Chapter Twenty-Nine
Linx spenta sleepless night tossing and turning on her futon. By now, Grady had already called his family, and they were all on their wayback.
He probably regretted joining forces with her, or maybe it had all been a lie, his usual modus operandi of saying and promising sweet things in bed to enhance the experience, and then disappearing without atrace.
Damn, was shestupid.
She rolled off her bed, disturbing Cedar who groaned and shook herself before settling back onto her vacatedpillow.
Picking up little Ginger, she took herdownstairs.
“You’re so adorable.” Linx kissed the sweet little fluff ball who licked her with a tiny tongue, wiggling allover.
The online bidding to adopt Ginger had gone over two thousand bucks, and the center needed the money. It was going to be excruciatingly hard to let her go when the timecame.
Linx flashed back to the weeks and months after she let Jessie go. The adoption counselor hadn’t encouraged her to see Jessie or speak to the adoptive parents, but since Jessie was the pastor’s daughter and everyone in the congregation got to see her, Linx had gone to church and tortured herself every Sunday until she’d had an emotional breakdown, crying nonstop for an entireweek.
It had been too much, too soon, so she and Salem had joined a ground crew far up in Alaska. Fighting fires and living in the hell of grief and regret beat burning in her biggest mistake everySunday.
By the time fire season was over, Linx came back to the property she inherited and threw herself into rescuing dogs and reuniting them with theirowners.
She stayed away from Jessie and from church until two years ago when the pastor and his wife visited her and invited her back into Jessie’slife.
They were so kind and accommodating, letting her babysit and be her big sister. She’d kept her part of the bargain—promising never to talk about her relationship toJessie.
She’d respected their wishes and their plans to tell Jessie when she turned eighteen and had agreed that it was best for the little girl to grow up loved and pampered by her adoptiveparents.
And now, Grady made plans to upset the entire applecart. If he won, would she be a part of Jessie’s life? Or was he using her to get early access? To make friends with Jessie before he dropped thesledgehammer?
If he lost, she’d lose her friendship with the Pattersons and risk Jessie’s future hatred of her for hurting herfamily.
A pinching headache constricted like an iron band around Linx’s temple and she groaned, squatting to the floor as she encouraged Ginger to relieve herself on thenewspaper.
Talk about a no-winsituation.
By the time Linx opened the center, she was fortified by coffee and breakfast, but feeling nobetter.
Tami sashayed through the door with her eyebrows raised. “Where were you lastnight?”
“I delivered another dog to Grady.” Linx figured it would all come outanyway.
“Oh… do tell. Was it a happy ending dogdelivery?”
By now, nothing about Grady could make her blush. She’d been around the block so many times with him that she’d worn permanent grooves in thepavement.
“It was nice,” she muttered, unable to suppress a warm smile from tickling hercheeks.
“Good. That’s progress.” Tami beamed at her as if she were a particularly bright student. “So, no ugly words were exchanged. He’s cool with you snooping through his things, bringing his family up to his private place? Don’t think I didn’t know about you holding onto hisphone.”
Linx’s face heated, and the tension returned to her neck and throat. “He wants to get Jessieback.”
“Wow! I didn’t know he wanted to take responsibility.” Tami set her bag down and turned on her computer. “What’s he going to do? Be a singledad?”
Linx took a seat at her desk. “I think he wants to raise her withme.”
“You soundscared.”
“Yeah, I am.” She wiped her hair back from her forehead. “I don’t know if I’m a good enoughmom.”
