Page 10 of The Love Fix (The Sunrise Cove #8)

Hours and hours later, after being hauled down to the Placerville police station for questioning and having to wait until

Margo deigned to show up and begrudgingly corroborate Lexi’s story, they were released.

But by that time, the truck had been impounded.

Heath ro-sham-bo’d with Lexi on which of them would have to call their respective sibling to come get them. To say that neither

of them wanted to do any such thing felt like the understatement of the year.

Luckily, he won.

“You’re scum,” Lexi told him as they stood on the sidewalk in front of the police station, watching Ashley drive up in an

Audi. Lexi slid him a look. “Yours, I assume?”

He shrugged. The Audi had been a bonus from the law firm he’d worked for. He actually preferred his truck, but didn’t like

to lend it to Ashley since he enjoyed the lack of dings and dents all over it.

Ashley got out of the Audi and surveyed them standing on the curb, thoughts unreadable. “I had to reschedule a drawing class I teach at the senior center.”

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to get the envelope delivered,” Lexi said, hands clasped, posture announcing that she was uncomfortable

but trying hard and didn’t know how to express it. It cracked something in Heath’s chest.

“You should have told me,” Ashley said.

“You’d mentioned you were done doing this with me.”

Mentioned? More like yelled. They were so different. Ashley usually reacted with emotions, and not always in a good way. Lexi

appeared to be the opposite of that, shoving things deep, wearing armor to protect herself. But even he could see that while

she was struggling to do this, what Daisy had asked of her, she was doing it, whatever needed to be done. Whether that was for Ashley’s sake or her own didn’t really matter, not to him. Because

he admired that while even though she could have walked away from all of it, she hadn’t.

He looked to Ashley, ready to actually come to Lexi’s defense, but Ashley held up a hand in the direction of his face. “I’m

mad at you too.”

“Don’t be,” Lexi said. “He thought we were going to the grocery store.”

She’d defended him . Stunned, he turned to her.

She kept her gaze on Ashley. “I’m sorry for being rude earlier. I’m also sorry I didn’t tell you what I was doing. I just

wanted to help, and as I’ve already mentioned, you said—”

“I know what I said.”

Lexi nodded. “I took your words at face value. Sorry you had to come all the way down here to save our asses.”

Ashley blinked. “Are you just saying that because you want a ride home?”

Lexi grimaced. “Maybe it’s ten percent that.”

A little warmth came into Ashley’s gaze. “I’m sorry too. I’m grateful you’re here. I guess I’m just already sad that you’ll

be leaving again.”

Lexi managed a smile. “Look at us. Being all grown-up and everything. What can I do to pay you back for coming all this way?”

Ashley smiled, and oh boy, Heath knew that smile. He’d fallen victim to it a million times.

“I teach a weekly class on drawing at the senior center,” she said. “I could really use help.”

“I don’t know anything about drawing.”

“Experience not required. My students will admire you for being so knowledgeable about art.”

Heath was wondering if Ashley maybe had her sister confused with someone who cared what people thought, but then Lexi sighed.

“So if I help you, you’re going to forgive and forget? Really? It’s that simple?”

Huh. She was actually considering falling on the sword of Ashley’s charms.

“Of course,” Ashley said. “Get in.”

To his surprise, Lexi slid into the back seat. Heath started to open the driver door, but Ashley hit the locks. Right. His

payment for being stupid was allowing her to drive his car. He walked around to the passenger side, and the doors unlocked.

He’d barely slid into the seat when Ashley peeled out.

Thinking of his tires, he winced.

Ashley looked over at him. “Problem?”

He wasn’t stupid. “Nope.”

Ashley glanced at Lexi in the rearview mirror. “I get that you don’t want to be here, with me, even if I’m literally your

only relative, but—”

“It’s not that,” Lexi said.

“Then what?” Ashley softened her voice. “Talk to me, Lexi.”

Heath had to clamp down on his urge to break in and try and defuse the tension. But they were actually talking, and talking

was good.

Hopefully.

Lexi took a deep breath. “This is hard for me. It’s going to sound selfish.”

“Try me,” Ashley said quietly. Willing to listen.

