“When did you get the piano?” I asked, seeing her poised and ready to run. Double damn. If she would just slow down enough to listen.

My shoulders eased as she took up a chamois cloth and started rubbing the gleaming wood. She was wearing jeans and a casual top, and I felt terribly overdressed in my dress suit. “Today,” she said as she dusted wood that needed no dusting. Maybe if I didn’t say anything about what had happened, we could get back to the way things were. Ignoring a problem was a perfectly acceptable way to deal with it, as long as both people agree to never bring it up again.

“You didn’t have to stop because of me,” I said, scrambling to say something before she found a reason to leave.

She edged around to polish the back as I went to hit middle C.

Ivy straightened, her eyes slipping shut and her dust cloth stopping. “Middle C,” she said as peace slackened her pale oval face.

I chose another, holding the key down to listen to it echo among the rafters. It sounded wonderful in the open, hard-walled space. Especially since the exercise mats were gone.

“F-sharp,” she whispered, and I hit two at a time. “C and D-sharp,” she said, opening her eyes. “That’s an awful combination.”

I smiled, relieved when she met my gaze. “I didn’t know you could play,” I said, hitching my bag up higher on my shoulder.

“My mother made me take lessons.”

Nodding absently, I dug the money out of my bag. My thoughts went to the discrepancy between us as I leaned through the piano and handed it to her. Ivy was buying a baby grand piano and my dresser was made of pressboard.

Head bent over the money, she counted it. “You’re missing two hundred,” she said.

Taking a breath, I went into the kitchen. Guilt tugged at me as I dropped my bag on Ivy’s antique kitchen table and went to the fridge for the juice. “Edden shorted me,” I shouted to the sanctuary, thinking she probably wouldn’t leave if we were talking about money. “I’ll get the rest. I’m going to talk to the baseball team again.”

“Rachel …” Ivy said from the hall, and I spun, my heart pounding. I hadn’t heard her footsteps. She took in my surprise, and a wash of inner pain flickered over her. Edden’s freakin’ attempt at compensation was in her hand, and I hated everything. Just everything.

“Forget it,” she said, making me feel even better. “I can cover for you this month.”

Again, I finished silently for her. Damn it to hell. I ought to be able to pay my own bills.

Depressed, I took off my hat and hung it on my chair. My heels were next, and I kicked them off, sending them flying out the archway to land thumping somewhere in the living room. In my stocking feet, I sat slumped at the table and nursed my juice as if it was a beer at closing time. There was an open bag of cookies on the table, and I pulled them closer. Chocolate cream would make everything better if I could get enough into me.