Page 2 of The Love Fix (The Sunrise Cove #8)

It was a forty-five minute drive from the airport, and Lexi spent each of those minutes staring out the window while refusing

to look at Heath. She’d forgotten how stunning the Tahoe National Forest was, the deep jade pines lining the lower ridges,

leading to jagged, granite-faced peaks that in turn vanished into fluffy white clouds lazily floating across the azure sky.

player, a passenger window that wouldn’t open, and an ignition that only turned if you asked it real nice. She sat squished

on the bench seat between Ashley and Heath. Every single left turn had plastered Lexi up against Heath’s body and made her

grind her back teeth. They’d be powder by the time she got to Daisy’s.

When they hit Lake Tahoe’s north shore and drove into the small mountain town of Sunrise Cove, Lexi’s belly quivered with

nerves. On the main street, the lake shimmered with whitecaps on her right, the quaint shops and cafés on her left resembling

a Swiss Alps village. “Hasn’t changed much.”

“Hey,” Ashley said. “We’ve got two grocery stores now. And a roundabout.”

She made another turn, this one tight, taking a lot of muscle to do it. Sure enough, the movement knocked Lexi into Heath,

her elbow digging into his gut.

It was almost an accident.

He’d clearly been just trying to rile her up with the earlier “shotgun” comment, since they were all in the front seat, but

she had a news flash for him—she was already riled up.

Just being here did that.

Ashley stopped the truck in front of their childhood house at the same time that her cell started playing U2’s “With or Without

You.”

“Love this song,” Ash said, pulling out the phone to sing along for a few bars before slipping it back into her pocket without

answering it.

“Anyone important?” Lexi asked wryly.

“Absolutely not.”

Lexi decided she could learn a lot from her baby sister.

Ashley was eyeing the driveway, which already had two cars in it.

“The Ramos family across the street has teenagers, and too many cars,” Ashley said as she attempted to parallel park. “They

pay me for use of the driveway.” She cranked the steering wheel and ended up with two wheels up onto the sidewalk. “Dammit.”

“Why don’t you use the garage?” Lexi asked.

“It’s packed to the gills with a bunch of Mom’s stuff, and I didn’t want to go through it all alone.” Ashley turned the steering

wheel the other way, and the car groaned as it fell off the curb with a lurch. “Don’t say it,” she warned Heath, who lifted

his hands in a surrender motion.

Ashley studied all the mirrors and gave it another go. Aaaaand again, they went up onto the curb with teeth jarring precision.

“Crap.” Ashley knocked the back of her head into the headrest a few times before turning to Heath. “You’re up.”

“No way. You made me promise not to save you from parking hell again. I had to pinky swear on Mayhem’s life.”

“Who’s Mayhem?” Lexi asked.

Ashley slid out of the truck and jabbed a finger at Heath. “I take back the pinky swear.”

“You can’t take back a pinky swear.”

Ashley glared at him. The cute little puppy with her sharp little puppy teeth out.

Apparently unconcerned about getting bitten, Heath gestured to Lexi without even looking at her. “It should be her turn.”

“Oh, no,” Lexi said. “I don’t parallel park either.”

He lifted a brow. “What if it’s the only parking space available and you’re late to, say, a dentist appointment?”

“Then I miss the dentist appointment.”

Shaking his head, he slid out of the truck. “Good luck,” he said, and it wasn’t clear which sister he was speaking to before

he strode off, leaving Ashley standing in the street and Lexi alone in the truck.

Ashley stood with her hands on her perfect little hips as she yelled after Heath, “Where do you think you’re going? The three

of us have a meeting!”

“Your teacher voice won’t work on me. And there’s no meeting until you two talk first.” And he kept walking.

“Not funny!”

Heath merely flashed Ashley a grin that said he found it very funny.

“Get back here!”

“Need my laptop, princess.” And then he got into a much, much newer truck that was perfectly parallel parked on the other side of the driveway and drove around the block home.

Ashley looked at Lexi with desperation.

“No,” she said.

Her sister bit her lower lip, and were those unshed tears in her eyes? Dammit. Grumbling, she slid across the bench seat and

gripped the steering wheel.

Ashley’s smile came so quick that Lexi narrowed her eyes. “You played me.”

“I can’t get another ticket. My insurance will go up again. And I’m already doing the whole robbing Peter-to-pay-Paul thing

every month.”

