Turn My World Upside Down: Jo's Story (11 page)

He winced and nodded. “You know they’re not really gypsies, right?”

“Sure.” It’s just what the town called them. A small group of women who traveled the country together. They’d been coming to Chandler since before Jo could remember—and now she knew at least part of the reason why. “So your mom’s one of them.”

“Kate.”

The beautiful one, Jo thought now, remembering last summer and how she’d seen Cash walking with the woman with long, inky black hair. She’d been disgusted with him at the time, thinking that he was hitting on a woman old enough to be his mother—now, she was chagrined to find it really
was
his mother.

“I’m an idiot,” she murmured, shaking her head and smiling.

“Care to tell me why you think so?” he asked, his voice a whisper of sound, barely louder than the gentle wind dancing around them.

“Not particularly,” she admitted as she remembered the stinging slap of jealousy she’d felt at the time, watching Cash and Kate together.
Idiot
.

Nodding, he said, “Anyway, a few years ago, I decided to move here. Started building my house . . .”

God, that amazing, incredible house, she thought.

“When it was ready, I moved in.”

She shook away the memory of that house and her
hunger to get a look at the inside. “Still doesn’t explain the Money Fairy thing.”

He shrugged and rubbed his palms over his knees. “Just . . . looking to belong, I guess.”

“By
buying
your way in?” Jo stretched her legs out in front of her, folded her arms over her chest, and shook her head. “That’s not belonging,” she said.

“Good enough for me,” he insisted, and pushing to his feet, he stood up and held out one hand to help her up, too. “I can help people out and—nobody has to know it’s me.” When she was standing, he released her hand and shoved both of his into his pockets. Glaring at her defensively, he asked, “What’s it hurt?”

She wished for more light.

She wished she could see his dark eyes more clearly. Try to read what he was thinking. Feeling. But in the heavy shadows, she could only guess, judging by the tone of his voice—and that told her plenty. He was embarrassed and defensive and a little on edge. So not like the Cash she’d thought she knew.

“It doesn’t hurt, I guess,” she admitted. “And you’ve helped a lot of people. It’s just—”

“Look.” He interrupted her and pulled both hands free of his pockets to drop them on her shoulders. Jo felt the heat of his touch right down to the soles of her feet. Wow. Hadn’t really expected that.

“Josefina, I’m not hurting anybody. I can afford it. So what’s the harm?”

“None, but—” She wondered how a carpenter made enough money to play Mr. Benevolent all over town, but she wouldn’t be getting the answers to that question tonight.

“Glad you agree. So, the question is, are you going to squeal on me?” he asked, his grip on her shoulders tightening reflexively.

“Squeal?” she repeated, smiling in spite of the situation—in spite of the growing heat blossoming under the spot where his hands held her. “What’re we? In the mob?”

His answering grin flashed white in the shadows, then disappeared again quickly. She found she missed it.

“Are you going to keep my secret?”

A few seconds ticked past while she considered it. After all, did it really matter who the Money Fairy was? Lots of people had been helped when they most needed it. And weren’t most people in town enjoying the mystery? The sense of expectation? And hey, best of all, wasn’t it great to know something neither one of her sisters had a clue about?

“Okay,” she said, stepping out from under his hands, because having him touch her didn’t help the whole “thinking” thing. She moved farther out into the yard, needing a little distance from him, a little space from the heat he engendered with a single touch. “For now, I’ll keep quiet.”

“For now?”

She shrugged and looked up at him. Here, in the open starlight, the darkness was lifted just enough for her to see the whisker stubble on his jaws. To notice how his dark hair fell across his forehead. To see his equally dark eyes narrow on her thoughtfully.

“For now’s the best I can do,” she said, reserving the right to spill the beans at some later date.

“I guess that’ll have to be good enough,” he said, less worried now about keeping his voice low. A moment passed, then two. “Well, it’s been nice being attacked with you.”

She smiled again, remembering Precious attached to Cash’s leg. “Yeah,” she said. “We’ll have to do it again sometime.”

Something flashed across his features, brightening his eyes, tightening his mouth. Reaction jittered through Jo, but she really didn’t want to think about it. Didn’t want to consider that she was actually starting to feel something for the one man who could be a real danger to her.

