“We may adjust the amortization structure.”
“Show me why.”
She did.
Walter disagreed with one assumption.
They argued politely for eight minutes.
Melissa changed it.
Donovan watched.
So did Elaine from the far end of the room.
Walter wondered whether she was noticing anything.
Not his balance sheet.
Him.
At 1:47, the meeting ended.
Donovan walked Walter back toward the lobby.
“I’m investigating the delay.”
Walter put on his hat.
“Do that whether my loan gets approved or not.”
“I will.”
“And don’t fire that young receptionist just so everybody can say the problem is solved.”
Donovan stopped.
Walter continued.
“She was rude.”
“Yes.”
“But people learn what gets rewarded.”
Donovan looked toward the reception desk.
Brittany was speaking quietly with another employee.
“You think Elaine told her to hold you?”
“I don’t know.”
Walter opened the front door.
“That’s what an investigation is for.”
Outside, the spring air smelled of rain and car exhaust.
The sun had shifted far west from where it had been when Walter entered.
He stood on the sidewalk for a moment.
His phone buzzed.
He expected Rebecca.
Instead, an Evergreen Ridge notification filled the screen.
CREDIT DECISION AVAILABLE.
Walter opened it.
CONDITIONAL APPROVAL – JENNINGS AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT LOAN.
Four hundred twenty thousand dollars.
Subject to final lien verification and contractor documentation.
Walter stared.
He felt satisfaction.
But not the kind Donovan might have expected.
The approval mattered.
The barn mattered.
The water system mattered.
Yet those numbers had always either supported the loan or they had not.
Nothing about the approval changed what happened in the lobby.
That distinction became important later.
Walter drove toward Pine Hollow.
At 2:18, Rebecca called.
“Well?”
“Approved conditionally.”
She shouted loudly enough that Walter held the phone away from his ear.
“Don’t celebrate yet.”
“Why?”
“Final documents.”
“Dad, normal people celebrate conditional approvals.”
“Normal people borrow too much.”
“Did the meeting go okay?”
Walter watched a line of trees blur past.
“No.”
Her voice changed.
“What happened?”
“I’ll tell you at home.”
He stopped in Sevierville anyway.
The hydraulic supply place closed at four.
Walter arrived with twelve minutes left.
The clerk knew him.
“Cutting it close, Mr. Jennings.”
“Bank.”
The clerk grimaced.
“Say no more.”
Walter smiled for the first time all afternoon.
That evening he told Rebecca everything at the kitchen table.
She became angry before he finished.
“You sat there more than two hours?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you leave?”
“I wanted the meeting.”
“That’s what they count on.”
Walter looked at her.
“What?”
“People knowing they need something.”
He had not thought about it that way.
Rebecca continued.
“They knew you were there for a loan.”
“Brittany did.”
“And Elaine.”
“Yes.”
“So they knew you were less likely to walk out.”
Walter stared at his daughter.
Margaret would have been proud of her.
Possibly insufferably proud.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked.
“File a complaint.”