AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The drive took a few minutes, leaving Reese nervous. If this didn’t go well, she wasn’t sure where to apply next. In one of the surrounding towns was the only answer she could come up with at the moment.
Reese didn’t want to move. Yes, her little house needed some updating and some repairs, but she had worked hard to be able to secure a mortgage for it. It was a major accomplishment. She hated the thoughts of driving forty minutes to the next town, but she was practical enough to realize it might happen.
Pappy would be there to help keep Mav on the straight and narrow. Cash would simply move on to someone who had more time to share with him. A pang of hurt crossed her chest at the thought of seeing Cash with someone else. Pushing it to the back of her mind, Reese snatched her plate of tarts, straightened her shoulders, and pulled open the bakery door.
An hour and a half later, Reese’s giddy smile led her out of the bakery. She had a new job. A new job that came with a significant raise after her probationary period. Birdie loved the tarts, eating four before offering her granddaughter a bite of one. Her granddaughter was still glued to her cell phone, but Reese didn’t mind. She had a new job. She didn’t have to take the two hundred dollars in the emergency account out to pay bills. It was always a good day when she had a little leftover.
Reese couldn’t wait to share her good news. Driving from the bakery to Cash’s garage was only from one side of town to the other. Through the open roll-up door, she saw Cash leaned over the side of a car, explaining something to her son who was listening intently. Her breath stopped, her heart stuttered, and her eyes filled with tears. No one had ever taken that kind of interest in him before. Certainly not his father. Blinking away the moisture threatening to fall, Reese stepped closer to them, listening to what they were saying. Before she could listen to closely, Pappy came into the big bay with the phone in his hand.
“Cash,” Pappy called, pressing the phone to his shoulder to muffle the sound. “You interested in doing any classic restorations?”
“What is it?” Cash yelled back, not taking his eyes off what Mav was doing.
“Woman says it’s a 68 Superbee.”
Cash snatched an old rag off the car’s fender before taking the phone from Pappy and walking back into his office.
“Hey, girlie,” Pappy grinned. “How did the interview go?”
“Hey, Mom,” Mav turned toward her.
Reese wasn’t sure if he had left any grease or dirt in the car. It looked as if he was wearing it all on him. She knew his clothes were dirty each evening when he came home, but she realized someone had made him clean up a bit before she saw him.
“She loved the tarts,” Reese bubbled, remembering the reason for her visit. “I start next week.”
“Oh, girlie, I am so proud of you,” Pappy said, hugging her.
Reese held up her hand to push Mav away when he tried to congratulate her. “Oh no,” she told him. “I have a hard enough time getting the grease out of your clothes. There is no way I am going to get it out of this shirt.”
“I am proud of you, Mom,” Mav assured her from a safe distance.
“We are going to celebrate tonight. I am not sure what we are having for dinner, but I will figure it out,” Reese bubbled.
She didn’t miss Mav and Pappy’s matching grins when she told them to invite Cash for dinner too. Reese drove home smiling all the way. Things were finally looking up. She had a new job that was going to pay more than the last one. Mav wasn’t sullen and moody since he started working with Cash. Pappy seemed happier than she remembered him being in a long time. Cash was, well, Cash. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with him. The man successfully scaled every wall she put up. Reese’s smile spread, thinking about her neighbor who spent the night on her couch after helping her son with his algebra. Then she watched him patiently teach Mav about cars. Today was a good day.
Chapter 10
Reese’s good mood vanished when she pulled into her driveway. The dark town car sat waiting. She knew who it was before they got out of the vehicle. Putting her car in park, Reese readied herself for another unpleasant conversation. She paused for a second, wondering if she should call Pappy. However, with Pappy would come Cash and Mav. There was no need to subject any of them to another one of her father’s tirades. It would be a doozie if he drove here in person to deliver it.
Reese took her time to unlock the kitchen door. She waited until there was a knock before opening the front door. Why couldn’t it be Publisher’s Clearinghouse? No, it had to be him. Standing on her run-down front porch was her father dressed in an expensive suit. She looked over every disgustingly manicured inch of him. How was it possible they were related? She shopped the sales racks, and his shiny loafers cost more than her house.
“Is there something I can help you with?” Reese asked coolly, intentionally not inviting him inside.
“Is that any way to greet your father?” The man standing before her looked like a younger version of his father. The big difference was when Pappy grinned, Reese knew he was like a mischievous boy, and when her father did it, it was the only indication he gave before something sickening happened.
“Hello, Reese,” another man stepped out from behind her father.
“Oh my god, Reed,” Reese’s mouth hung open at the sight of her ex-husband on her front porch. This visit was going to be worse than she thought. “What are you doing here? Why are you both here?”
“We are here to save you from yourself,” Reed informed her.
Reed wore a look that matched her father’s. It was the one that made her skin crawl. Reed’s suit was every bit as expensive as her father’s. Good lord, their haircuts even matched. If there was one thing that set her on edge, it was her father and her ex collaborating in a scheme that she knew would somehow land her right in the middle of somewhere she never wanted to be.
“I have serious doubts about that,” she sighed and opened the door for them. She may as well get this over. Procrastinating the inevitable wouldn’t make them decide to leave her alone. There was no sense in having this discussion out on the porch in front of everyone who happened by. Reese gestured toward the couch. She ignored their snorts of disdain over her the condition of her home, reminding herself if she went to jail, that piece of garbage in a suit would get her boy.
Once they were seated in her living room, Reese excused herself to make some coffee. They were all settled with a coffee, the men found it subpar but acceptable. They gloated without saying anything. Reese waited until she couldn’t stand their scrutiny another moment.
“Which one of you wants to tell me why you are both here?” Reese got right to the point. It wasn’t like they were visiting to catch up or stopping by on their way through town. Nope, they had an agenda.
