

***

By the time Jordan saw Karli again the next afternoon, she had contacted every single creditor she and Evan had accounts with. After she had finished the last phone call, she felt like someone had dropped her from an airplane with no parachute.

“It’s bad, Jordan,” she murmured as they sat at the kitchen table unwrapping the sub sandwiches he’d brought. “The only things he kept paid on time were the utilities and the car payment. Everything else – the house, credit cards, the school loans - is at least a month behind. All the stuff that I wouldn’t notice right away.”

“What about the bank account?” Jordan asked.

“I downloaded statements going back a year, but I haven’t looked at them yet. And to be honest, I’m not sure I want to.”

She put her head in her hands.

“What this means is, I can’t stay here,” Karli sighed. “No matter how much I want to. I just don’t have the funds to handle everything. I’ve run the numbers four times already. Even if everything were current, I still wouldn’t be able to afford this place anymore.”

“Have you thought any more about what I said? About me helping you here or you moving in with me?”

“I have,” she hedged. “I’ve also considered moving back in with my mom and dad, too. Or Sarah.”

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Jordan said quietly. “That was never my intention.”