Page 13 of Revival in Laurel Valley

“Blaze called. Said I could use his cabin, clear my head, figure out what was next.” Grant’s laugh was hollow. “Guess I didn’t lose her as well as I thought.”

“Or she’s better at tracking than you gave her credit for.”

“Yeah.” He looked at her, really looked at her. “I’m sorry you got caught up in this.”

“Stop apologizing,” Liza said. “You didn’t pull the trigger. She did.”

Grant studied the woman on the couch and felt something shift in his chest. Most people would be hysterical by now. Demanding protection, threatening lawsuits, falling apart. But Liza Carmichael sat there with a concussion and a death threat hanging over her head, and all she wanted was information.

“Your turn,” he said. “Tell me why a woman who loves extreme sports is stuck running a bakery in Idaho.”

Her mouth quirked. “You noticed that, huh?”

“You don’t exactly scream pastry chef.”

“No, I don’t.” She was quiet for a moment, her fingers tracing the pattern on the throw pillow. “I grew up in Vancouver. My parents were…complicated. Dad was a pilot, mom was a nurse. They fought constantly. The only peace I ever had was summers with Aunt Rose.”

Grant heard the softness in her voice when she mentioned her aunt.

“She taught me to bake. Said I had the gift—could taste things, understand flavors in a way most people couldn’t.” Liza smiled, but it was sad. “I loved those summers. Loved the bakery, loved watching her create things that made people happy. And then my parents divorced and the visits stopped.”

“How old were you?”

“Fourteen.” She stretched her neck, wincing at the pounding in her temple. “After that, I spent my time trying to prove I wasn’t like them. Wasn’t someone who’d let life just happen to me. So I went skydiving. Learned to surf. Ran marathons. Anything that felt like living instead of just existing.”

“And the bakery?”

“Aunt Rose left it to me in her will. I hadn’t seen her in fifteen years, but she remembered.” Liza’s voice caught slightly. “The lawyer called three months ago. Said she’d left me everything. The bakery, the apartment, the recipes. All of it.”

Grant heard what she wasn’t saying. “You weren’t ready for it.”

“I was in New York. Had a life, a career, a fiancé.” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Then I caught Richard in bed with another woman and my life imploded. So I drove his Mercedes through the bedroom window. They were just getting down to business.”

“You a fugitive?” he asked, only partially kidding.

“My foot slipped.” But her eyes gleamed with something that looked like satisfaction. “Though watching his face when I told the police was pretty satisfying. Almost as satisfying as showing his lawyer the photos I had of him with his girlfriend—who happened to be married to a very important politician in New York.”

Grant felt his mouth curve. “Blackmail. I like it.”

“Self-preservation. Richard was going to press charges, ruin me, make sure I never worked again.” She met his eyes. “The photos made all that go away. Along with any illusions I had about love and happily-ever-afters.”

“So you came here.”

“Nowhere else to go. Figured I’d sell the bakery, take the money, start over in LA.” She looked around the apartment. “That was the plan, anyway.”

“Plans change.”

“Apparently.” She studied him. “What about you? What was your plan before all this?”

Grant was quiet for a long moment. The truth was, he hadn’t had a plan. Just anger and bitterness and a whole lot of nothing.

“I was going to hide,” he finally said. “Use Blaze’s cabin, feel sorry for myself, maybe figure out what a washed-up cop does with the rest of his life.”

“And now?”

“Now I’m trying to keep you alive.” He stood and moved to the window again, checking the street below. “Which means we need to go over some basics before we leave tonight.”

Liza watched Grant move to the window, all coiled tension and barely contained energy. There was something magnetic about him—the way he moved, the way he held himself like violence was always an option. It should have scared her. Instead, it made her feel safer than she had in months.