“Georgia,” Tripp said, not even bothering to knock before sticking his head through, “Mr. Garrett is here—”

“What have you done to my son?” Mr. Garrett demanded, pushing past Tripp, the door slamming into the wall behind it with a crash. Georgia’s eyes widened as she took in the sight in front of her – Mr. Garrett looked like he was just this side of foaming at the mouth as he stomped over to her desk. He leaned on her desk, towering over her.

Even as her mind was skittering through the possibilities that this man’s question presented – had Moose finally talked to his parents, then? Did he and Tenny officially break up? – she also realized what Mr. Garrett was trying to do: Intimidate her with his height. Moose had definitely gotten his build from his dad, not his mom, and add to that fact that Georgia was sitting in her office chair, not standing up…she practically had to lean back into the dentist-chair position just to look him in the eye.

Screw that.

She stood up, smoothly sliding her feet into her heels as she did so. She’d taken them off earlier in the day, using the cover of the desk to get away with it, but now she wanted every inch of height she could get with this man.

“I did nothing to your son,” she said calmly, and then looked past the frothing man to Tripp in the doorway, his eyes wide as he tried to decide what to do. “Tripp, please close the door. I don’t want the whole credit union to hear this.” He moved to leave, and she said, “No, please stay. I’d like a witness in case this man gets violent.”

“Violent?” Mr. Garrett sputtered. “You think I’d hit a woman?”

“Quite honestly, sir, I don’t know what to believe about you,” she said bluntly. “So I’d like the help if I need it.”

“My son,” Mr. Garrett snarled, obviously wanting to stay on topic, “came home last night and told me that he broke up with Tennessee. He’s not going to marry her. Said it was your idea!”

“My idea? Really? Is that exactly what he said?” she asked calmly, a little hint of humor in her voice. “Moose is a grown man. Are you trying to say that I told him he ought to break up with Tennessee, and that he jumped right on that and did it without any thought for himself about what he actually wants?”

“I didn’t say that!” he roared. “Don’t you twist my words around on me.”

“I wasn’t twisting them,” she pointed out, “just making sure I understood them. So if he is a grown man and he did make the decision to break up with Tennessee, why are you in here yelling at me?”

“I’m not yelling!” he thundered, and then his face went an even deeper shade of red – almost purple – as the ridiculousness of that statement penetrated even his anger-befuddled brain. “The important thing is,” he said, making an obvious effort to bring his volume under control, “he was happy with Tennessee until you came along and mixed him all up. If you hadn’t tempted him to look elsewhere—”

“Sir, I’ve always been here,” she interrupted, not bothering to let him finish. That would afford him the kind of courtesy he did not deserve. “I didn't move to Long Valley last week.”

His mouth opened and closed once…twice…and then what he was really thinking came out. “You are the daughter of the younger son, without an acre to his name,” he spat out. “I will not have my son marry the daughter of the high school biology teacher and the elementary school cafeteria worker!”

“How very elitist of you,” she said dryly, staring him right in the eye as she talked. She didn’t so much as blink. She wasn’t going to let him know that he was rattling her.

She wasn’t going to let him rattle her, period.

“So my self worth is only based on my parents’ occupation?” she continued. “Strange idea to have, coming from a self-made man.”

Tripp’s gasp of astonishment was the only sound in the room as Mr. Garrett glared at her, nostrils flaring, trying to stare her down. She simply stared back, arms folded, waiting for him to either continue to spar with her, or leave.

She wasn’t going to move an inch.

Finally, he cracked and spoke first. “I’ve worked hard so my children wouldn’t have to – so they could lead an easy life! Not one where they’re trapped into a relationship with a gold digger.”

Georgia’s mind spun, trying to figure out where to even begin unpacking such a ridiculous statement. Moose leads an easy life? His father ought to inform Moose of this fact; he’d be tickled pink to hear it. Moose regularly worked 18-hour days at the dealership.

And trapped? She was trapping Moose into a relationship? Did Mr. Garrett think she was pregnant or something? She and Moose hadn’t even kissed. She wanted to bust out laughing at the absurdity of it all.

But she finally settled on responding to the last part of it. “Gold digger? How is it that you think I am a gold digger? I am the one who owns my own home. I own a brand-new car – paid for with cash. I have a nice insurance and retirement package through the credit union. Your son, meanwhile, still lives in his parent’s basement, he drives a truck older than he is that’s held together with duct tape and bailing wire, and I’m going to guess he has no retirement package to speak of. Exactly what gold am I digging here?”

