“And? What’s your point? You were going to hang them out to dry if they needed to get some money out of the bank for an emergency. I had to make sure my people were covered. Apparently, the bottom line is more important to you than the convenience of having good loyal customers.” He told her they’d be able to get money, just not right away. “I guess you should have thought of that when you decided, quite arbitrarily, that this bank wasn’t worth your time.”
“But don’t you see? That money coming from them was helping the bottom line for all the other branches. Not having that income, interest in the form of loans, and the savings account money, it hurts all the banks. Even the main one that I’m employed at.” Jude hadn’t said anything to him. “Don’t you care what you’ve done to all of us here?”
“I care no more about how this affects you than you did about telling my people they have to wait ten business days to get money out of their account. Then to make a special effort to mail their checks to some bank thousands of miles away in time to get their loan paid off so as not to incur late charges.” She laughed. “You should have thought this through, at least to the point of having someone here that is much smarter about money and people than you are. As the holder of the property of the bank you closed down, I will expect you to have the building cleared off the land within no less than thirty days of the date you close your doors.”
“What do you mean, the building cleared off? Surely you meant to say cleaned out. There isn’t any way I’m responsible for having a building taken down. You jest.” She told him it was in the contract his company had signed all those one hundred and sixty-four years ago. “I will have to look into that. I cannot believe anyone would sign something so ludicrous as that.”
“Nor would I think that a lunatic would close up a profitable bank when there was no reason for it. But that’s the way it goes at times.”
He called her back twenty minutes later.
“It seems as if I might have spoken too soon about the bank in that area, Mrs. Castle. We’ll maintain the bank there just as we have been, and everything will go back to the way it was before.” She told him no. “I’m sorry? No, what? You wish to make other arrangements with our bank? I am to assure you that we’ll gladly accommodate you in any way we can. My boss has said it would not only be costly to close the branch down at this time but to have the building taken down would cost all of us a great deal of money.”
“No, as in we no longer require your services as a bank at all. You will abide by the time frame I have given you. The building will be removed, and the ground under it and surrounding it, including the parking lot, will be returned to its former condition.” He sputtered around for a good minute. Jude smiled even now at how she had ended the call. “You have a lovely day, sir. And we look forward to having you erased from our town within the thirty days allotted to you.”
Hanging up on him was the most satisfying thing she’d done in a while. Mostly because he was still talking about how he’d made an error in closing the bank, and that she must, as he was the only bank around, take back her time limit of having the building taken down.
Of course, she didn’t answer the next calls from the same number, nor the dozen or so more she’d gotten from the same area code. She had said her piece, and he’d abide by the contract, or she’d take him to court. As soon as she saw Duncan on her way to her house, she grabbed him by both cheeks and kissed him on the mouth.
“Not that I mind that sort of greeting, but can you tell me what I did to deserve it? That way, I can do it over and over again for you.” She told him about the bank. “Good. I hated that corner anyway. The building they put there was so out of place with the other buildings at the time.”
“It should be gone in what I calculated as forty-one days. If it’s not, I’ll have Piper take it down and charge them a large fee for it. I’m not one to mess with when it comes to money.” He laughed with her. “How about, since the kids aren’t home, I take you home and ravish you? Sound good to you?”
“I love the way you think, my dear.” He took her hand into his as they walked toward their home. “I was thinking about something a little while ago. What do you want to do about the play yard in the town square? It’s been falling down for years. I never thought of getting it fixed up until I walked by it just a little bit ago.”
“It’s on my list. Mary is going to help me get a planning board set up to have projects like that one taken care of. Also, she’s finding people to come and work at the nursery school. I hadn’t any idea there was one here.” Duncan said it was newly started when he’d been in town lately. “Good to know. I have a few projects I’m working on with the Over Seventy Club. Again, I had no idea there was such a thing.”
“I think that’s new as well.” He laughed. “Do you think you and I, as well as the other
