Local Hero

Mom?”
    Mitch managed a laugh. “Yeah, good idea. Get your coat, Sergeant, we’re going on a very important mission.”
    ***
    Hester was up to her elbows in numbers. For some reason, she was having a great deal of trouble adding two and two. It didn’t seem terribly important anymore. That, she knew, was a sure sign of trouble. She went through files, calculated and assessed, then closed them again with no feeling at all.
    His fault, she told herself. It was Mitch’s fault that she was only going through the motions, and thinking about going through the same motions day after day for the next twenty years. He’d made her question herself. He’d made her deal with the pain and anger she’d tried to bury. He’d made her want what she’d once sworn never to want again.
    And now what? She propped her elbows on the stack of files and stared into space. She was in love, more deeply and more richly in love than she’d ever been before. The man she was in love with was exciting, kind and committed, and he was offering her a new beginning.
    That was what she was afraid of, Hester admitted. That was what she kept heading away from. She hadn’t fully understood before that she had blamed herself, not Allan, all these years. She had looked on the breakup of her marriage as a personal mistake, a private failure. Rather than risk another failure, she was turning away her first true hope.
    She said it was because of Radley, but that was only partly true. Just as the divorce had been a private failure, making a full commitment to Mitch had been a private fear.
    He’d been right, she told herself. He’d been right about so many things all along. She wasn’t the same woman who had loved and married Allan Wallace. She wasn’t even the same woman who had struggled for a handhold when she’d found herself alone with a small child.
    When was she going to stop punishing herself? Now, Hester decided, picking up the phone. Right now. Her hand was steady as she dialed Mitch’s number, but her heart wasn’t. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and listened to the phone ring—and ring.
    “Oh, Mitch, won’t we ever get the timing right?” She hung up the receiver and promised herself she wouldn’t lose her courage. In an hour she would go home and tell him she was ready for that new beginning.
    At Kay’s buzz, Hester picked up the receiver again. “Yes, Kay.”
    “Mrs. Wallace, there’s someone here to see you about a loan.”
    With a frown, Hester checked her calendar. “I don’t have anything scheduled.”
    “I thought you could fit him in.”
    “All right, but buzz me in twenty minutes. I’ve got to clear some things up before I leave.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    Hester tidied her desk and was preparing to rise when Mitch walked in. “Mitch? I was just . . . What are you doing here? Rad?”
    “He’s waiting with Taz in the lobby.”
    “Kay said I had someone waiting to see me.”
    “That’s me.” He stepped up to the desk and set down a briefcase.
    She started to reach for his hand, but his face seemed so set. “Mitch, you didn’t have to say you’d come to apply for a loan.”
    “That’s just what I’m doing.”
    She smiled and settled back. “Don’t be silly.”
    “Mrs. Wallace, you
are
the loan officer at this bank?”
    “Mitch, really, this isn’t necessary.”
    “I’d hate to tell Rosen you sent me to a competitor.” He flipped open the briefcase. “I’ve brought the financial information usual in these cases. I assume you have the necessary forms for a mortgage application?”
    “Of course, but—”
    “Then why don’t you get one out?”
    “All right, then.” If he wanted to play games, she’d oblige him. “So you’re interested in securing a mortgage. Are you purchasing the property for investment purposes, for rental or for a business?”
    “No, it’s purely personal.”
    “I see. Do you have a contract of sale?”
    “Right here.” It pleased him to see her mouth drop open.
    Taking the papers from him, Hester studied them. “This is real.”
    “Of course it’s real. I put a bid on the place a couple of weeks ago.” He scratched at his chin as if thinking back. “Let’s see, that would have been the day I had to forgo pot roast. You haven’t offered it again.”
    “You bought a house?” She scanned the papers again. “In Connecticut?”
    “They accepted my offer. The papers just came through. I believe the bank will want to get its own appraisal.