A Time To Love (A Mill Creek Crossing Romance) Read Free Page A

given her chance after chance, and taking their mother’s money was the last straw.
     
    Starting her car, Gracie drove down the long driveway heading for the main street when she noticed her sister’s rental car parked in an abandoned parking lot just outside of her driveway. She pulled up, partly out of concern for her sister’s safety. It had been a pretty cold fall evening, and she wondered if her sister had been picked up by someone.
     
    As she walked to the window of the car, she saw Eva huddled up in a ball sleeping under a blanket in the driver’s seat.
     
    “Eva! Wake up!” she yelled as she banged on the window. Slowly, Eva pulled her head out from under the cover and looked at Gracie. It was obvious she had cried herself to sleep. Her face was red and puffy, and her eyes were swollen.
     
    Eva unlocked the car door, and Gracie swung it open.
     
    “What are you doing?” Gracie asked.
     
    “I had nowhere to sleep. I told you I was homeless,” Eva said shaking from cold and exhaustion.
     
    “My God, Eva. I thought you were just being dramatic. Come on,” Gracie said holding out her hand. Eva took it, and the two women got into Gracie’s car after locking Eva’s rental.
     
    “Where are we going?” Eva asked shaking.
     
    “To the diner where I work. You can get some coffee and breakfast there.” Gracie couldn’t look at her sister, but from a humane perspective she just couldn’t leave her in that condition.
     
    “Why are you helping me, Gracie?” Eva asked softly.
     
    “Because I’m a nice person,” Gracie said as she drove into the parking lot of the diner. “But don’t think this changes anything. I will help you get on your feet, but then you have to go, Eva. I can’t allow you to screw up my life. Understand?” she asked as she stared straight ahead with her hands still on the steering wheel.
     
    “Understand. Does this mean I can stay with you?”
     
    “For a little while. You need to find a job and then get your own place as soon as possible. Preferably in another town.”
     
    “I wish you didn’t hate me, Gracie.”
     
    “I don’t hate anyone, Eva. But just because we’re related by blood doesn’t mean we have to have a relationship,” she said opening the car door.
     
     

Chapter 3
     
    Gracie walked Eva through their small house showing her where she would sleep. The bedroom wasn’t very big, but Eva wasn’t about to complain. Sleeping in her car for one night was a small price to pay for getting her sister to do what she wanted. It was unfortunate she needed her help, but her mother had made it difficult for some reason.
     
    “Dinner is at five thirty,” Gracie said flatly as she walked past Eva’s room.
     
    “Thanks.”
     
    Eva closed her door and opted to read a book instead of interacting with her sister. It would be difficult to live with her for any length of time given their history, but one phone call to her mother’s estate attorney had been enough to convince her.
     
    When Eva had run out of money, the first call she made was to the attorney she had come to trust after her mother’s death. She needed advice on how to recoup any of the money she’d lost, but he had told her there was no way to do it. However, he also gave her some news she wasn’t expecting at all.
     
    “Eva, I’ve got some news for you. You mother had a lot more money than three hundred thousand dollars,” Clayton Emory had said.
     
    “She did? Where is it?” Eva asked, giddy at the prospect of having more money.
     
    “She set a fund aside in case you ever got yourself into this predicament. However, there is a stipulation.”
     
    “What is it?”
     
    “The only way you will get this money is if you can repair you relationship with Gracie and prove it to me.”
     
    “What? Are you crazy? Gracie hates me!”
     
    “Well, your mother set a substantial amount aside for you to have, but only if you can prove that you and Gracie are sisters