“I get that she wanted us to do this, but... what about what I asked of her? What about every birthday and holiday she

flaked on me, and let’s be clear, it was all of them. I never asked her to do anything for me, get anything for me... I wanted nothing other than to see her.”

Heath hadn’t known this. Probably because Ashley had been too young to see it, and Daisy too upset at her own failures to

admit such things. All Daisy had told him was that she’d tried to reach out to her daughter many times, only to be rejected.

He’d never thought to question Daisy, and wouldn’t now, except... He could hear the very real emotion in Lexi’s voice,

how she was fighting for composure. Because she didn’t want to lose Ashley? Or because her mom had disappointed her for so

many years, until she’d finally decided she had enough and had stopped allowing Daisy access in order to protect herself?

And how often had she had to do that in her life?

He didn’t know much about her dad, other than what Ashley had told him, that the man was stoic and hard. He’d taken Lexi for

the sole reason that he hadn’t trusted Daisy with her.

That was who had raised Lexi.

Thinking about it, thinking about some of the things they might have in common, things he wouldn’t wish on anyone, made him ache for her.

Ashley pulled over and twisted to look at Lexi, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “Forgiven. Forgiven and forgotten.”

And with that, she put the car back in gear and drove them home.

When she pulled into the driveway, she looked at Heath. “Thanks for going with Lexi. For having her back. Also, for always

having mine.”

“Anytime.”

She nodded, then looked at Lexi. “I made cookies.” And with that olive branch, she got out and vanished inside the house.

Heath got behind the wheel just as Lexi slid out of the back seat, and he choked back a laugh.

She whirled back, giving him a flat stare. “What?”

He motioned for her to check her back pocket.

She reached back and... pulled out the damn envelope. Her mouth fell open as she sputtered with fury. “ Margo .”

Seemed that Lexi had finally met her match.

A minute later, he let himself into his grandpa’s house, wondering if the sisters might ever find their way to the kind of

relationship he and Cole had. For them both, he hoped so.

Mayhem lifted his head from where he’d been asleep on the couch, blinking, trying to decide if Heath needed any emotional

support or if he could just go back to sleep.

“You’re not supposed to sleep on the couch,” Heath said. “You’ve got a very cushy dog bed that cost me a hundred bucks at

Costco.”

Not caring, Mayhem yawned wide, stretched his entire body, then trotted over, bumping his nose against Heath’s thigh. Translation: Missed you, love you, I got you, I always got you, and by any chance do you have a treat for me ’ cuz I’m a good boy .

Heath squatted down and gave the dog a one-armed hug. “You keep the house safe?”

Mayhem licked his ear.

“Good boy.” Heath rose. “Grandpa?”

“Here!”

Heath followed the voice, heading through the house to the kitchen, Mayhem trotting along beside him, his faithful steed,

whether he needed one or not. The back door was open, revealing his grandpa standing on the porch, smoke curling around him

as he watched three deer happily munch on Heath’s sunflowers against the side fence.

“We’ve got another fence panel down,” the old man said, puffing away on a cigar. “So now you’re feeding the deer.”

“Did you ever think about waving your arms or yelling at them?” Heath snatched the cigar out of the old man’s fingers and

put it out. “And are you kidding me?”

“Hey, that was a gift from Frannie at the senior center.”

“One, we’ve talked about Frannie being a terrible influence on you. Two, you aren’t supposed to be smoking. And three—”

“Here we go...” his grandpa muttered.

“The entire kitchen smells like smoke.”

“I didn’t smoke in there, I smoked out here.”

“Yes,” Heath said. “With the door open.”

“Whoops. My bad.”

Heath resisted banging his head on the doorjamb. “Did you eat?”

“Do chips count?”

“You know they don’t. Cole was supposed to bring you dinner.”

Grandpa shrugged. “He called, said he was going to pick me up and bring me to his place. I don’t mean to be rude, but his place is a zoo.”

True story. “I’ll put something together.” In the kitchen, Heath went to the fridge, standing there with his hand on the door

for a moment, seeking inner calm.

He missed his own place.

His own space...

There was nothing wrong with this house, except it wasn’t his. Not to mention, it needed renovations and some serious TLC.

