Cara sits on the edge of the couch with her hands on her lap and one leg bouncing. She’s clearly nervous, but then she takes a deep breath and settles more comfortably on the cushion.
To my astonishment, Penny jumps onto the couch and then climbs in her lap. After giving me a rather smug look, my dog rolls onto her side, shamelessly inviting Cara to rub her belly.
“My mother is being unreasonable,” Cara says, not looking at me. She keeps her gaze on her hand, which is gently stroking my traitorous dog. “More than usual, I mean.”
“Is she even considering my offer, or is she rejecting it out of hand?”
“If your offer was standing on our front steps, the door would splinter from being slammed so hard in its face.”
I blow out a sigh of frustration. “While slamming her own fingers in the door.”
“And mine with them.”
I should feel the initial stirrings of imminent victory at the bitterness in those two words, but there’s defeat there, too. I don’t like hearing that.
Then she raises her gaze to mine and I see a spark of anger. “She’s not even pretending to include me in the equation.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, and I mean it. Though I set an objective for myself and I intend to meet it, navigating mothers is hard on a good day. And it doesn’t sound as if Cara and Gin have many good days.
She shakes her head, her fingers still lazily stroking Penny’s hair. “Walk me through it.”
“We get married and she sells the house to us. Once she’s settled in a new place, free from obligation to an old house and a promise she shouldn’t have made, she’ll be happy. When it feels right, we divorce and I buy you out of the house. Then you’re free to live your own life.”
Her brow furrows. “Buying the house twice doesn’t sound fair to you.”
“In the settlement, half of the value at the time won’t be the same as my offer to Gin.”
“But still.” She’s shaking her head.
“Do you think your mother’s going to take a chunk of that money and give it to you for all the work, worry and money you’ve put into it all these years?”
She snorts. “I’d like to think so, but probably not.”
“Then let me worry about what’s fair to me and you focus on what’s fair to yourself.” I want to push and get her to agree, but I let her think about it while Penny enjoys Cara soothing her nerves by loving on her.
Then Cara looks up at me, her eyes sad. “When I sign the house over to you, there’s a good chance it’ll destroy my relationship with my mother forever. I’m angry with her right now, and I can see where somebody on the outside—like you—might think she deserves it, but she’s my mom. And forever is a long time.”
“That is a possibility,” I say quietly. “There’s also a possibility that having a fresh start will allow her to distance herself from the property and she won’t care as much as you think. Or you can make me the villain—tell Gin and everybody else I tricked you out of the house. Almost everybody in this town will believe that in a heartbeat.”
She laughs sharply, startling Penny. “And you think everybody believing you cheated the Gambles out of their family home will be a picnic?”
I don’t care what people think. The important thing is that I own it. “Not a picnic, but also not something that will keep me up at night.”
“What about Colleen and Aaron and his family?”
“Their place in this community is pretty solid. All they have to do is shake their heads and make sad sounds when they hear my name for a while and they’ll be fine.” I want to move away from what people will think—I don’t really care—and back to details. “There will be a basic prenup, along with an NDA. We both have assets to protect.”
She snorts. “I think we have different definitions of assets.”
“You have a business you built from nothing and that’s able to support you if you aren’t also supporting your mother and her property,” I say. “It’s most certainly an asset.”
I like the way her cheeks blush, and I really like the way her lips almost curve into a smile. She should smile more often and if I have my way, she’ll have good reason to smile because she’ll be able to set down her family’s baggage and walk away.
“There will also be a clause regarding Penelope Louise,” I add.
She laughs at me. “You think I’ll try to take your dog in the divorce?”
“Who wouldn’t want to take Penny if given the chance?”
