far gone over a guy that she cared more about him than she did about Grace and Lex?
She never would’ve thought so before, but based on their conversation she wasn’t sure what she should think.
The door opened, and Lex stepped out onto the porch. When she spoke, her voice was full of all the anger Grace hadn’t been able to summon. “Mom’s more worried about him than us, isn’t she?”
Grace raised her hands palms up in an I-don’t-know motion. “She might just be in denial.”
Lex’s lip curled in disgust. “If I ever get like that over a girlfriend, please do us all a favor and put me out of my misery.”
There were no words to ease Lex’s disappointment in her mother. Instead, Grace wrapped her arms around her niece and held on tightly. “Have you heard from Bronwyn yet?”
Nodding, Lex let out a breath and said, “She’s on her way here. Charlie did text her and try to get her to go over there. She said she would’ve gone if I hadn’t blown up her phone looking for her. I guess he told her I was there and that I needed to be handled. Whatever that means.”
A faint growl escaped Grace’s throat. The man was a loose cannon just waiting to detonate. And her sister would be headed back over there when she got off from work. Grace’s stomach started to ache. What if Charlie took out his frustration on Alyssa? A shiver of unease skated across Grace’s skin. No matter how upset she was at her sister, she still needed to protect her.
Headlights from a car shined in Grace’s eyes briefly before the car came to a stop and someone killed the engine. Lex stepped back and wiped at her eyes, squinting in the direction of the vehicle. She sucked in a gasp and then ran down to greet Bronwyn. The two collided into a hug and started whispering to each other.
Grace walked back into the house to give them some privacy and tried her sister one more time. The call went straight to voice mail. She left a message, begging her sister to be careful and reminding her that Grace’s door was open if she needed a place to stay or if she just wanted to stop by. Grace wasn’t going to let her hurt feelings get in the way of helping her sister when she finally decided Charlie wasn’t worth her time.
“Grace?” Joy called from the kitchen.
“Coming.” Grace walked through her house, suddenly bone tired. Ever since she’d gone to work for Landers Realty, she’d been running nonstop. Unfortunately, there still wasn’t even a nibble on any of the houses she represented. She thought about her bills that were due in a few weeks. She had the money to pay them, but she’d be a hell of a lot more comfortable if she didn’t have to touch any more of the money she’d gotten in their divorce agreement. She wanted to be making her own money already.
Chapter Seventeen
Grace found Joy and Hope sitting at the table, sipping coffee and nearly cried in relief. “Please tell me there’s more coffee in that pot.”
“I’ll do you one better,” Hope said, handing over a hot mug.
“Thanks.” Grace took a seat across from her friends and sipped at the rich java. Then she said, “Can you believe Lex? She kicked Charlie’s ass. I couldn’t be more proud.” At the sound of Lex’s name, Lizzy the cat appeared at Grace’s feet. She reached down and picked up the creature, who was acting perfectly normal as if nothing had happened. “And you, little one. Nice job trying to scratch his eyes out.”
“That cat is a hero.”
Joy let out a chuckle and nodded. “You got that right. Maybe you should take her on your house showings. She’ll scare off any pesky ghosts, I’m sure.”
The truth was the cat probably would be a decent deterrent. But Grace had already made the internal commitment to be honest with her potential buyers. It was better for them to know what they were getting into. She shrugged and took a sip of her coffee.
“Now that we have some downtime,” Joy said, “I can fill you in on what I found out about the large white cottage on the edge of town.”
Grace sat up. “You have info for us?”
She nodded. “Yep. After I got the names of the previous owners, I put my research skills to work, and you’re not going to believe what I found.”
Grace scooted to the