Promise Canyon (Virgin River #13)(31)

"I guess," Jack said with a shrug. "Why?"

"Well, I have a proposition. Could work out for both of us. Remember I built that room on the house? Well, rooms. One downstairs, one up, and a freestanding garage--more for farm equipment than trucks, really. Things were real skippy when I built on, you know? But I kinda got caught in the economic downturn with an adjustable second mortgage so I was just wondering--how do you feel about making a loan out of that money? I'd pay decent interest, of course. Just not insane interest, if you get my meaning. Could make the town money go a little further and save my butt."

"Aw, Hugh, I'm not a banker. Just an executor, that's all."

"Yeah, that means you can do pretty much whatever you want as long as you don't abuse the money, right? This ain't abuse! It's a good investment! No matter how bad things get, people still make apple cider and apple pie. And things are gonna swing back up. But that adjustable rate second could really kill me in the meantime."

"Hugh, I don't think Hope intended personal loans--"

"It's not exactly a loan. An investment! By the way, how much did she leave you?"

Jack was starting to doubt his wisdom on this matter. He put a strong hand on Hugh's shoulder. "She didn't leave me anything, Hugh. She left it to the town and put me in charge of making sure it's used responsibly. I'm obligated to look at the past use of her funds to get a clue about how she thinks that should be done. Now let's go inside and have a meeting with the town."

"Is that a no?" he asked.

"That is a no," Jack said. "I'm sorry you got stuck with a bad loan, but Hope's money wasn't meant for any one person. I'm sure of that."

"Don't know why not, if the return is good," he said in a pout. "The others might not agree with you, you know."

"Well, let's hear what they have to say." But he was already starting to regret this idea of a town meeting. And it pissed him off that Mel and Preacher were onto this ahead of him.

Jack left Hugh to find himself a seat and strode down the center aisle of the church. He got a prickly sensation up his spine when he noted there were more people packed into the church to divvy up the money than attended Sunday morning service.

"Evening," he said when he faced the crowd. "If it wasn't clear in the notice, let me explain why we're all gathering here tonight. Hope McCrea, who did so many generous things for Virgin River, left the town a trust in her will. And because she was a little daft and shortsighted, she decided to put me in charge. So, I thought it made sense to listen to your suggestions and ideas and--"

"How much did she leave you?" a man's voice rang out from the back.

"Okay, let's be clear, here--she didn't leave me anything. I have no intention of ever using or borrowing from her funds. But I have been given a responsibility that I take very seriously--to use what she left in a way that she would approve of. Now, if you knew Hope you knew she was pretty well fixed, but she didn't throw money around. Hell, I don't know if I ever saw her in a coat with all its buttons and God knows that old Suburban of hers had a couple hundred thousand miles on it. I take that as a clue about how careful she was with--"

"How much is it?" a different male voice shouted from the back.

"I'm not telling you. Don't you get that? I invited you here to give you a chance to make suggestions, since Hope died with the intention that what she left behind would serve the town! Do I hear a suggestion?" he asked a little hotly.

"We need a sign!" a woman's voice rang out. An elderly lady stood up. "We really need a sign! People don't know where they are when they get off 36. We need a sign that says, Welcome to Virgin River, Population 623, et cetera."

"Okay, there's an idea. That's what I'm talking about," Jack said approvingly. He nodded at Mel to make sure she'd jotted it down, which she did right after rolling her eyes.

"It should have lights on it," the woman went on. "With a big blinking arrow. I'm talking about a big sign. Billboard size. Like they have for casinos."

"Whoa," Jack said. "Do we really need--"

"We need to bail out our friends and neighbors," Hugh Givens said, standing up. "I suggested this to Jack already but he could care less about an idea like this. We need to use that money to make some loans to folks who have been hit by this recession. I mean, with fair interest, it's a good investment for the town. Right? And some of us got caught in the crunch and could use a little help from someone who's not a bank."

"I could use some of that kind of help," one of the Andersons said. The Andersons were sheep ranchers.

"Hey, I could use a break on interest," said a man from the other side of the room.

"Bull, Lou, you're just broke 'cause you bought a new Dually and you don't even need no Dually--you just go back and forth to work, that's all."

"So my truck is less important than that rumpus room you built on the house?" the offended owner of the truck with dual back wheels asked hotly.

"Best thing we could do is double the size of that corner store so people would have a place to shop in this town," said Ron, who just happened to own the Corner Store. "Can't do that without a little help. And it would serve the town."