Page 30 of Pinch of Love

Chapter Eight

Cash

This woman was going to be the death of me. All I wanted was to get back to my quiet and solitary life with my new orange fruitcake.

I only needed to grab a few things for Chewie before that could happen, and without fail, the one woman I needed to avoid happened to show up at the hardware store.

What were the odds?

I was beginning to realize pretty good if a person was in the center of the Sunshine Breakfast Club’s bullseye.

No.

I was being completely ridiculous.

Being at the hardware store was purely a coincidence. Buttercup Lake was merely a small town with very few shopping options.

But I knew Grace was part of the book club.

And that would mean my cousin really was in on this whole thing, along with Chewie.

I shook my head and glanced at the bait, which was sitting in my recliner, staring at me with woeful eyes.

It had been four days of hiding out at my house, enjoying the lake, and dodging all requests to meet up with anyone so I didn’t suddenly get slammed with a cutie-meet on my schedule... or was it meet-cutie? Whatever the hell it was.

I growled, and Chewie lifted her head and slightly cocked it in confusion.

These last four days had been near bliss with Chewie. She was far more trained than my cousin had let on. She hadn’t peed once in the house. The only weird thing was that she fetched my dirty socks and underwear and dragged them down the hall for me to find and put in the laundry basket.

Rusty never cared whether I left my dirty clothes on my bedroom floor.

And neither did Freya.

"Freya,” I whispered, shaking my head.

I hadn’t said her name aloud for so long I couldn’t even remember.

Rusty had been Freya’s idea so we could practice raising a child without screwing up a real one first, or so she’d told me.

But the truth was that it got us one step closer to living together and one step closer to becoming married.

And then.

Gone.

Rusty and I were left to pick up the pieces, and yet, I still couldn’t find most of mine.

Tears pricked my eyes, and I swore under my breath as I wiped them away and onto my jeans. It had been years since she’d passed away.

Maybe sitting here at the house for four days hadn’t been a great idea.

I wasn’t exactly a hermit. I didn’t mind people from a distance, like a casual hi at the grocery store or a quick chat over breakfast before I went to work on a house.

This sitting and relaxing thing wasn’t good for my psyche.

My parents had called earlier this morning and left a message. I should at least call them back to make sure they didn’t need something.

Although they rarely did. If anything, it was me needing them to watch Rusty for a day or two while I went into the city or something.