Page 7 of The Love Fix (The Sunrise Cove #8)

She’d gambled it away years before and had never said a word. Maybe because by then Lexi, tired of Daisy’s broken promises,

had asked her mom to stop promising to visit, since she wouldn’t actually show. Stop making plans to call, since she wouldn’t

actually call. Stop everything.

And Daisy had. The one and only time she’d ever done what Lexi had asked.

They’d seen each other when Lexi had come west to visit Ashley, and everything had been fine as long as she didn’t let Daisy

try to apologize and make more worthless promises.

“I’m not taking this.” Margo shoved the check at Lexi.

“What?” Lexi shook her head. “No, it’s for you. You have to take it.”

Margo laughed so hard, she had to swipe tears from her face. “Honey, I’m twice your age. I don’t have to do shit that I don’t

want to. And I don’t want to take your mom’s money. I’m incredibly touched that she even thought about me in the end, but

me and mine are good. I want you two to keep it.”

“We couldn’t—”

Margo shrugged and stuffed the now folded check into Lexi’s front jeans pocket. “So then give it to someone in need. Pay it

forward.”

Lexi was stunned. It had never occurred to her that someone might turn down Daisy’s offering. Not to mention, Heath had made

it clear—they had to deliver each of the envelopes before they could get out from under this task Daisy had left them. “But

you have to—”

“Honey, I really don’t.” Her smile softened her words. “Lovely seeing you both in person. I hope you don’t mind letting yourselves out, I’m far too comfortable to move.”

Lexi opened her mouth to argue, but Ashley murmured a goodbye from them both and tugged her out of the den. They were halfway

through the living room when Lexi caught sight of a lamp and sucked in a breath. “Ash,” she whispered. “That’s a porcelain

tabletop Lladro lamp. One of the rarest ones out there.”

“So?”

“So... I’d have to look into it, but in that condition, it’s worth easily fifty thousand dollars.”

Ashley stared at her. “No wonder Margo didn’t want to take Mom’s money.”

Lexi shook her head. “She didn’t take the money because she’s a good person who refused to take advantage of an old friend.”

She turned and went back to the doorway of the den. “Margo? You know that beautiful table lamp in your living room? The one

by the couch?”

“I sure do. Picked it up for a song at a local thrift shop. Why, you like it? Take it. It’s yours.”

“No, I couldn’t,” Lexi said. “Because I’d be robbing you. If it’s what I think it is, it’s worth a lot of money.”

Margo smiled. “No shittin’?”

“No shittin’.”

“How do you find out if it’s what you think it is?”

“I could make a call,” Lexi said.

“Go for it.”

Lexi pulled out her phone and thumbed through her contacts looking for Elaine, who worked for the company she had been unceremoniously fired from.

In fact, Elaine worked directly for Lexi’s ex.

They hadn’t spoken since she’d been shown the door, but they’d been lunch buddies for several years, and had been close.

It’d be okay, she told herself. Elaine would be happy to reconnect.

.. she hoped. But as the phone rang, she stopped breathing and her nerves started jangling.

Just as the second ring started, she got kicked over to voicemail.

Her stomach rolled, but with both Margo and Ashley looking at her expectantly, she smiled. “She’s in a meeting. I’ll do some

research and get back to you, if you’d like.”

Margo waved a hand. “Honestly, don’t trouble yourself on my account.”

Ashley didn’t say anything, but Lexi could tell by the look on her face she knew something was wrong. “Whatever you do,” Lexi

said, “take it to a reputable place to get its exact worth before you cash it in. I don’t know any local experts—”

“You,” Ashley said. “You’re an expert.”

Ashley’s easy belief, when Lexi no longer believed in herself, warmed one of the cold, dark corners of her heart, but she

shook her head. “You could try one of the larger auction houses that are known for being both good and fair.”

Margo stood and walked to Lexi, cupping her face. “You could’ve ripped me off, but you didn’t. You’re good, straight through.”

She smiled. “Just like your mama was.”

They were outside when Lexi found her voice. “Daisy will probably haunt us for not forcing Margo to keep the check.”

