Page 31 of Pinch of Love

I shook my head and patted my orange addition. I at least had to show off Chewie to my parents. I think they missed Rusty as much as I had.

As I picked up my phone to call my parents, it buzzed with a number I didn’t recognize.

When I answered, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Millie Bailey on the other end of the line until she spoke.

“Hello there, Cash. We have a bit of a predicament,” she chortled.

Millie was Maya’s grandmother, who’d lived in Buttercup Lake her entire life.

“We?” I asked.

“Yes. My granddaughter was trying to help a chipmunk, and needless to say, it didn’t go so well.”

My heart raced. “Is she hurt? Does she need a doctor?”

“I don’t know yet. I just need your help getting her unstuck.”

A shriek rang over the phone, and I grabbed my wallet and keys.

The noise came from Maya.

I looked over at Chewie. “Be a good girl and only pee on the pad by the slider,” I told Chewie as I dashed to my garage.

“Pardon me?” Millie chirped.

“Sorry. I wasn’t talking to you. I should’ve muted myself. I’m on my way.” I hung up and glanced at Chewie once more, and the orange cotton ball looked like she was about to do something just to spite me. I think she got used to me being home, so I scooped her up to take with me.

My pulse pounded as I hopped in my Jeep, placed Chewie next to me, and pulled out of the garage at the speed of light.

Maya hadn’t been the most graceful woman I’d met. She’d already ruined her toe more than once and managed to dump an entire retail unit on herself.

But the house?

What could possibly go wrong?

Unless this was a trap.

By the club.

“Okay, Cash. Now you’re starting to sound really crazy,” I mumbled, glancing at Chewie. “We’ll just pretend I’m talking to you. How’s that?”

Chewie put her chin on her minuscule paws and sighed.

As I turned down the street to the rental Maya was staying in, I saw Millie’s car. The front door was wide open, presumably waiting for me.

I hopped out of the Jeep, grabbed Chewie, and dashed to the door.

“Did she fall down the stairs? Get locked in the library?” I shouted when I crossed the threshold, hearing a couple more shrieks.

Millie appeared down the hallway and almost had a gleeful look spreading across her mouth.

She clapped her hands. “You brought company.”

I nodded. “She’s a new addition. Where’s Maya?”

“She’s in the kitchen.” Millie pointed behind her.

“You said she’s stuck.”