Page 41 of The Love Fix (The Sunrise Cove #8)

Taking in the sight of Heath waiting for her, Lexi really wished she hadn’t eaten all the ice cream. Alcohol might’ve been

a better choice. Because although Heath had looked at her all week with easy affection and a seductive desire, right now he

was giving nothing away.

“Let me guess,” she said. “Ashley tattled—”

“Are you all right?”

She blinked. “Um...”

He wore a pair of faded jeans that lovingly cupped his body, complete with paint splatters and a rip over one knee that she

knew was from actual work and not by design. His long-sleeved T-shirt, also with some paint splatter, was the exact color

of his blue gray eyes. Whatever he was working on, it was forest green, at least going off the streak just below his jawline.

He was looking at her oddly. Right, because he’d asked her a question.

“I’m fine.” Not even close...

He gave a slight shake of his head, his eyes flashing a quick emotion. Sadness? Regret? “You don’t have to do that,” he said

quietly. “Fake it. Not with me.”

“But I’m good at it.” She actually tried to say this lightly, hoping he’d take the teasing bait and turn this from serious to froth, but he didn’t smile.

“Not with me you’re not.”

That this was true, that he knew her that well, should have sent her running. But her feet had decided they were blocks of

cement. “Ashley sent you.”

“She was worried about you.”

Someone else who knew her, like, really knew her. After years of building her defenses high, so high even she couldn’t see

over them, no one had gotten through, not really. Except for two people: her sister and the man standing in front of her.

But there were things she needed to know. “Did you read the letters too?” He didn’t answer until she lifted her head and met

his gaze.

“No,” he said with quiet steel.

She studied him for any hint of deceit, but she knew him. He didn’t do deceit. Something very slightly loosened in her chest.

She was wound so tight, she was trembling, but she couldn’t break. Not until she was alone. “Did you know Ashley had?”

“No.” His eyes flickered. “Ashley is her own person and does what she wishes, but she’s also impulsive and doesn’t always

think things through. If she’d have come to me about it, I’d have advised against it. Strongly.”

Another very slight loosening in her chest. She nodded, then shook her head. “When I first showed up, you said there were

six envelopes, and that we wouldn’t find out who they were for until it was time to deliver them. But looking back, I realize

that you never said whether you knew who the six were.”

He didn’t say anything. He was going to make her ask. Fine. She had no pride left. “How long have you known Ash and I were

the two last letters?”

“Daisy told me the day she died.”

“And you didn’t tell me.”

“You didn’t ask.”

Anger was good, she decided. It might keep her from falling apart. “Back in that tent all those weeks ago, you looked me in

the eyes and claimed to be an open book.”

“Lex—”

“No. You chose a side.” A little niggling in the back of her mind told her to shut up and listen, but she couldn’t seem to

get out of her own way. Self-destruction was so much easier. “And what I know is that no one has ever chosen me over everything else.”

“You’re sure about that, are you?” His voice was low, so lethally calm that she knew he was anything but. “Then tell me this,

Lexi. If we didn’t choose you, then what the hell have we been doing this whole time? We love you, all of us.”

Her throat burned like fire, her eyes too, but she refused to back down. Couldn’t. She didn’t know how. All her life, she’d

had her back to the wall, claws out. She didn’t know anything else. “If you loved me, you wouldn’t have let me be blindsided.”

He dropped his crossed arms, pain and regret on his face now. “I was bound by my promise to Daisy.”

We love you. All of us.

Her heart wanted it to be true. And the one thing she knew for sure about Heath was that he never said anything he didn’t

mean. But in this case, she also knew there were all kinds of love. Panic crawled up her throat, making it difficult to breathe,

because she loved him too. She didn’t want to, didn’t want to need anyone as much as she needed him. Even if deep down, she’d

been harboring a secret hope that maybe what they’d shared could become more than anything she’d ever had with anyone else.