“Why are you acting like the money is evil?”

“On the contrary, money isn’t evil.” People were. “But how do you think Daisy won the lotto? Do you think she was walking

by a gas station and a winning lotto ticket just happened to fall into her hands? No. She was still gambling.”

Ashley flushed a bit. “To be honest, I never gave it a second thought. Mom had her five-year chip. She carried it in her pocket every day and showed anyone who would listen. She wasn’t gambling again.”

“Ash... grow up.” The minute the words left her, Lexi grimaced, hating that she felt like she’d just kicked a puppy. “Daisy

was an addict, through and through. If she hadn’t died, the money would’ve been gone faster than you could blink, because

she—”

“No. Stop. Just stop.” Ashley looked close to tears. “I told you she was clean. Stop holding her past against her.”

They got into the truck, the silence hostile between them for the first time... ever.

Ashley crossed her arms. “You know what? I’m not doing this with you again.”

“This?”

“Delivering the rest of the envelopes.”

Lexi felt the arrow hit its mark right in the center of her chest. “If we don’t, we don’t get whatever money is left.”

“Good. I don’t want it anyway.”

Lexi didn’t say anything to that. Not when, at the end of the day, she needed whatever scraps were left, no matter how little that might be—a fact she absolutely hated herself for. “Ash—”

“Save it. No one will know if we don’t do these together, so feel free to do what you gotta do.”

They rode home in silence, and when Ashley walked into the house without looking back, Lexi ended up on a walk by herself.

She hadn’t meant to start a fight. Just as she hadn’t meant to be rude to Heath.

She had no idea why she wore armor that didn’t let anything penetrate.

She really didn’t, especially since, if she had to be here in Sunrise Cove, she didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot.

Realizing she’d walked partially around the block, she paused in front of a house with a porch that currently held one Heath Bowman.

He was doing something on his phone, though he looked up when she approached, his eyes both surprised and amused.

The amusement somehow made her irritation bubble up again, even more so when he didn’t speak, just raised a single brow.

Fine. She’d go first. “I have a few things I want to say.”

A small smile curved his mouth. “Don’t let me stop you.”

“We’re grown-up now. We don’t have to continue being enemies.”

“Enemies,” he repeated.

“Okay, frenemies.”

Again, he just looked at her. To fill the silence, she said, “Look. I know I haven’t always been super nice...” She broke

off. Assigning blame wasn’t going to help her case.

This earned her another smile. “Oh, don’t stop there.”

“Fine. I told Ashley that you were a terrible kisser. Whatever. You started it by looking so horrified that I kissed you in

the first place.”

“?‘Horrified’ is the wrong word.”

“What’s the right word, then?”

He opened his mouth, and then shut it again. Shook his head. “What does it matter now? We’ve always brought out the worst

in each other. Let it go.”

“Are you talking about the next year, when I came out here to visit Ashley and it happened to be your birthday? I swear, I

didn’t mean to mash your plate of cake into your face. I was just walking by and I tripped. Besides, you were dating that

brunette with the fake boobs. You never even noticed me.”

He smiled. “Brandy. She was nice.”

“Uh-huh.” Lexi crossed her arms, feeling ridiculous.

“And when we were kids?”

Right. She’d been even worse back then. “Do you mean the time I told Julia Benson that you didn’t like her when you did?”

He clasped a hand to his chest. “Broke my heart.”

She rolled her eyes. “You lived.”

“What about when you tattled on me when I cheated on that fifth-grade science project? I had to redo the whole thing.”

“You’d gotten one of the older neighborhood girls to do it for you!”

He grinned. “I’m seeing a pattern here. You’re a jealous little thing.”

For a beat, she froze, because... it was horrifyingly, humiliatingly true. Tossing up her hands, she whirled to go, because

nothing about this little trip down memory lane had been any fun.

“Friends,” he said.

She turned back. “What?”

“We weren’t enemies. We weren’t frenemies. We were friends.” And with that, proving he was infinitely more mature than she,

he walked into the house and shut the door.