Lexi’s heart pinched. And... she put the truck into gear. Sucker .

Ten long minutes later, she was sweating, but the truck was properly parked. And it’d only taken a few hundred attempts. She

followed Ashley into Daisy’s house.

Nothing much had changed over the years, which meant like always, it was basically walking into a portal back to her ten-year-old

self. The furniture was worn but inviting, but there was also a whole bunch of... well, stuff. Daisy had loved stuff. As a kid, it’d made Lexi feel claustrophobic, but as a grown-up, as a professional appraiser, she looked around with

different eyes than younger Lexi had. Still, if there were anything here of value, it’d long ago been buried under layers

upon layers of crap.

“It’s a hot mess,” Ashley said self-consciously. “But I never felt comfortable going through and getting rid of stuff without

knowing what you might want.”

Guilt hit her. “You didn’t have to do that. Wait for me, I mean. She’s been gone a year.”

“I know, but I didn’t mind waiting.”

“And if I’d never come?”

Ashley turned from setting down her purse on a foyer table, surprised. “Well, of course you would have come eventually, even

if I hadn’t asked. Right?”

Not touching that land mine, Lexi turned from Ashley and assessed the room. In her job, she’d gone into homes, usually shortly

after someone had died, right into the heart of a family who was grieving, to put price tags on the deceased’s belongings.

In order to be effective, she’d learned to disengage and dissociate. But as it turned out, it wasn’t a two-way switch that

she could easily turn back on. She pointed to the makeshift lace curtains blocking off a full corner of the room. “What’s

that?”

“My way of covering stacks of boxes of Mom’s stuff so I don’t have to look at them every day.” Ashley didn’t meet Lexi’s gaze.

“The boxes gave me anxiety.”

“Why not go back to your apartment? Why stay here if it’s too hard?”

“This is free, and my apartment wasn’t. Nice job on parking, by the way. You only hit the curb on the first two tries. Heath

would’ve been impressed.”

Lexi laughed roughly. “I doubt that. And nice subject change.”

“And here’s another... What’s up with the tension between you and Heath?”

Lexi looked away. Heath had been the boy who’d beaten her at everything: their kindergarten ski race, their first-grade spelling

bee tournament, the third-grade class presidency—he’d cheated by handing out candy for votes.

And then years later, she’d come back in her early twenties for one of Ashley’s birthdays, he’d slow danced with her, and somehow her childish irritation at him had turned into a crush.

A one-way crush. Which was embarrassing enough, but not as embarrassing as their next encounter in her midtwenties, when she’d

made a move on him.

And gotten her heart stomped on.

Not that she’d ever admitted such a thing. “There’s no tension between me and Heath. What are you even talking about?”

“I’m talking about how you both pretend everything’s fine when it isn’t. It started five years ago, when you came for my high

school graduation.”

“We don’t need to revisit—”

“Oh, but we do. I found you two making out.”

True story.

“I was so excited,” Ash said. “You guys were together that whole week you were both home, and then you broke up with him.

When I asked why, you told me he was a horrible kisser. Which I know is a lie, given the kiss I witnessed between you. Obviously,

you didn’t want to talk about it. What I don’t know is why.”

Not Lexi’s finest moment, that was for sure. After the graduation ceremony, she’d gotten talked into a party at the lake.

Once night had fallen, Ashley and her friends had turned up the music and started dancing beneath a sliver of a moon and trillions

of sparkling stars.

In a very weak moment, Lexi had found herself dancing too.

With Heath.

It’d been very late when the music slowed, changing into a seductive, sexy beat. She’d been stupid enough to get swept up

by that, by the easy strength she’d found in his arms, by those bedroom eyes, and... gah, this was still so embarrassing...

she’d kissed him.

He’d stilled in shock, and before she could run off in humiliation that she’d misread him, they’d been caught by Ashley.

Ashley, who’d wanted her two favorite people to be together more than anything.

Taking in the horror on Heath’s face, Lexi had come up with the story about him being a bad kisser.

She’d done it to save face, but it’d backfired, because Ashley had been mad at Lexi for “hurting” Heath.

Heath, who’d remained silent on the entire matter, the ass.

Lexi still resented the hell out of him for that, because he’d come out smelling like a rose and somehow she’d been the bad

guy. “We didn’t discuss because there’s nothing to discuss.”

