Page 16 of Just For Her

Tove shrugged. “It is what it is. I don’t hold it against you or anything. My mom always said that the best thing you can do is be kind to strangers who are in a pinch.”

“I think my mother might have said something similar once. It’s hard to remember.”

Tove’s flashlight led her back to the kitchen, where she illuminated a black and white cat on one of the stools. “Our moms are not that dissimilar then. Is she back in Portland?”

Kayla did not immediately respond.

“I’m sorry. That was too personal,” Tove reprimanded herself.

“The answer is yes and no. Technically, she’s back in Sherwood. In a cemetery.”

“Oh.” Tove cleared her throat. “Sherwood?”

“It’s like the very southwest fringe of the Portland metro. On the other side of Tigard. Bull Mountain area? We were on fire a few years ago.” What an awkward chuckle to accompany that remark! “That’s like the only notable thing about Sherwood.”

“My goodness. Of course you’re not ready for a blizzard. You’re used to the opposite problem.”

It took Kayla a moment to realize that was a dry joke. “You’re not wrong,” she said. “I don’t even have chains.”

“You better get some. We’ll have more snow by May. That’s how it usually goes.”

“You’re right. I’m so ill-equipped for being here.”

“Sounds like a last-minute decision, if I may be so bold.”

Kayla returned to the couch, careful not to bump into the dining table or trip over the fringe of the blanket. She sat right in the middle, almost on the sweatpants that her hostess had offered her for the night. “Not so much last-minute as it was an opportunity to come sooner than I expected. I was hoping to move in the summer, but when my former place of work burned down… no time like the present to make a change, right?”

Tove remained by the island counter. She turned off the flashlight. “It’s been a long time since I moved. I bought this place twenty years ago.”

I can barely fathom the concept of twenty years ago…“It’s a lovely home. From what I could see before the power went out, anyway.”

“Thank you. It suited my needs at the time.”

That must be why it’s not as big as I anticipated for someone who has as much money as her.Then again, Bend property was expensive. Kayla would snoop on Zillow later, but she estimated this property was an easy eight hundred thousand dollars, at least. It depended on how much land Tove owned with it.I bet she owns one of these ranches attached to the place. Great passive income if you hire the right people to run it for you…Tove was a finance person. She must have known about that.

Kayla reminded herself that she had to play the game differently with Tove, an older woman who had more sense on her shoulders than the two Fredriksson men Kayla had met so far. She couldn’t be coy and sexy like she might be around Thomas. Tove was a different breed of human. On top of that… well, Kayla hadn’t seduced a woman before. This might not be the right time to go for it, although Kayla didn’t knowwhenwould be better!

I can’t believe I’m considering this.

“Would you mind sitting with me?” Kayla uncurled the blanket from her torso and tucked it around her lap. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I guess I’m feeling vulnerable right now.”

“Sure.” Tove carefully stepped around her cat as she approached the couch. Kayla scooted over enough for the other woman to sit beside her.

There they were, side by side, but not touching.

“This is such an imposition, sorry,” Kayla said.

“Don’t think anything of it. Not like there’s anything else for me to do right now.”

The black and white cat hopped up on the arm of the couch. Tove kept staring straight ahead. When Kayla reached for the cat, it ducked away again. The mood only continued in that direction for the next few seconds.

“What I meant by imposition is that you must think the worst of me.” Kayla turned her head slightly away from Tove. “This is our third time meeting, and every time you’ve seen me it hasn’t been the best circumstance. First, it was after your cousin hit me with his car, then I was tipsy in the bar… now here I am. You must think I’m a grifter out for a payday. I want you to know that’s not the truth at all.”

“If I’m completely honest…” Tove kept her hands to herself. “There’s a reason you’re talking to me and not someone else in the family. I’m the one who deals with these situations on behalf of my family. They trust me to know when someone is telling the truth or trying to get something out of them. A lot of my family members… well, they live in a bubble. They mostly deal with each other, or people like us. My aunt exists between her house, the family vacation home, the country club, and whatever city she’s jetting off to now. I think she might be in Cabo at the moment. She had to get away from the winter, you know.”

Damn. That’s quite the motherload, all right.Kayla couldn’t screw this up. If she failed her shot at Tove, then she might not have a chance with the Fredrikssons at all.

“Young women get involved with us all the time. My cousin’s current wife that he’s divorcing is someone he met and married on a whim. We were all aghast, of course. The prenup was standard but…” Tove laughed. “Why am I sharing this with you? To be honest, for all I know, you’re playing the same game she did.”

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