Page 70 of Pinch of Love

Maya brushed my cheek with her hand and nodded.

“Until you bounded into my life.” I smiled. “But don’t worry. I fully understand that you have your life in North Carolina. I get it. I’m purely a distraction. I know what I signed up for, but if this was all too heavy for you, I’d get that too. Just know that you deserve to be treated right.”

Maya pulled herself onto my lap, straddling me with her tiny body. “Be careful with your foot.”

She pressed her finger to my lips as her long hair brushed the fabric of my shirt. “Shh.”

Maya’s lips were so close to mine, but there was no kiss.

She slowly looped her arms around my neck and buried her head into the crook of my neck.

“You deserve to be treated right, too,” she whispered. Her warm breath coated my flesh as I held her close and finally breathed.

Chapter Seventeen

Maya

Since Cash had answered the call three nights ago, I hadn’t heard any more from my ex. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t still out there plotting his next revenge. I just didn’t seem to care as much now. Cash had been an amazing nurse until I’d chased him away during the day so he could go take care of his business and I could read until the evening when he’d return. He took one of the spare bedrooms, so there wasn’t any weirdness.

But there was something different between us, and I couldn’t tell what had changed.

I felt closer to him but farther at the same time.

As I sat outside, stretching my legs in front of me and pretending I wasn’t still wearing a boot, I thought back to that night he told me everything. My heart ached for his loss, for the pain he’d experienced, and for the future that had been stolen from him.

I also knew I didn’t want to steal another future from him. As I sat with that thought for a few minutes, my phone rang, and my entire body tensed until I saw that it was my sister Nina calling me.

“I’m so glad it’s you,” I told her over speakerphone.

“Who else would it be? Are Grace and Grandma Millie driving you crazy?”

I chuckled. “Surprisingly, no. I think they’re trying to force a love connection and are waiting in the audience with their popcorn.”

“Sounds about right.” She drew a breath that filled our connection with tension.

“What? What’s going on?”

“Mom has passed away.”

“What?” I screamed before numbness muted me.

“I’m sorry. I just found out. No thanks to our father. He’s gone MIA, but the county’s coroner wanted to know what to do with the body.”

I hung my head in my hands and gathered my thoughts.

“Was it the cancer?”

“No, she overdosed.” Nina’s voice was emotionless until the last word.

“I want to say all the things a child should say, like I can’t believe it and how could this happen, but all I am is angry.” I’d kept it in for years.

Nina let out a sigh. “I haven’t told Grace yet. I was hoping since you were there, you might be able to do it in person. I know she held the most hope for change with those two.”

I ran my fingers over my eyes to wipe away the sudden dampness.

“I’m so sorry you had to get that call,” I said softly.

“It had to be one of us. I just wish the circumstances were different.”