Shaken by the thought, Lexie focused on her grandmother. She let them into the apartment and turned to find Charlotte standing behind her, looking tired and frail. “Grandma, please just get a good night’s sleep, okay? We’ll talk more in the morning,” Lexie said, drained beyond belief.
Charlotte nodded and padded off to bed.
As soon as she heard the bedroom door close, Lexie dropped onto the couch with a thud. Her entire body ached, but nothing hurt as much as her heart at the thought of losing her grandmother.
Coop knelt beside her and brushed her hair off her face. “The doctor said she’s fine,” he said, reading her mind.
“But her blood pressure is still too high. She needs to have her medication regulated.”
“And she will.” His reassuring tone relaxed her, as it had all evening.
“Did you happen to notice that it wasn’t Dad’s comments that sent her over the edge—it was when I brought up the necklace?”
Coop nodded, having realized the same thing. He hadn’t planned to bring up the subject, but now that Lexie had broached it first, he agreed. “She definitely didn’t want to discuss it.”
“Because she has something to hide and she knows we are onto her.”
He caught the pain in her voice, but again couldn’t deny the truth.
“If we confront her, will her blood pressure skyrocket? I mean, do you think we could bring on a heart attack or a stroke?” She rubbed her temples with both hands.
He wished he could think of something that would offer comfort or reassurance, but so far he hadn’t a clue.
“Would you mind getting me some Tylenol from the medicine cabinet in the hall bathroom?” she asked. “My head’s killing me.”
“Sure thing.” Grateful for something useful to do, he rose and headed for the bathroom to get the pills and then to the kitchen for a glass of water.
He returned a few minutes later to find that Lexie had already fallen asleep.
He placed the tablets and water on the table, then settled onto the couch beside her, unsure of whether to cover her with a blanket and leave her here, or move her into her room for a more comfortable night’s sleep. For now he did neither, gently removing her glasses, putting them aside and settling in, content to listen to the sound of her breathing.
The low and steady in and out sound was at odds with the conflict raging on inside her. The grandmother she adored had a past she wanted to keep hidden, and the harder she and Coop pressured her to reveal the truth, the more they might jeopardize her health.
Unfortunately, Coop didn’t know how to operate any way but honestly, by digging into the past. He had a hunch Lexie needed to know, too, for peace and closure, if nothing else. They’d agreed on that.
What to do with the information once they’d uncovered it? He had a feeling that decision was an explosive argument waiting to happen.
CHARLOTTE PACED THE FLOOR of her bedroom, waiting until she heard Coop leave for the night. Then she sat not so patiently on her bed, listening for the sound of Lexie’s bedroom door closing, but she never heard the usual creak and slam. Finally, she decided to just go for it and padded softly out of her bedroom—past her granddaughter sleeping soundly on the family room couch—and headed for Sylvia’s apartment.
She and her best friend and one-time partner had a lot to discuss. And they needed to formulate a plan. Obviously, Lexie and Coop were onto something. Charlotte wasn’t sure what they knew—or how much—but a little knowledge was a dangerous thing. They could blow her carefully kept secret sky high. Charlotte couldn’t have Coop revealing her cat-burglar past. She, Sylvia and Ricky had too much to lose.
If it was only up to Lexie, Charlotte knew that worry about her grandmother’s health would keep her from digging further. But Coop, the reporter, wouldn’t give up as easily, which meant the duo would stay on her tail.
Unless love for Lexie kept him silent. And Charlotte had no doubt the man had fallen for her granddaughter. She’d seen his concern at the hospital—not just for Charlotte, bless the man—but for a fearful Lexie, too. She wondered if he was aware of it yet. As for her granddaughter, she was already head over heels for the man, but poor Lexie was so scarred by that prick Drew, Charlotte feared Lexie wouldn’t know a good thing when she was staring right at it.
Charlotte couldn’t worry about matchmaking at the moment. She and Sylvia had something else to take care of first. Ricky, the cheating bastard, had items that belonged to each of them. The night of their last caper, Charlotte already had found the necklace, while Ricky had located the ring and the bracelet in another closet. They were supposed to meet outside, where he’d hand the bracelet over to Sylvia, completing the ritual of each of them coming away with a trinket for their trouble. But earlier that evening, Charlotte had given him another item to hold for safekeeping, one of both monetary and sentimental value. He’d never showed, disappearing and taking both items with him.
The no-good, rotten son of a bitch had Charlotte’s wedding ring. And she wanted it back.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
LEXIE WOKE UP in a cramped position on the family room couch, her neck crooked and aching, along with her head. The first thing she did was to check on her grandmother, but Charlotte was nowhere to be found. She called Sylvia’s, but no one picked up the phone there, either. She’d just have to assume her grandmother was feeling more like her old self this morning and had gone out with her friend.
She showered, letting the warm water rush over her sore muscles, washed her hair and blow-dried it, then dressed and headed to the kitchen for some much-needed coffee. By the time she’d finished one full cup and started on another, she was finally beginning to feel human again.
She opened the newspaper, scanned the pages and when she came to the Bachelor Blog section, she groaned aloud. Apparently the Blogger’s fame had spread to the suburbs because someone had told the Blogger that Lexie and Coop had been at the hospital last night. She’d long since given up having privacy when it came to her relationship with Coop. She just did her best to ignore the fact that anyone she passed could be taking notes and forwarding them to the Blogger. Lexie just hoped her grandmother was no longer the Blogger’s source.
Between the caffeine and the reality check brought on by reading the paper, Lexie’s brain began to function, too, and the events of last night came flooding back. From her parents’ stiff demeanor to her grandmother’s incident, the memories nearly caused her headache to return. Until she remembered that there had been something different about the whole miserable evening. Coop had been by her side, holding her hand when her parents’ disapproval of her trip choices were mentioned, and keeping his reassuring touch on her shoulder throughout the ordeal at the hospital. She hadn’t been alone.