Page 60 of Off-Limits Love

Emi shouldn’t be involved in their quarrels, but Mak wouldn’t stand there and allow Brad to blame her when he could easily borrow a vehicle from his parents or a friend or buy an inexpensive second vehicle to use when he needed one for Emi. He could afford it, especially since he wasn’t paying spousal support the way he was supposed to.

As Zoey had said, Mak refused to make excuses for him a moment longer. Those days were over.

“Mommy?”

Emi’s tone held her every ounce of her uncertainty and Mak shifted her gaze to her daughter and pasted on a smile. “You wanted a cookie earlier. How about you go inside and get one while your daddy and I talk?”

“Oh, I’ll take some too,” Brad said. “When you’re finished eating, bring me a few, would you, baby?”

Mak nearly shrieked at the thought but managed to hold her anger.Do not engage,she reminded herself.

“Okay, Daddy.”

Brad traversed the steps and set Emi down by the door, holding it for her before pressing it closed once she was inside.

“Can we sit down?”

“You said you weren’t staying long,” Mak repeated.

He narrowed his gaze at her and then walked by to seat himself in the rocking chair she’d vacated.

“I heard a few things today.”

“Well, you always liked gossip,” she said in a crisp voice.

Brad and his mom could talk for hours over various bits of gossip they heard and then speculate on what else it might mean. She’d always found it uncomfortable, because if they were talking about their friends and neighbors that way, they obviously discussed her as well.

“From what I heard, this isn’t gossip.”

Mak crossed her arms over her chest and leaned her hip against the railing, feeling the need to remain standing.

“Is it true? The old man’s dying?” Brad asked with a jerk of his head toward the house.

The fact he addressed Sam asthe old maninstead of his name in such a sensitive topic angered her even more.

“I can tell by your face that it is.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Buddy of mine works at the bank and overheard you two in there the other day.”

“So much for privacy,” she muttered.

“Yeah, well, it explains a lot.”

She frowned at his tone. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s no wonder the freak is trying so hard to make a move on you.”

She blinked at his words. “What are you talking about?”

“Come on, Mak. Look around you. Blackwell wants this place and thinks you’ll inherit it when Sam’s gone. That’s why he’s been sniffing around so much.” Brad tilted his head to one side as he regarded her. “What’s Sam say? Is that the plan? Is he leaving it to you?”

Mak shifted uncomfortably. “I have no idea.”

“You haven’t asked him?”

“No, of course not,” she said, appalled by the question. “I’m here to help him as much as I can as his home-health aid before he goes to hospice and because you won’t pay the court-ordered spousal support, which means making ends meet has been difficult.”