“Okay, then, what about when you came the next year for my dad’s funeral? Four years ago now. You two iced each other out.”

Not exactly true. Heath had been dating someone, but he’d been friendly and open with Lexi.

She’d been the only icy one, and frankly, that had been embarrassment from the year before, along with a second emotion regarding

him being in a relationship that she tried very hard not to think about. “Old history. Now, can you please tell me whatever

it is that you’re not telling me?”

Her sister bit her lower lip. “Wine? How about some wine?”

“Maybe later.” Definitely later. “And what did you mean before when you said we have a meeting?” She’d prepared herself to

deal with Ashley. Just Ashley. To deal with Heath as well, she would have liked advanced notice.

In writing.

Her sister had moved to the fireplace to stare at... Oh dear God. “Is that... Daisy?”

Ashley nodded at the urn on the mantel. “She wanted to be cremated, but never said what we should do with her. I think she’s

happy there, keeping an eye on things.”

Lexi stared at the urn. Whenever her dad had sent her here to Sunrise Cove to visit Daisy, which hadn’t been that often, she’d resented it.

Resented that she had to spend time with her mom, who’d broken just about every promise she’d ever made.

But it was during her own visits here that she’d also spent time with Daisy’s new husband and daughter.

Ash’s dad had been a good man, and Ashley.

.. Well, Lexi defied anyone not to immediately love that girl, but Lexi had still always felt like an outsider here.

She still did. Her dad had passed eight years ago now.

She knew it was natural to outlive your parents, but to be truly untethered by blood relatives felt odd, to belong nowhere and to no one.

It’d taken her a while to get used to it.

And what had she done? Given her heart to yet another person, one who’d also been full of broken promises.

Maybe she’d been slow on the uptake, but she’d eventually gotten the message—keep her heart locked up tight.

“You look tired.” Ashley smiled gently when Lexi’s gaze flew to hers. “Why don’t you drop your stuff in your room. I’ll pour

us some wine to celebrate.”

“What are we celebrating?”

“Your homecoming, of course.”

“You know I’m only here for a week, right?”

Ashley made a hum of agreement, but it also sounded like a wordless we’ll see .

“A week, Ashley. It’s all I’ve got.” Another fib, but not wanting to get into it, she moved down the hallway, which was lined

with pictures. Pictures of... Lexi , and shock froze her in place.

There, her middle school graduation. Another of her in the hospital after a freshman bout with mono that had turned into pneumonia.

Then of her grinning wide at getting her driver’s license.

Her high school graduation. Her college graduation.

.. All in or near Greensboro. “Where did these pictures come from?” she called to Ashley.

“Found them in Mom’s things.”

Daisy hadn’t been to any of these events. Lexi, tired of all the broken promises to visit in Greensboro when she’d been so

young, had stopped inviting her mom. Had in fact told her outright not to come.

“Your dad sent them. I have the letters that came with if you want to see them.”

Lexi had no idea what she wanted. The back door opened, and an unbearably familiar husky male voice said, “I didn’t hear anything

blow up, so I assume she took the news well.”

Heath. And... news ?

“I haven’t told her yet,” Ashley said.

Next came the sound of paws scrambling on the kitchen floor, accompanied by heavy panting that Lexi was pretty sure didn’t

belong to Heath.

“Mayhem, sit,” Heath said with such calm authority that Lexi nearly sat. “Good boy.” Then he presumably spoke to her sister,

his tone reproachful. “Ash.”

“I know! But Lexi’s not okay, Heath. She’s not.”

“How can you tell?”

“Very funny,” Ashley said. “But I’m right. Something’s wrong, and I don’t want to add to her burden.”

“Ash, this is a burden that both of you were meant to bear, not just you.”

This did not sound good. Needing a moment, Lexi quietly opened the door to her childhood bedroom and slipped inside.

Another time warp, from the NSYNC poster to her second place trophy from the first-grade spelling bee that still sat on the

scarred particleboard desk.

A shrine to her childhood.

She dropped her bag on the bed, yearning to climb in after it and close her eyes and not wake up until next year, or better

yet, after her life had improved, however long that took.

A week. She’d promised to stay for a week. She’d use this time to quietly regroup without admitting what a shambles her world

had become. As the older sister, she was the one who should have her ducks in a row. All she had to do was find them.