“You want to marry him because then all of the farmers will get their tractor and operating loans through you!” he said triumphantly. “If you could wrap up all of the farming business in the valley, I bet that’d mean quite the Christmas bonus for you!”

“You think that Moose broke up with Tennessee because I convinced him to because I want him to marry me so I can get a Christmas bonus?” Her voice kept raising octaves as she was talking, finally breaking at the end on “us.” “Sir, I do hope you realize how ridiculous you’re sounding right now. I’m only going to say this once, because it’s quite frankly none of your business, but your son and I have yet to even kiss. If he’s chosen to break up with Tennessee, that is his choice. If you think he’s doing it to rebel against you as some sort of punishment for being a downright awful father, well…have you ever considered that maybe you should try being a better one? If your son is forced to rebel against you because you are an asshole, coming in here and yelling at me won’t change that fact.”

“You two haven’t even kissed?” he hissed, ignoring the rest of her little speech as if she’d said nothing at all. “He made it sound like he was going to propose to you next week! Like he was madly in love with you!”

“I can only hope that’s true,” Georgia said with a nonchalant shrug that she didn’t necessarily feel inside. What she actually wanted to do was a quick jig around the office. Moose likes me – he really, really likes me! “He’s obviously shared more with you than he has with me.”

A smirk curled up around the edges of Mr. Garrett’s mouth. “This is just puppy love,” he spat out. “He’s just wanting to sow his oats a little before settling down with the right Rowland cousin. I mean, look at you. Would he honestly pick you over Tennessee in the end? You are the ugly cousin – everyone knows that. My son would never be so stupid.”

She sucked in a breath between her teeth – a hiss of sound in the otherwise silent office. “Get out, Mr. Garrett,” she said softly. “Your welcome has been overstayed. You are not to come in here again unless you’d like to discuss a business deal. Tripp?”

She looked at her assistant manager who eagerly grabbed Mr. Garrett’s elbow to escort him out the door.

“What are you doing!” he yelled, yanking his elbow away. “You cannot throw me out. I am Rocky Garr—”

“I am well aware of your name, Mr. Garrett,” Georgia said smoothly. “Now leave.”

“Or what? You’ll call the cops on me?”

“Now that’s an excellent idea,” she said, reaching for her phone on her desk. “Why don’t I just call Sheriff Connelly right now and he can come on down to escort you off the premises.”

“Connelly would never arrest me,” Mr. Garrett said triumphantly. “Not if he wants to get elected as sheriff again next year.”

“Maybe not, but I’ll make sure to discuss the situation in a loud tone of voice in the lobby of the bank,” she said cooly. “I imagine the gossip chain here in Long Valley would chew over that one for a long time.”

He hesitated, pausing, his whole body frozen as he tried to decide if she was serious; if it was worth it; if she’d really do something like that.

She picked up the phone from the cradle and began punching in the number for the sheriff’s department.

“I’m done talking to a skank like you anyway,” Mr. Garrett said coldly. “If my son does marry you, I’ll cut him off without a penny. Think about what that will do to your future career. Any farmer who takes out a loan from you will pay higher than retail price from me at the dealership; I’ll make sure of it.”

He spun on his heel, pushing past Tripp and storming out into the lobby of the credit union, cursing as he went. There were a few startled yelps, which Georgia was pretty sure meant that he was shoving customers as he went, and then the bell over the front glass doors jingled and he was gone.

She slowly hung up the phone.

“Heaven help you if you do marry Moose,” Tripp said, staring at her with concern in his whiskey brown eyes. “Mr. Garrett had always been so nice when he came in before. I had no idea he could be like that…”

Georgia collapsed into her chair, all of the steel gone from her spine. She felt boneless, worn out, run over, and thrown away. “It’s okay for me to give out loans for his customers. It’s okay for him to bank here. But it’s not okay for me to marry his son. When I was up in heaven, picking out families, I just picked the wrong brother to be born to.” She gave Tripp an ironic smile. “Stupid, stupid me.”

“Next time, make better choices, will you?” he said, and then began laughing. “What century are we living in, anyway?”

“I have no idea…”