Chapter Thirty – Four: Payment for a Mishap

Tia's POV

"You spent how much money?!" I shrieked after hearing Milo start to break down what happened in Arizona. Milo tried to speak up, but I quickly cut him off, "No, you spent three thousand dollars and more than half of it was spent on a damn figurine! I have every right to be angry, I fronted the money for your trip out west. I hope that figurine was worth it because I'm not giving you another dime for this expedition. If it were good reason like mechanical repair, I'd give you the money, but what you did was just foolish. Kida, no offense to her, is the last person who should have been handling the money. I gave you the money because I thought you would be responsible with it, not hand it over to your wife who doesn't know how our currency works."

"Give me the phone, Milo, let me talk to her." I could hear Mole tell him in the background. Milo handed him the phone. "Veuillez nous envoyer plus d'argent. Audrey et moi ne devrions pas être coincés ici parce que c'est un crétin."

(Please wire us more money. Audrey and I shouldn't have to be stuck here because he's a moron.)

"Hey!" Milo exclaimed in the background, "That's uncalled for!"

"Cela a été dit dans une conversation privée avec mon partenaire commercial, donc vous êtes impoli."Mole told him, not bothering to switch back to English.

(That was said in a private conversation with my business partner, so you're the one being rude.)

"Mole" I called his attention back to focus, "If I wire you more money, I'm not giving you anywhere near as much as I did before. Not when it's burned through for so little and so fast. How much do you realistically need to get back?" Mole started listing off expenses, mostly dealing with the truck. I groaned, "Put Audrey on the phone."

Mole passed the phone to Audrey.

"How much do you need for the truck and to get back?" I asked her.

"Hello to you too." Audrey said, "Not surprised though, I'm not too happy about it either. We could probably fix the truck and get back with a couple hundred."

"You get three, no more." I told her, "That money is to be split between you and Mole. You get $150 to do what you can with the repairs on the truck, the other $150 goes to Mole for food and accommodation."

"That's fair."

"I'll wire you the money tomorrow." I told her, "Anything else I need to know?"

"Not anything that can't wait until after we get back." Audrey answered.

"Have you already paid for your hotel?"

"Yeah, it's paid in full."Audrey answered, "Figured to pay up for a few days, we thought we'd be here longer."

"As soon as you get the money, do the repairs and get back here."

"Will do."

I hung up and looked over to Packard, "I'm done with the phone, you can call Margie back.

"Do you want me to have someone get you if they call back?" She asked as she started to dial her friend.

I shook my head, "No, just take a message and tell them I'll call them back."

She nodded and then called Margie back. I headed down the hall and ducked my head into Grandfather's study.

"Milo and the others heading back?" Grandfather asked. Branson had notified both of us when Milo had called, I was the one who happened to take the call.

"As soon as I wire them the money." I answered.

"I thought you paid them up front for the entire trip."

"I did." I confirmed, "There was a bit of a mishap with Kida paying more than she should have because Milo let her handle the money. I'm wiring Mole and Audrey more money so they can get back."

"I'll have Branson do it tomorrow morning while he's running errands for the house." Grandfather instructed, "I'd rather not have too many people head out now that the storm has picked back up again." He then made a note on the list he had currently.

"I hope you're not sending him out on too much."

"No, he should be back before noon."

"Good." I nodded and headed out.