Page 39 of The Love Fix (The Sunrise Cove #8)
At the end of the week, Lexi woke up to find Ashley sitting cross-legged on the end of her bed. Lexi hadn’t gotten much sleep—Heath
had left somewhere around dawn, which she only even vaguely remembered—and she’d hoped to hit the snooze button three or four
or a hundred times.
She and Heath had spent every night since Hot Hot Tub Adventure in one of their beds or the other. It’d been the best week of her life, even if she was so tired she wanted
to stay asleep all day... “Unless you’re hiding breakfast behind you, I’m not ready to wake up.”
“It’s envelope day.”
Damn, she’d nearly forgotten. With a sigh, she sat up. “Have stapler, will travel. Where are we going this time?”
Ashley was already off the bed and heading to the door. “Make it quick.”
“But... where are we going—”
But nothing, because Ashley was already gone.
Lexi showered, dressed, and walked into the kitchen yawning so wide her jaw cracked.
Heath stood leaning against the counter, doctoring up a mug of coffee, looking annoyingly fresh and not even the slightest bit tired.
In fact, he looked downright chipper. She might’ve growled at him if he hadn’t smiled that just-for-her smile and then handed over the coffee.
He laughed softly at whatever expression she wore. “Cute.”
“Cute?”
“The way you look at me,” he said.
She narrowed her eyes. “And how do I look at you?”
“Like I mean something to you.”
Well, if that didn’t cut right through her exhaustion and melt her damn heart, the one she hadn’t thought could even be melted.
Ashley poked her head into the kitchen. “Let’s do this!”
Just then Lexi’s phone buzzed with an incoming call. She stared at the screen in shock. “It’s my old work.” She paused. “Why
is it my old work?”
Ashley slipped her hand into Lexi’s. “We’ve got you. No matter what.”
She realized Heath had moved to her other side, his gaze echoing Ashley’s sentiment.
“Answer it,” her sister said softly, squeezing her hand.
So she did. “Hello?”
“Lexi, this is Bill Swanson.” The head of HR. “Is this a good time?”
“Depends on what you’re calling about,” she said carefully.
And even though she hadn’t been kidding, Bill chuckled. “I wanted to let you know, our internal investigation, along with
an extensive external investigation, has concluded. Both our team and the authorities have cleared you fully.”
Lexi blinked. “External investigation? Authorities?”
“As you were aware, we had missing valuables. From ten different clients. All totaled up, it came to almost a million dollars. Our insurance company insisted on going through the proper channels.”
Lexi sank to a chair and let out a breath as wobbly as her knees. “Okay. And...?”
“And... the person responsible has been charged and arrested.”
“Who was it?” she asked.
Bill paused. “Dean Maddox.”
She’d known, but somehow she was still shocked. Shocked to the core.
“I’m sorry it took so long,” Bill said. “Even sorrier still that your life was affected.”
Affected. Is that what he called losing her job, her pride, her means of making a living, and all sense of trust?
“We’d like to retro pay you for the past six months, and offer you the job back.”
Lexi’s heart had stopped when she’d seen the caller ID, then immediately kicked into high gear when Bill had started talking.
All she could hear was the thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump of her own heartbeat in her ears.
“Lexi? You still there?”
“Yes.” She had to shake herself. “I’ll get back to you.” Then she disconnected, set her phone on the table, and stared at
it as a shocked laugh escaped her. “That was...”
“We could hear everything,” Ashley said, and wrapped her arms around Lexi. “It’s about time.”
She was still shaking her head in shock when Ashley pulled away and it was Heath in front of her. There seemed to be a war
of emotions on his face, but he also pulled her in for a warm hug. “Proud of you, Lex.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You carried on. You persevered. You didn’t let any of what happened break you.”
“That’s because she’s the strongest person I know.” Ashley looked at Lexi and smiled, this time with far less wattage. “You’ve
got a lot to think about.”
Did she though? With relief still running through her veins instead of blood, she glanced at Heath.
He merely held out an envelope.
Neither of them seemed inclined to push her for what she would or wouldn’t do about her job, or future. She didn’t know if
that was a good or bad thing, but she couldn’t think about it right now. Mindlessly, she took the envelope, and both she and
Ashley stared down at Daisy’s writing. The address was local, and unlike all the other envelopes, this one didn’t have a name
on it.
“Let’s go,” Heath said.
Lexi looked at him. “Where?”
Ashley, who’d been staring at the address, suddenly gasped. “Oh! I know! It’s the ice cream shop!”
Lexi blinked. “You mean the ice cream shop where we shared that ice cream sundae the last time we...”
