Page 136 of Pinch of Love
Evie smiled and clapped her hands. “Mom will be thrilled to hear this. She was worried you’d given up the fight.”
“Not when you hear Hunter tell the story.”
“That’s because Hunter is afraid of his own shadow.”
“Afraid?”
“Oh, yeah. You are one big scaredy cat,” our sister teased.
“While you two figure this out, I’m gonna go pack.” I darted up the stairs, and Chewie followed behind me.
The one thing I’d failed to mention was that I’d sent Maya texts.
She just never answered them.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Maya
“Here’s the thing,” I explained to Grace. “You are in a happily-ever-after relationship, and prior to Jackson Jr., you had Tim. You two had a wonderful marriage and brought an amazing little girl into the world. You’ve been the epitome of stability. And then there’s Nina.”
Grace studied me carefully as she drank the hot cider that Grandma Millie had prepared.
“Nina took all the wildness and uncertainty of growing up with our parents and became this cool Bohemian woman who never overthinks things and just lives. Lives with the plants and lets the world guide her. She’s a free spirit. She’s made her life work.”
“I don’t know where you’re going with this or why you’re hiding away at Grandma Millie’s house while the man you love is texting you and wishing things had gone differently.” Grace shook her head. “You have a Ph.D., Maya. It’s not like you’re exactly dropping the ball in your court.”
I narrowed my eyes at my sister. “Do you know why I have that much schooling?”
“Because you wanted to help people?” She eyed me right back.
“Absolutely.” I straightened in the chair. “And I wanted to figure out why I felt so... confused.”
“Did the schooling help?” Grace teased.
“Obviously.” I chuckled.
“Have you ever thought that maybe you overthink things too much?”
“The thought has occurred to me,” I said wryly.
Grandma Millie wandered into the kitchen and traded a look with Grace.
“Listen, why don’t I take you out for coffee? I need to pick up Izzy anyway when her shift ends. Speaking of perfect unions, Izzy and the half-brother she never knew she had are hanging out with Caleb tonight for movies at the house.” My sister gave me anI-told-you-solook. “So, looks are deceiving.”
The thought of wandering around town and bumping into Cash made me feel like I was going down on the Titanic. I couldn’t breathe. My heart raced. My palms got sweaty.
There was absolutely no way I was ready to see Cash. No way. No how. I’d been taking the last several days to work on myself, to heal, to become whole again.
Running into him would absolutely blow all my work out the window. I’d even started doing yoga again.
Just the possibility of bumping into him made me feel like I was about to get a case of hives, and that hadn’t happened to me since fifth grade when my teacher read a love note I’d written to a boy, egged on by Nina the night before.
I shivered at the thought. So, no... I didn’t need to be pushed into doing something I wasn’t ready for.
“You’ve been moping around the house long enough,” Grandma Millie said. “You need some caffeine or anything that makes it look like you aren’t part of the walking dead.”
“Thanks a lot, Grandma.” I pretended to scowl at her, and she chuckled.