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Reese returned to the kitchen just as Cash walked up on the porch, grinning. The dumbass was still whistling. With the curtain open, she peered out the glass portion of the door. Reese waited until he stood on the other side before she clicked the lock closed. Backing away from the door, she let the curtain fall closing him out.
The water switched off above her, signaling Mav’s shower was over. Making herself focus on the task at hand, she gave the noodles a good stir. It was time to move on. Mav was home safe and sound. His happiness and safety were all that mattered. She had no business getting involved with someone anyway, Reese reminded herself. Mav and Pappy were her only priorities. Reese couldn’t forget that again.
Chapter 21
“Cash really isn’t coming back?” Mav asked.
“No, he isn’t,” Reese answered.
Mav had been home for a week. Cash had finally gotten a clue and stayed on his side of the street. He had been relentless for the first few days, calling and pounding on her door. Reese tuned out his ramblings as he tried to talk to her from the other side of her locked door. She refused to accept the flowers he had delivered and ignored the way he sat on her front porch in the evenings. Cash finally accepted it yesterday. Since then, it was blissfully quiet at her house.
The school was nice enough to send Mav’s assignments home. They were happy to give him time to adjust before returning to class. Reese took off work, and Pappy stayed close to both of them. Together they created a little bubble of family. Franks or one of his officers sat at the end of the drive or patrolled the street, keeping an eye on them. Their time was theirs and theirs alone.
Tonight was the last night in the family bubble before reality intruded tomorrow morning. Reese was headed back to work, and Mav was going back to school. Pappy had a lunch date with Franks’ mother. It was time for life to go on.
Since Reese locked Cash out, she left the blinds down in the front of the house so she wouldn’t have to watch him come and go from his home. If Cash wanted to see someone else, Reese didn’t want to watch. She came and went out the kitchen door without so much as sparing a glance across the street. It was time to move on but gathering the pieces this time seemed much more challenging than when Reed walked out with most of what they had.
“I don’t get it,” Mav pestered Reese. “He loves you. Why would he want another woman when he told me he loves you? We talked about it one day.”
Reese raised an eyebrow at him. “What did you talk about?”
“Man stuff.”
When he didn’t elaborate, Reese sighed. Explaining things like relationship failures wasn’t going to get any easier. She planned to stick to the truth in generalities. No teenager needed the full details of their mother’s failed love life.
“I don’t know, kiddo. Sometimes one person isn’t enough. If Cash needs something from someone else, then I guess it is better I find out now rather than on down the line.”
“Are you okay, Mom?”
“Yeah, Mav. I am going to be just fine.” Reese kissed his cheek. “Go to bed. You have school in the morning, and I have work.”
“Do you want me to go beat him up for you?”
“Nope, I can do that all on my own,” she sent him a wink and a grin. “But thanks for the offer. I will keep it in mind.”
Pappy waited until Mav was upstairs before he settled in beside Reese. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, he gave her a side hug and dropped a kiss on her head. Reese knew he had something on his mind. The man had been quiet since Mav’s return and Cash’s exit. It was as if he was waiting for the right time. Apparently, the right time was tonight.
“Girlie, are you sure you are okay? There has to be another explanation for all this.”
“Exactly what explanation would that be? Cash can’t keep his dick in his pants, or maybe he isn’t a one-woman kind of guy. Maybe he is just drawn to the need to fix something. Either way, it doesn’t matter anymore. Mav is back. He is my priority. You and Mav are the only men I need in my life. I have nothing that needs to be fixed so he can move on to his next damsel in distress.”
“I tell you, Reese, it just doesn’t make sense,” Pappy shook his head. “There were days at the garage when a woman would come in and throw herself at him. Cash never even gave them a second look. What makes a man all of a sudden decide one good woman isn’t enough?”
“Well, Pappy, if you find the answer to that one, the divorce rate is going to go way down, and you are going to make a fortune,” Reese teased. “You can sit here and ponder that if you want, but I am going to bed. It is back to work tomorrow for me.”
“Good night, my favorite granddaughter,” Pappy said, not budging. “I will walk our boy to school in the morning.”
“Thank you, Pappy.”
Reese left him lost in thought to make her way upstairs. She stopped outside their bedroom as she did every night to watch Mav sleep for a minute before walking down the hall to her bedroom.
Crawling into bed, she prepared herself for another night of tossing and turning until she couldn’t stand it anymore and got out of bed to start her day. Wondering why they hadn’t caught her father yet only took up half the night. The other half was spent wondering where she and Cash had gone wrong. What little sleep she did get was filled with dreams and nightmares. Dreams of Cash and the way his body fit against hers, leaving her hot and needy. Nightmares of her father somehow getting his hands on Mav or Pappy, and they disappeared for good. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take.
Reese rolled over one more time. She gave up after hours of trying to get comfortable with no success. Slipping out of her room Reese crept down the hall to the shower. If sleep wasn’t coming, it was time to get her day started. Standing under the icy spray did nothing for her this morning. Her mind didn’t clear, and her senses were still dulled. The cold water wasn’t working anymore. Reese shivered and shut the water off.
She brewed her coffee stronger after she dressed in her jeans and a comfy cotton tee. Downing the first cup got her one eye open. Reese filled her travel mug and grabbed her purse, ready for her walk to work. Hopefully, by the time she made it to work and her coffee was empty, both eyes will be open. That might be too much to ask. Functional seemed to be a more attainable goal this morning.
At the end of the drive, she gave in to temptation. Reese stole a glance at the house across the street. The Charger sat where she parked it. Cash’s truck sat behind the car. No lights were on in the house, but at three-thirty in the morning, that didn’t surprise her. Sighing, Reese put one foot in front of the other, not stopping until she reached the back door to the bakery.
