Page 4 of The Love Fix (The Sunrise Cove #8)

“ No one liked me as a kid. And it was a long time ago. The person you knew then, that was season one me. I got canceled, needed a

rewrite.”

A low laugh escaped him. “Same.”

She was still considering him when Ashley said, “ All kids have their moments. As a teacher, I’m an authority on that. Whatever either of you pulled all those years ago, it’s in the distant past.”

“It wasn’t all in the distant past,” Lexi murmured.

“Anything before today is in the distant past,” Ashley said. “It’s a new day.”

And this. This was why he’d defend Ashley until he didn’t have a breath left in his body, even against her sister if he had to. Ashley might

be young, but she was also an old soul.

But Lexi... He had an entirely different connection with her, one that had always been undefined. That is, until that kiss

five years ago, when she’d rocked his world and threatened to turn it upside down. He’d done his best to cut off his feelings

for her. And then today happened. That hug in the airport. In the blink of an eye, their chemistry was back, and he knew she’d

felt it too.

Lexi crossed her arms. “So these six envelopes, they’re the real reason you asked me to come out here? You said it was because

you missed me.”

Heath heard pain in that statement. Surely Ashley did too, but she met her sister’s gaze evenly. “You have no idea how much

I missed you. Stick around this time, and maybe you’ll get the idea.”

Lexi took that in, but when she spoke, she ignored what Ashley had said, either unwilling or unable to believe. “So she really

just expected us to deliver these letters for her? Letters she kept hidden from us until now.”

On this, Heath felt every bit as frustrated as Lexi, and wasn’t that ironic. They’d rarely agreed on a thing.

“I don’t understand why she’d do this,” Lexi said. She looked at Heath. “Or why you’d be a part of it.”

How to explain? His grandpa’s house was one street behind Daisy’s.

Their backyards butted up against each other.

His mom died when Heath was ten. Since his dad had abused alcohol to cope, turning himself into a mean, menacing drunk, Heath and his younger brother, Cole, had spent much of their time at their grandpa’s.

Daisy used to bring them casseroles for dinners, and often baked them cookies to take with their school lunches.

In later years, when Heath had worked hellishly long hours and Cole had been facing a health crisis of his own, Daisy had helped out as needed.

Heath honestly had no idea how he and Cole would’ve gotten through without her. “She had congestive heart failure when she

won the lotto jackpot, but hadn’t told anyone. She knew she could possibly have a few more years, but maybe not. She had a

small life insurance policy. She had a trust created and made that trust the beneficiary of the payout, as well as her winnings.”

He paused. “I managed the trust for her. It was the last thing she asked of me, and I couldn’t tell her no.”

Lexi merely snorted. “Ironic, since she had no problem telling people no. She told me no too many times to count.”

Ashley leaned forward. Earnest. Sweet. Wanting to make this better, and not yet realizing she couldn’t possibly do that. “She’d

made changes, Lexi. She wasn’t the same person you knew.”

“In my experience, people don’t change their spots.” She looked at Heath. “Mr. Shotgun .”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed. She was just as feisty and stubborn as ever. He’d loved competing with her over... well,

everything.

And apparently he still liked it.

“Is that all, then?” Lexi asked. “This meeting’s adjourned?”

“Not yet.” Heath gestured to the couch. Her jaw tightened, but she sat, crossing her long legs. She didn’t burrow in, like Ashley did. Nope, her spine remained rigid. Braced to hate everything about this.

And she would indeed hate everything about this. He actually didn’t know much about her childhood in this house other than

the few tidbits Ashley and Daisy had doled out over the years. He knew her dad had been a prick and that Lexi had been moved

across the country to be raised by him.

Daisy had admitted more than once in the years since how much she regretted that her addiction had led to her ex getting to

keep Lexi.

He had zero idea how Lexi felt about any of that, but given how closed off she’d been since arriving, he knew it cost her

to be here. “As Ashley said, there are six envelopes, six people Daisy wanted to make amends with but ran out of time.” He

pushed an envelope across the coffee table. “This is the first one.”

Lexi didn’t so much as look at it. “I think she was looking to push Ashley and me into spending time together, but she doesn’t

get to dictate that from the grave.” Again, she glanced at the urn. “Correction: from the mantel. I can’t just stay, and it’s

wrong to ask it of me.”