Then the moment was gone again and he was taking a step closer. “I think I’m going to have to hold you to that, Josefina.”

For the very first time, a ripple of something delicious stole through her when he said her full name.

Oh boy.

Behind them, a bedroom window on the second floor of the Marconi home opened and a loud, clear voice rolled out into the quiet. “Basta, Josefina! Enough! Is late. Who issa that man?”

Jo muttered a curse, but Cash was already shouting, “Cash Hunter, ma’am.”

“Ah.” Nana leaned on the window sash. “Bring your young man inside. Issa too cold for making romance outside. I make him some soup.”

“Ohmigod.”
Jo closed her eyes, groaned, and prayed that the ground would open up beneath her.

Cash laughed and called out, “Another time, ma’am. Thank you!”

“Call me Nana,” the older woman shouted back.
“Josefina! Kiss your Cash good night and come inside!”

Jo glared at the man still grinning at her. “One move, Cash Hunter, and you’re a
dead
Money Fairy.”

Jo looked across the bed of the truck at her little brother. Sunlight danced in his eyes, and though he tried to control his grin, his mouth just wouldn’t cooperate.

Forced to swallow a smile of her own as she remembered the excitement of going out on jobs with her father, Jo narrowed her eyes on the boy. “Remember. You’re going to do everything I tell you to do. And you’re
not
going to get into trouble.”

“Right.” He nodded so hard, his hair dipped into his eyes and he whipped his head back to clear his vision.

“Really got to get you a haircut,” Jo murmured as she reached into the lockbox for her battered, red steel toolbox.

“Mike says haircuts make you stupid.”

Jo stopped, looked at him and shook her head. “You start listening to your sister Mike, and that’s a bad sign.”

He grinned and shrugged. “Emma told me she said it.”

Jo sighed. “Sam had better tell her daughter not to listen to Mike too much.”

“Why not? She’s funny.”

“Yeah, she is.” Then she winked at him. “But don’t tell her I said so.”

He laughed and Jo felt a small rush of pleasure. Funny, but since Nana had arrived, she and Jack were getting closer. Probably, she thought, from banding together in self-defense.

Nana hadn’t stopped cleaning since she hit town.

For the last five days, the only rest Jo got was when she was on a job site. And Jack was in no better shape. Their grandmother had cut off his video-game and TV time in favor of reading aloud and telling her how he had spent every minute of his day.

Hell, no wonder the kid was so delighted at her invitation to come along with her after school.

“Is Cash even here?” Jack asked, turning to look around the wooded area as if expecting the man to pop out from behind a bush.

“He’d better be,” Jo murmured, hefting the heavy toolbox over the edge of the truck. The solid weight of it jerked her arm as she headed toward the main house.

It had been two days since she’d caught him in the act at the Sanchez house. Two days of listening to Nana talk about “that nicea Cash. So polite. Issa he
italiano
?
Cattolico?
” Two days of listening to her sisters and the rest of the town speculate on the Money Fairy’s identity. Two days she’d spent remembering sitting beside him in the night, hearing the soft rumble of his voice.

She was really slipping.

Lifting one hand, she rubbed at the spot between her eyes and told herself that a headache was just punishment. She had no business thinking about Cash—the way she’d been thinking about him. Hadn’t she learned
firsthand just how bad things could get when you fell for a smooth line?

“Jo?”

She glanced at her brother, pushed her thoughts to one side, and concentrated instead on
him
. This time with Jack was a chance for her to connect. To find a relationship with a little brother she’d never expected to have. And all in all, he was a good kid. “Right. Let’s go get him so we can finish up the work on that guest house of his.”

She’d only taken a few steps when Cash walked out the double front doors and headed down the walk toward them. A long, slow breath slid from her lungs. She didn’t know which was more impressive, Cash—or the house he’d built.

Clearing her throat, she spoke, her voice coming out a little louder, a little harsher than she’d intended. “Haven’t seen you in a couple of days.”

He pushed one hand through his thick, black hair and shrugged. “Been busy.”

Doing what? she wondered, but squelched that thought fast.

“How’s Nana?” he asked, one corner of his mouth lifting just enough to tantalize her.