Ashley nodded. “One of the last times we were all together. You, me, Mom, and my dad. Right before you moved.” Her smile faded,
and so did Lexi’s as they both swallowed hard.
“That’s another one of my favorite memories of Mom,” Lexi admitted.
Ashley’s mouth trembled. “And it’s my favorite memory with you .”
Lexi hadn’t realized until that very moment that sometimes really great things could pierce through her walls every bit as
much as bad stuff. “How will we know who to give it to?”
“Call me when you get inside and are seated,” Heath said.
Lexi and Ashley turned to him in tandem surprise.
“You’re not going?” Lexi asked.
He shook his head. “You two got this.”
“You’re usually so happy to butt your way into everything,” Ashley said.
Heath shrugged, and Lexi was pretty sure she knew why he’d backed off. After overhearing the call from her old work, and the
offer of her job back, he didn’t want to influence her decision.
But how could her feelings for him, for Ashley, for this place, not influence her decision? He gave a small, but very warm smile. If Ashley hadn’t been there, she might have walked right into
his arms. And maybe pushed him against the counter and had her merry way with him.
Her sister snorted. “You do realize I know the two of you have been sneaking around in each other’s business every night,
right?”
Lexi grimaced. “No.” She paused. “Does it bother you?”
Ashley grinned and flung her arms around Lexi, squeezing tight. “Are you kidding? It’s the opposite.” She cupped Lexi’s face.
“You’ve been smiling and laughing so much that I hardly recognize you. I’m just so, so, so happy for you both. I love that you love each other.”
Lexi blinked. “Whoa. It’s not— We don’t—”
“Ha! Got you!” Ashley said, and snagged the truck keys from Lexi’s hand. “And it’s my turn to drive!”
“Well, that was just mean,” Lexi grumbled, and ignored Heath’s snort. “I’m just gonna...” She gestured to the door where
her sister had vanished.
He brushed a kiss against her temple, and trying not to melt, she ran out after Ashley. Climbing into the passenger seat of the truck, she glared at her sister. “Didn’t know you had it in you to lie like that.”
“Oh, I wasn’t lying. You love him. You just haven’t admitted it to yourself.”
Which effectively ended the conversation. They drove toward the lake, and Ashley managed to only hit the sidewalk once when
she took a right turn too tight.
“Lexi?”
She forced herself to loosen her grip on the Oh-Shit bar. “Yeah?”
“I want you to know I really, really, really want to talk about your phone call. I want to know what you’re thinking, what
you’re going to do. But I also know that this isn’t the time or place for that, so I’m trying to let it go. At least until
you’re ready to talk about it.”
Lexi let out a relieved breath. “Thank you.”
Ashley glanced, then returned her attention back to the road. “Damn.”
“What?”
“That was reverse psychology. I’m pretty good at it too. I really thought you’d start running your mouth.”
“Ash—”
“No, don’t say whatever you were going to say. I’m rushing you. I need a speed bump between my brain and my mouth. I’m going
to stop talking now.”
Lexi slid her a dry look. “Are you?”
Ashley mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key. Which lasted for all of two minutes. “I just wanted to say—”
“But you threw away the key.”
Ashley sighed, and ten minutes later, they seated themselves in a booth in the back of the ice cream parlor on Lake Drive, with a stunning view of the granite-rock and pine-lined mountains surrounding the iconic Lake Tahoe.
Once they each had a big bowl of ice cream in front of them, Ashley called Heath on speaker. “We’re here,” she said. “We’re
armed with sugar. Who does this envelope go to?”
“Open it.”
“Okay, but—”
But nothing, because Heath had disconnected.
“I keep telling him he needs to work on his phone manners,” Ashley said, and pushed the large manila envelope to Lexi. “You
do it.”
Lexi nodded, but didn’t make a move to take the envelope. Something told her she’d need more courage than she currently possessed,
so she took a big bite of ice cream first, hoping the sugar would convert to bravery.
“Lexi?”
“Yeah. On it.” With a deep breath, she opened the envelope and emptied the contents onto the table.
Two smaller envelopes. One labeled Ashley , the other Lexi .
“Huh,” Ashley whispered, leaning back. “I didn’t see that coming.”
Lexi took another bite of ice cream, savoring a big chunk of chocolate as she stared at her name.
“It’s Mom’s writing,” Ashley whispered. “Just like the others.”
Lexi nodded, still watching her envelope like it might be a locked and loaded rattler.
“Okay, well, here goes nothing,” Ashley said, and opened hers. There was a handwritten letter and a check turned face down.
Her sister ignored the check and started reading the letter. A few seconds later, her eyes welled up.
“Ash?” Lexi reached across the table, wrapping her fingers around her sister’s icy hand. “What is it?”