Page 74 of Pinch of Love

Cash laughed and went inside as I texted Grace to ensure she was at her house. She texted back quickly that she was and that we could come on over. She’s spent the day working on her store.

By the time we reached Grace’s rental, which coincidentally was also one of Cash’s, I’d gotten enough nerve to tell Grace.

She’d always been the one to hold out hope for Mom and Dad, but after the last trip she made out there this summer when she learned of our mom’s illness, something changed. I didn’t know how this would go.

“Do you want me to stay in the Jeep?” Cash asked.

I looked at the house and drew a breath before answering. “Would you mind?”

Chapter Eighteen

Cash

Damn it. Did this woman ever catch a break?

I couldn’t even comprehend what Maya and her sisters encountered growing up, but I was certain it was the complete opposite of what I experienced with my siblings. I always had a parent cheering me on from the sidelines or volunteering for field trips. I always had clothes on my back, and my parents remembered our birthdays.

Maya had spent about an hour inside with her sister, and when she came out with her red nose and even redder eyes, I wanted to do nothing more than hold her in my arms forever.

But I could sense something had changed. Whatever vulnerabilities she’d willingly shown me earlier had disappeared.

We went back to the house, ate the rest of our dinner, played a little with Chewie, and each went to bed without saying much.

I didn’t want to say anything that would hurt her. She didn’t want to say anything that would make her hurt. It was as if she suddenly saw tears as a weakness, or maybe she’d cried them all out with her sister.

I really had no idea, but when I left in the morning to go check on one of my houses, she was nowhere to be seen. Usually, she’d hobble around with her knee up on the upright scooter, trying to make coffee and feed me breakfast before I left. It was nearly impossible to convince Maya to slow down.

However, this morning, the house was silent. I made her a pot of coffee for when she awoke and defrosted a pastry I found in the freezer.

I managed to grab a bagel from the coffee shop and now stood in front of my newly purchased house, which needed a lot of work to entice tourists. I’d left Chewie back with Maya in case she lifted her spirits. Hauling over a ladder, I propped it on the side of the house and climbed each step slowly until I made it to the top and scanned the shingles. Everything looked pretty solid and in good shape.

As I started back down, my phone rang. It was Nate.

Balancing carefully, I answered.

“One of the deputies said they saw someone in town at the hardware store who looked like Rob.”

My heart stopped. “Seriously?”

“Yup. Of course, I can’t be sure until we have a positive ID from Maya, but my guy shot a pic. Should we stop by now?”

My heart went from stalling to a million miles an hour. “Give me about twenty minutes. I’m not home with her, and I want to be there when she sees the photo.”

“Absolutely. I’ll bring it over in a bit.”

I climbed down the ladder, slid it closed, and carried it inside before quickly locking the door behind me.

Maya’s ex had better stay the hell away from her. I shook my head in frustration. What was he doing here?

I’d gotten myself all worked up by the time I was pulling into the driveway. I scanned the property, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There was a good chance that if her ex was in town, he wouldn’t know where she was staying since all of the rental properties were in my name. If she were at the lodge and he called the front desk, they just might give him everything he needed.

I turned off the Jeep and marched inside to see Maya sipping a cup of coffee next to the empty pastry plate.

“Good morning,” I said, trying to be as cheerful as possible.

She saw right through it.

“What now?” She set the coffee cup down.