“I hear you,” Ashley said. “And I don’t know why she wanted it that way, but she did. Maybe... maybe you could talk to

your boss. Maybe they’d let you extend your leave, or work from here.”

Again, something came and went in Lexi’s gaze, too fast for Heath to identify. She turned her head, raising her chin as if

daring him to push her into this. But that wasn’t his job. She’d either do it, for her mom, for Ashley, or... she wouldn’t.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I can’t. Let’s just deliver the envelopes this week, then split what’s left between us and

go back to our own lives.”

Ashley opened her mouth, then shut it before standing and walking out of the room.

Mayhem jumped onto the couch taking her spot, setting his big fat head on Heath’s shoulder.

Lexi eyed the empty doorway where Ashley had vanished. “I’m guessing,” she said quietly, “that this is where you tell me I’m

being an ungrateful, horrible sister.”

He shook his head. “You have to protect your life, your livelihood. I get that. I also get that it truly is an unfair ask.

But I’ll say this. Your sister thought, or hoped anyway, that you were here to be her sister. Not to get whatever money is

coming your way and go.”

Her eyes narrowed, the ones that could slice open a vein or, as he’d caught more than once, reveal a fathomless, hidden pain.

Right now though, she was still giving him nothing.

“She’s been counting the days until your visit,” he said. “It’s all she’s talked about, having you here. So all I’m asking

is that you do your best not to break her heart.”

“Why do you care?”

“She’s family to me.”

She rose to her feet. “Then maybe you should deliver the envelopes with her.”

“Daisy didn’t ask for me. She asked for you.” He paused, watching her absorb that. “When you first left,” he said, “Ashley

used to get so lonely for a sibling, she’d follow me and my brother around. She became the third musketeer.”

“I didn’t leave.”

“What?”

“You said ‘when I left,’ but that’s not what happened.” She looked away. “It wasn’t my choice.”

His teen years had been harrowing to say the least, and so had finding a way to get through college, pass the bar, and make a name for himself.

He’d learned to keep a wall around his heart, learned to operate from a place of logic at all times, not emotion.

Except right now, while taking in Lexi’s words and the aching hurt behind them. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugged.

More than a little unnerved by how much he wanted to reach over and take her hand, he leaned back instead.

“Ashley should have told me the truth about why I was coming here,” she said.

Another thing they agreed on.

“You don’t want me to hurt Ashley,” she said. “I don’t want that either. I’ll do what needs to be done, and then I’m out.”

“You’re going to stay,” he said with surprise.

“I don’t see much of a choice. It’s not right to make Ashley do this by herself.” She moved to the living room window, looking

out, arms crossed, posture stiff.

There was no lake view from this house, just the wild, majestic mountains, which told their own story. They also had a way

of calming the soul, quieting distress. At least, that’s what they’d always done for Heath. “What can I do to help?”

She said nothing.

“Don’t feel like sharing with the room?”

This won him another shrug. “Don’t take it personally. I’m not into trust.”

He smiled. “Finally, some honesty.”

She didn’t turn to him, but she didn’t have to for him to feel her roll her eyes, and it gave him a reluctant smile. He had

no idea what it was about her, what it’d always been about her, that spurred him to ruffle her feathers, push her, goad her, challenge her to reveal her real self to him.

She turned then and caught him staring. And instead of being amused, her eyes chilled. “We’re not doing this, not this time.”

“ This? ” he repeated.

“Yes, this.” She gestured between them. “No kissing. No fake relationship. No relationship at all. You’re just Daisy’s messenger,

right? So no need to know what’s going on in my head. Or in my life. And I don’t need to know what’s going on in yours, whether

you’re seeing someone or not. It doesn’t matter.”

“I’m not,” he said, “in a relationship. And if you decide you want to know what’s going on in my life at any time, just ask.”

She stared at him for a long beat, but didn’t speak.

In the silence, Mayhem farted again. Resigned, Heath rose. “I’m sorry, I’ve got to take him out before we have to fumigate

this place.”

She waited until he was nearly at the door. “Ashley’s lucky to have you at her back.” And with that, she vanished down the

hall, leaving him to wonder when was the last time someone had her back.