But in the end, she was, as always, on her own. It was okay. She knew how to do alone. But she needed to get out, to go somewhere she could take a deep breath without feeling like she had broken glass in her lungs. “I need to—”

“Go. I know. It’s all over your face.” He gestured to the door. “After all, that’s what your mom did to you, so you’re justified

in repeating her mistakes, isn’t that it? You’ve decided there’s no one here worth fighting for.”

“I never intended to stay,” she managed past the lump in her throat. That lump might be her heart. “You knew that.”

“Distance isn’t a deterrent when it comes to keeping people in your life, Lexi.” There was something in his eyes now, something

quietly intense. “At least not for most people. Not for Ashley. Not for me. But you go ahead and use that phone call offering

you your job back as an excuse to go and not look back.”

She felt her mouth fall open. He really thought she’d... “ You were the one clear with me from the beginning,” she said, not able to keep the anger out of her voice. “There would be nothing

long-lasting between us.”

“Things change. I thought we both knew that.”

She shook her head, so far out of her depth, she couldn’t even gather her thoughts. Not easy when he was looking at her with

worry, confusion, and not a little frustration. She drew a deep breath as some small understanding came to her. “You thought

this would be easier. That I’d be easier.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Lex, and I mean this in the very best of ways, you’re the least easy person I’ve ever met.”

She rolled her eyes, but her brief flash of good humor couldn’t stick. “Why didn’t you just tell me about the envelopes? I

still would’ve stayed to deliver them.”

“Because you would’ve stayed because you need the money you hoped she left you.”

She sucked in a breath at the bluntness, but there was no reason to hide it. “Yes.”

He nodded easily, because he’d always known that. “Lex, there are things you don’t understand—”

“It doesn’t matter.” All that did matter was that he and Ashley, and her mom, had made decisions for her. Not with her. She

wasn’t sure what that was, but it wasn’t love.

His gaze was hooded now. “Okay, then.”

Okay, then. Feeling her heart cave in on itself, knowing history was repeating and having no idea how to stop it, she said,

“I’m going to leave.”

“No, this is your house. Allow me.”

And then he was gone.

She tried to draw a deep breath, and couldn’t. He’d walked, but this one was all on her.

Someone gave a slow hand clap. Ashley, who’d come in unnoticed from the back. “Nicely done,” she said conversationally. “You’re

really good at that, pushing people away. You know by now that Heath thinks people only want him around because he makes things

easier for them. As in he’s only valuable when he’s helping somehow. He’s really good at that, but it’s a self-fulfilling

prophecy, one that triggers a fear deep inside him that those abilities of his are the only reason people want him around.”

Lexi’s decimated heart tried to squeeze, but being already cracked in two, it couldn’t. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Insecurities aren’t logical, Lexi. You know that.”

“I just think at the very least someone should have told me about us being the last two envelopes. In a way, I get why you didn’t. She was your mom, and you were protecting her. But Heath could’ve told me.”

For the first time since Lexi had shown up, Ashley’s expression had gone blank, giving nothing away. “You weren’t here when

she was dying and making her decisions, so you don’t get to judge.”

Not good enough. Not when she felt like the fool who hadn’t had all the pieces to the puzzle.

“It’s not my story to tell, but Heath made a promise,” Ashley said flatly. “And promises are important to him.”

Because he’d had so many broken promises growing up, and then in his relationships. Her heart, aching and battered, hit her

toes. She’d once promised him to be open-minded about her time here, about the things she didn’t know or understand about

her mom, her sister, their lives.

And what had she done? The minute things had gotten hard, she’d broken her word.

Which meant the only bad guy here was her.

Heath found himself in front of his brother’s house. Before he could let himself in, Cole opened the door, took one look at

his face, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Pushing past him, Heath went straight to the kitchen, because he smelled cookies. Freshly baked cookies.

Sure enough, Misty was pouring chocolate chips into a big bowl of cookie dough with one hand, the other holding Matty on her

hip.

“Unkie Heef!” Matty gave him the gimme hands, the universal toddler language for up, now!

