Page 66 of Getting the Grinder
There are so many things I want to say to her. I hold my phone in my hand, just staring at the screen. I know she’ll call me as soon as she can. She’s probably being questioned by the police.
The smell of baking lasagna makes me walk into the kitchen. Suddenly, I’m hungry, but I don’t want to eat until I see Mara.
Darling comes up beside me and nuzzles my hand, which is his way of asking me to give him some food. I scratch his ears absently.
The sound of the door—from the garage into the kitchen—opening makes all of us turn. Mara is walking into the house. Her eyes find mine and I go to her, wrapping her in my arms.
“I knew you’d be here,” she says.
I fight the lump in my throat, asking, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
I pull back so I can look at her. Her mascara is a little smeared, but other than that, she looks just like always. I kiss her and pull her back into my arms.
“I don’t know if it just hasn’t hit me yet, but I’m feeling just fine,” she says. “Is that lasagna in the oven?”
Suki laughs. “Yes. If you’re hungry, you’re in the right place.”
“I’m starving.”
I reluctantly release Mara so she can hug Suki, then Carter.
“He’s going to jail, right?” Suki asks.
Mara nods. “Yeah. He’ll get prison time.”
“Are you sure that job is safe?”
“Nothing’s ever completely safe,” Mara says. “That’s where I want to be, though. I like it so much better than my corporate job. Even when I’m being held hostage.”
“Too soon,” I say, shaking my head. “That shit took about a decade off my life.”
“I feel like eating a giant piece of lasagna and then sleeping for about ten hours,” she says. “My boss told me not to come in tomorrow.” She gives me a hopeful look. “Can we binge an entire season of a show? Please?”
I shake my head, amazed at how quickly she seems to have moved on from what happened.
“We can do anything you want, babe.”
“Can we watch Love Island?”
“Absolutely.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Mara
* * *
“Mara, it’s real. I went to the bank and the teller confirmed it’s a real check.”
My mom is crying, and I am too. I’m sitting in a recliner in Leo’s living room, Birdie on my lap. We’ve watched four episodes of Love Island, but we’re on a break because he had to go to a team meeting even though he’s still rehabbing his knee.
“You guys deserve it, Mom.”
“This is our future son-in-law, isn’t it? The card he sent with the check said, ‘Thank you for raising such an incredible daughter.’”
That gets me. I told Bash our two-hundred-fifty-thousand deal was off, and this is the first I’m hearing about him sending my parents a check. It’s for three hundred thousand, an amount that will change their lives.