But his grandpa had refused to allow Heath to change a thing. Nope, he wanted the house exactly as it’d been for the fifty

years he’d lived here with his wife. Everything was outdated. The old electric stove had two burners that didn’t work. There

was not enough insulation in the walls, so it cost a fortune to heat. The linoleum was peeling up, but Heath’s grandma had

picked it out, so it stayed.

And so did Heath.

And therein lay the problem, but whining about it wouldn’t make a difference. And he sure as hell didn’t feel like cooking.

So he called for takeout from the local diner. His grandpa loved the chili and corn bread from there, and because Heath had

done some renovations for them, they knew about his grandpa and his dietary restrictions, so they used ground turkey instead

of red meat. Twenty minutes later, it was delivered.

Cold.

Knowing his grandpa wouldn’t eat unless it was piping hot, he was stirring it on the stovetop when he called Cole.

“Yo,” Cole answered, the background sounding like he was standing in the middle of a crazy club.

“Thought you were taking care of Grandpa tonight.”

“What?” Cole asked around a little person yelling “I do it ’self, I do it ’self!”

Heath didn’t bother repeating himself. He heard Cole sigh and then move into a quieter room.

“Okay,” his brother said. “I’m hiding in the pantry closet so I can hear you. What’s up?”

“You tell me.”

“It’s been a day.”

“It’s my turn for the closet!” Misty yelled. There was a tussle and then she’d wrestled the phone from her husband. “Heath?”

“Hey, you. How’s it going?”

“Well, my husband just told me he wanted a divorce, so—”

“That is not what I said,” came Cole’s voice. “My exact words were ‘I think it’d be cool for the whole family to live in an RV and travel

the country for a year.’”

“Same thing,” Misty said.

Heath grimaced. “He never was the sharpest tool in the shed.”

“Hey,” Cole said.

“I’ll pay you a million dollars to rescue me,” Misty said to Heath.

“You don’t have a million dollars. But even if you did, it’s still a hell no. You’re multiplying.”

Misty sighed. “Okay, then maybe you can build me my very own escape closet.”

“That I can do,” he said. “What’s all the ruckus in the background?”

“Matty’s sobbing on the kitchen floor after your brother ignored my advice to cut his grilled cheese sandwich into triangles

and not squares.”

“Men,” Heath said, and made her laugh. “What else is going on?”

He heard a rustle of what sounded like a bag of chips being opened. Sure enough, when she spoke, it was around a mouthful. “Earlier, Matty handed me a rock, patted my face, and said, ‘Mommy, you’re the best, here’s a present for you.’”

“Sweet.”

“The rock was a cat turd.”

“Have kids, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.”

“This isn’t funny, Heath. How did I end up living at, as your grandpa says, the zoo?”

“If it helps,” he said, “this morning I took Grandpa to the store, where he proceeded to ask an elderly woman to pull his

finger.”

“Dear God. Did she?”

“Yep.”

“And did he—”

“Fart loud enough that everyone in the aisle ran?” he asked. “Also yes.”

Misty laughed. “I’m so sorry, your day was definitely worse than mine.”

Actually, even though he’d spent five hours in the car and several more at the police station, the company had been...

pretty damn great. So no, he wouldn’t classify his day as bad. Not even close.

“Did you need Cole for something?” Misty asked. “Fair warning, if you do, Matty’s also coming.”

“Nope, we’re all good here.”

Misty laughed. “Coward.”

Heath disconnected as Grandpa came inside, sniffing dramatically. “Is that your grandma’s chili?”

“No, it’s from the diner.”

“Oh.”

Heath glanced over at him. “You love their chili.”

“It’s not your grandma’s.”

“But you eat it every Saturday when we go out to lunch.”

“It’s Tuesday, not Saturday. Every Tuesday, your grandma always made me her chili.”

Heath spooned a portion into a bowl and brought it to the table, pointing for his grandpa to sit. “You do realize no one’s

ever going to be able to make it like Grandma.”

“You could if you set your mind to it, but that’s the problem with your generation. You’re all inherently lazy.”

Heath got a bowl for himself and sat at the table. “You need a new song and dance.”

His grandpa laughed. “I always did like you best.”

“Uh-huh.” He’d heard him say the same thing to Cole a million times. “Eat.”