The Slow Burn (Moonlight and Motor Oil #2) - Kristen Ashley Page 0,124

letter out and read it.

It wasn’t what I expected.

My skin still went chill.

I read it again.

“Addie.”

I read it again.

“Adeline.”

Slowly, my head turned to Toby who was standing right by my side.

“My grandmother died. I’ve been asked to the reading of her will next Friday.”

He glanced at the letter than back at me. “Which grandmother?”

“Dad’s.”

“Fuck,” he murmured quietly so Brooks wouldn’t hear.

My body jumpstarted. “I need to call Izzy.”

“Yeah,” he said, gently taking the letter from me as I moved to the island to get my phone.

I glanced at him to see he was reading it before I moved outside to the back deck to make the call.

It was summer. We needed deck furniture.

This was my thought as the phone rang.

I knew Iz was talking into her car, still on her way home from the city, when she answered it.

“Hey, doll. What’s up?”

“I got a letter from a law firm in Lexington. Dad’s mother died and the will is going to be read on Friday. They’ve asked for my attendance. And if they’ve asked for me, you might have a letter too.”

“Oh boy,” she replied.

“Yeah,” I said.

“I . . . Dad might be there,” she noted.

“Yeah,” I said.

The door opened, and I turned to see Toby there with my glass of wine.

He handed it to me.

I took it.

He didn’t leave me.

“Okay, I’ll call you if I got a letter,” Izzy said.

“Yeah.”

“You okay?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Is Toby there?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I think so. Are you gonna go?” she queried.

“I have one personal day. So . . . I think so. Do you wanna go?”

“I . . . don’t know. I don’t want to see him.”

“I don’t either but I also kind of do.”

She sounded surprised. “You do?”

I did.

Kind of.

I was awesome. Iz was awesome. We were healthy, happy. Daphne raised two strong, beautiful girls.

I wanted him to see that.

I didn’t want to be up in his face about it. I didn’t care that much.

But I was thinking I wanted to do that for my mom.

“I don’t know, Iz. I don’t . . . shit,” I muttered.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” she decided.

“Good idea.”

“They wouldn’t ask us there if she hadn’t left something for us, right?” Izzy remarked.

“She could just have left a message, and if it’s just a message, I don’t want to waste a personal day having to listen to what that bitch has to say,” I replied.

“I hear you.”

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” I said.

“Yeah, Addie.” She changed the subject to one more important. “You call Dave?”

“No to the festival. But we’re going over for a visit tomorrow after.”

“Okay. I’ll tell Johnny. Obviously, we’ll go with you. Now letting you go. Love you, doll.”

“Love you too, babe.”

We hung up.

I took a sip of wine.

“So?” Toby prompted.

“We’re gonna hash it out tomorrow at the Food Festival.”

“Right.”

I looked into his eyes. “He might be there, honey.”

“You go, I’m going with you.”

I nodded.

“You don’t have to go,” he pointed out.

I nodded again.

“You told me they have money,” he remarked.

“Yes, lots of it,” I confirmed.

“If she’s givin’ some of that to you, you should take it. For you. Not for Brooks. For you. She owes that to you,” Toby said. “But if you can’t do that, then you should take it for Brooks.”

“I know,” I said quietly. “Last time I saw her, though, she was shrieking at my mother about taking us from our father.”

“If she did this just to fuck with you, then you’ll have it confirmed, like we had it confirmed with that gig with Sierra, you weren’t missing anything. And I know it sounds crazy, but when it settles in, it’s actually a relief.”

That wasn’t the first time I was happy he felt like that about Sierra.

I nodded yet again, took another sip, then moved toward Toby.

He drew me into his arms.

“Why do these women keep coming out of the woodwork when we should be all about Margot?” I asked into his chest.

“Closure, Addie.” His voice changed when he said his next, and the arms I had around him tightened. “In a lot of ways.”

I closed my eyes and did it hard.

We held on to each other for a while.

“I need to get the dough going,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Stay out here, I got dough and kid. You take time to get shit right in your head.”

I tipped that head back to look up at him.

“Thanks, honey.”

“Love you, baby,” he said before he dropped his lips to mine.

That was a peck too, a harder one, before he gave me a squeeze and let