Page 126 of Pinch of Love

Silence.

Oh, no. He’d found her.

Tears welled in my eyes. My knees felt like rubber.

Not our Chewie.

Footsteps trotted down the steps, but I was afraid to see.

I was a coward even though I’d caused this.

Keeping my gaze to the floor, I wept. “Cash, I want you to know she was a fighter. She made him bleed. She slowed him down. She bought me time.”

Cash chuckled, and the sound felt like a gift from heaven. “That’s because she’s a goddamn hero. This one? That’s right. Who’s my ferocious teacup?”

I lifted my chin and swallowed down the tears to see the orange pom-pom staring at me with her pink tongue hanging from her mouth.

“Is that blood on her chin?” I asked.

Cash lifted her wiggling body up to check. “Would you look at that? This girl takes after her mama. She takes no shit from anyone.”

I chuckled at the thought, wishing it were true. I’d taken a lot of shit and kept on asking for more.

Until now.

I was done with it.

Cash brought over Chewie, and all I could do was take her little fluffy self and nuzzle her softness while Cash hugged me.

“What in the H-E-double hockey sticks happened in here?” Grandma Millie shouted. “And how can I kick his ass to the moon and back? Oh, let me get my hands on him.”

Nate laughed and shook his head. “I think Cash already took care of that for you, Millie. He’s in the cop car headed up to county.”

My grandmother eyed Nate and leaned in. “Does he really have to make it to county, Nate?”

“I’m afraid, ma’am, that he does.”

“Cryin’ shame.” She shook her head, making her way over to me and pulling me into her arms.

Chewie squealed, and Millie hopped back.

“She already went through a few of her nine lives,” I told my grandma. “We don’t need to squish her to death.”

My grandma furrowed her white brows and chuckled. “She’s not a cat, Maya. That’s a cat thing to say.”

I shrugged, slowly starting to feel like myself. “Says who?”

Grandma Millie gave me a funny look. “The world, Maya. The world.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Cash

“How are you holding up?” I asked, holding Maya’s hands in mine.

“Oddly well.” She looked across the lake where a father and son were fishing before the inland trout season ended in a few days. “But I don’t think I’m ready for dinner with your parents.”

I nodded.