Page 74 of Family Jewels

My chest warmed. “I’d like that. Thank you.”

“And there’s no reason for you to make a special trip back here for Muffy if you have a busy day. You can bring her home after dinner.”

“Okay. Thanks.” I handed Muffy to her, along with her medication and her crate.

When I started for the door, Maeve called after me, “It’s okay to live your life, Rose. Mason doesn’t expect you to wallow.”

No, but he’d left because he knew I still needed to figure out who I was and what I wanted—something I’d never be able to do with him around. Had he sacrificed his own happiness? Had he sacrificed his relationship with his mother?

More guilt for me to mull over while digging in the dirt.

Chapter 15

Iwipedsweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. Our cool spell was definitely over.

“You still miss diggin’ in the dirt?” Bruce Wayne asked with a chuckle.

I rested my foot on my shovel and leaned my shoulder into the handle. “Would you believe it if I said yes?”

He grinned. “Ain’t that how we got started in the first place?”

“True enough.” I glanced over at the other man on Bruce Wayne’s crew. “Sean’s a hard worker.”

“He is, but his buddy? Not so much. This is the third time he’s called in sick in three weeks, and he’s been slackin’ when he’s here. I think I’m gonna have to let him go.”

I nodded. “It’s your crew, Bruce Wayne. I trust your judgment. I’ll fill in to help you as much as I can until you find someone else.”

“Thanks.”

My phone began to vibrate in my pocket. I tugged off my glove and pulled my phone out. I didn’t recognize the number, but I regularly gave my number out to clients.

I swiped to answer. “Hello?”

“I need to talk to you,” a woman said. She sounded scared.

I recognized her voice. Thank goodness. The bartender had given her the note after all. “Trixie?”

“I need to tell you about Rayna. Will you meet me?”

I scanned the work site. We’d been working hard for several hours. Bruce Wayne and Sean could easily finish on their own. “Okay. When and where?”

“One Eyed Joes. In thirty minutes.” Then she hung up.

Crap. That wouldn’t give me time to clean up.

“Bruce Wayne, I have to—”

“Go,” he said. “We can finish up just fine.” He hesitated. “Before I forget, Anna wants you and Neely Kate to come over for dinner next week. To celebrate our new house together.”

I grinned. “Domestication suits you, Bruce Wayne.”

A blush tinged his face.

When I got into the truck, I called Neely Kate. “I need you to meet me at One Eyed Joes in twenty-five minutes.”

“What happened on the job site that’s pushed you into day drinking?” she asked.

Actually, it was our other “job” that had done that. “Trixie called me and asked me to meet her there.”