She lifted one hand and pointed at him. “Don’t start with me, Cash.”

He only grinned and said, “Hi, Jack. You here to work with us?”

“Uh-huh. Jo says you want to add some more stuff to your cottage,” Jack said, then glanced at his sister before adding, “But first can we show her what you’re making over there?”

Jo’s gaze followed the boy’s pointing finger and she
noticed an outbuilding tucked some fifty feet behind the main house. Sheltered by trees, one long wall of the huge structure was windows and the wide, barn-style double doors were closed. She shifted her gaze back to Cash and noticed his hesitation. And since he clearly didn’t want her to see inside, her curiosity raged.

“More secrets?” she challenged.

He shot a look at the boy, as if reminding her that she’d promised to keep quiet about the whole Money Fairy thing, before narrowing his gaze on her. “No.”

“C’mon, Cash. Let’s show her.” Jack turned to his older sister. “It’s really cool. He’s got all these neat tools and he let me use a planner.”

“Planer,” she corrected automatically, still watching Cash. He looked uncomfortable. Interesting. The man was usually smooth and confident enough for three healthy men. What was it that could make him seem so . . .
vulnerable
?

A soft wind kicked up out of nowhere and lifted dirt from the road to twirl it into a mini-tornado. It blew itself out again a moment later when it bumped into the tree line. Sunlight dappled the area, and from a distance, a barking dog did its best to keep the quiet at bay.

“Fine,” Cash finally muttered, as if surrendering to a fate worse than death. “You can show her. Go open it up,” he said, with a nod for Jack.

The boy didn’t need to be asked twice. He took off at a dead run down the road and across the sun-splashed backyard. But Jo wasn’t really watching her brother.

“A gracious invitation,” she said, lifting her toolbox to set it down on the hood of the truck.

He scowled, then shrugged, and the black T-shirt he wore rippled over the muscles hidden beneath the soft, worn fabric. “It’s not like I’m trying to hide anything.”

“Uh-huh. So why’re you looking like you really wish I were somewhere that was
away
?”

At that, he gave her a half-smile. Just a minor quirk of his full mouth and something inside Jo took a nosedive. Weird, but she felt as if every nerve in her body were doing somersaults all at once. Which was so not what she was looking for.

“Trust me, I like having you around.”

He might like having her around, but she
didn’t
trust him, and that was the whole problem, wasn’t it? With that thought firmly rooted in her mind, she started walking, and when she passed him, he fell into line beside her. The wind off the ocean sighed around them, carrying the scent of the sea and the promise of the coming summer.

“So what am I about to see?”

He matched his steps to hers and the crunch of rocks and leaves beneath their feet was a friendly sound.

“Another well-kept secret, I guess.”

She tipped her head up to look at him. “You’re a real man of mystery, aren’t you?”

“Never thought so before,” he muttered.

Up ahead, from inside the building, the sounds of Jack rattling around drifted out to them. God knew what he was getting into. But before they joined her brother, Jo said what she’d wanted to say for two days.

“Mrs. Sanchez has been telling everyone who’ll listen about how wonderful the Money Fairy was. How he’d saved her house and now she wouldn’t lose it.”

He stopped in the road and with the sunlight dropping
over them like a warm blanket, he looked at her. “I don’t do it to get the applause.”

She studied his features, his dark, fathomless eyes, the tight set of his jaw, the nearly
embarrassed
expression on his face. “Yeah, I get that.”

He nodded. “Good. Good.”

“But . . .” She reached out and grabbed his upper arm when he took a step forward again. Instantly, she released him, before she could get used to the feel of all that tightly coiled strength beneath her hand. “If you don’t mind my asking, one thing’s been making me nuts.”

Black eyebrows lifted. “Just one?”

Her mouth twitched. “Lately.”

“Shoot.”

“Okay. How does a carpenter, even a
talented
carpenter, get enough money to play benefactor to a whole town?”

Cash frowned and scrubbed one hand across his jaw. He’d been sort of hoping to avoid that question. Should have known that Jo would want to confront it.

She picked up on his hesitation in a heartbeat, and when she spoke again, her voice was filled with suspicion. “What’re you into?”