He lifted the kid high in the air, eliciting squeals of pure, easy joy. “Oh, to be two again.”

Misty looked over her shoulder at him. “Really? You want to be a mean little dictator who yells at adults and poops your pants?”

Well, when she put it that way...

“I thought so—” She broke off as she turned to fully face him, her smile fading. “What’s wrong?”

Cole came into the kitchen. “That’s what I’m wondering too.”

Heath went to a drawer and grabbed a wooden spoon, which he dug into the dough bowl for a big hunk, then put the whole thing

in his mouth. The sugar hit his bloodstream and immediately dropped his blood pressure.

“Me too, me too!” yelled Matty.

The kid’s mama gave him an already baked cookie and kissed him on the nose.

Cole was looking at his brother. “You look like shit.”

“Shit!” Matty yelled gleefully.

Cole grimaced. “Sorry, buddy, you have to be old to say that word.”

“Shit!”

Cole sighed and handed him another cookie, then pointed at Heath. “Talk. Now.”

“You do remember I’m the older brother, right?” Heath asked. “I’m the worrywart, not you.”

Cole snorted. “Oh good, you’re going to play the martyr card again. Awesome.”

“Coming here was a mistake.” Heath stepped out the back door.

But of course his idiot brother followed him. “It’s about Lexi, right? What did she do?”

“How do you know it wasn’t me?”

“Because you love her. You wouldn’t have done anything to jeopardize that.”

“Don’t underestimate me. And you don’t know how I feel about her.”

Cole snorted. “Of course I do. You look like you’ve been sucker punched in the feels.”

“So then why do I feel like I punched her ? I know damn well that she doesn’t believe people can care about her, and what did I do?” He shook his head. “I proved her

point by walking away.”

Cole looked shocked. “What? Why? You’ve never walked away from anyone in your life, even when you should.”

“I guess I didn’t want to wait and let her do the walking.”

His brother stared at him for a beat. “Okay, so you made a mistake. You’re human. Welcome to the planet. Go apologize, if

that’s what you want to do. Make it right.”

Heath turned away, walking to the far south edge of the property to take in a teeny, tiny sliver of the lake visible far below.

Cole, never able to leave anything alone, came up to his side. “You could’ve just sent the sisters to deliver those envelopes

on their own, but you wanted to honor Daisy’s wishes and help whenever you could. You wanted to be a part of it. You wanted

to help fix the relationships, the one between the sisters, and the one between Lexi and Daisy. You couldn’t help yourself.

That’s who you are, Heath, to the core. You’ve always owned that, so why second-guess yourself now?”

“Because I meddled.” He glanced over at his brother. “Would you have let Misty deliver the envelopes on her own, including

that pool hall?”

“Man, we would’ve mailed the envelopes, Daisy’s wishes be damned. That was a crazy dangerous thing she asked of her daughters.

So I get why you did what you did. All of it. But also, you’re being such a hypocrite right now.”

Heath gave him a hard look. “What the hell does that mean?”

“You dragged me kicking and screaming into adulthood—”

“Yes, because you were being stupid. I mean, how hard is it to adult? Pay your bills, don’t smoke meth, keep a few close friends,

wear deodorant, and always tip your bartender.”

Cole dropped his head and gave a reluctant laugh. “Right, but at the time, I wasn’t ready for any of it. I was screwing up

left and right, and heading for serious trouble—until you stepped in, told me how stupid I was, pointed me in a better direction,

and made me fix my life. And I’m forever grateful, but... you don’t have to fix yours?”

“What the hell’s wrong with my life?”

Cole ticked each point off on his fingers. “You let people think the worst of you, you go around solving everyone’s problems

but your own, you’re using Grandpa as a crutch to not live life to its fullest... Should I keep going?”

“Pass.” Pissed off at the world, Heath strode out, no idea where he was going.

“Walking away again, twice in one day,” Cole called after him. “Maybe you’re getting the hang of being human after all.”