“You sure? I mean I can go rent a car while I’m here so you’re not having to play driver.”
He half turned so he could see her. “Cass, it’s five minutes away. It’s fine. I’ve got nothing going this weekend since I was just going to chill until Monday, so I don’t mind taking you where you need to go. Now, if you want to rent a car, I can take you there as well. You tell me what you want to do.”
Since she’d probably either have to rent a car to get back to Phoenix or get a last-minute flight, she preferred to take it easy on her checking account. Not to mention that she liked spending time with Grayson. “I’d rather have you drive for now.”
“Works for me.” He went back to the ground beef.
She added a thumbs-up emoji to Sofia’s text then got to work on the vegetables. Conversation stayed light as they finished making dinner, and it wasn’t until they were sitting side by side at the counter, tacos and napkins at the ready, that it veered back into personal matters.
“How do you expect this to go down tomorrow?” he asked.
She grimaced. “Awkwardly.”
“You mentioned you and your sister weren’t close, but she seemed relieved to see you when she answered the door.”
“I caught that too.” While on the one hand, she couldn’t stop the flash of hope that Sofia might be ready to meet her halfway, on the other, there was too much history for it to gain strength.
“But…?”
Cass used a broken piece of taco shell to move some diced tomatoes and shredded cheese into a little pile. “I think the relief was just that there would be another target for Mother to aim at.” And nope, that wasn’t a crap ton of guilt still plaguing her about leaving her baby sister alone to deal with their parents’ shit.
“Yeah, your mom’s a piece of work.” Grayson sounded far from impressed.
“I did warn you.” She scooped up the bite-sized veggie pile with the tortilla shell and popped it into her mouth.
“You did. What’s the deal with the fiancé?”
She nudged her plate away, braced her elbow on the counter, and rested her chin against her hand as she looked at him. “So it wasn’t just me?”
He gave her a side-eye glance and shook his head.
She exhaled, grateful that she wasn’t the only one not feeling Russ.
“I know you’re worried,” Grayson added, and she raised an eyebrow. “You mentioned it when you were talking to Isa.”
Right. “I don’t know what it is, but something’s not right there. Sofia’s not normally so…”
“Jumpy,” he supplied helpfully.
She nodded. “She’s uptight, thanks to my parents and their need to be the picture-perfect family, but she’s never jumped at her own damn shadow.” And that discrepancy in her sister’s behavior left her with some dark suspicions.
Grayson cautiously asked, “Do you think he’s hurting her?”
Since he was the second one to ask that, she gave it serious thought. There were no visible signs, but Cass knew that some of the deepest hurts were invisible. “Physically, I want to say no.”
He studied her carefully. “But…?”
“But emotionally, I can’t.” Frustrated, she sat back, pulled her leg up, and wrapped an arm around it. “I’ve got a gut feeling that I’m missing something, and not just because I don’t like his attitude.”
“To be fair, he does give off heavy vibes of douchery.”
She appreciated his attempt to lighten things, but it didn’t ease the heavy knot of dread. “While gross, it’s not illegal to be a douche.”
“True.” Grayson pushed his empty plate away then turned until they were facing each other. He propped his bare foot on the rung of her barstool, his leg brushing against hers. “Do you think,” he said carefully, “you could get Sofia to talk to you if you two were alone?”
“You and Isa must be twins,” she muttered.
“No, I think we both know you’ll do what you need to save your sister.”
