Chapter Eleven
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Two painfully long days later, Grant ended his day by changing into jogging clothes and heading out the front door of his building. He needed to clear his head before he saw his family that night. His siblings had debated when and what to say to their parents and decided to wait until their mother’s latest charity event was over. Kenzi organized a mid-week family dinner under the guise of Andrew wanting to see everyone again before heading back to Florida where he and his wife now had a beautiful house near her parents’ animal rescue.
After this, the worst of it would be over. If their mother took the news hard, that was to be expected, but she wasn’t alone. Together they would help her through it. His family finally had the truth. Now they could let go and heal.
He checked his watch and was about to take off in a run when he heard a man say, “That’s him.”
“Are you sure? He doesn’t look rich.”
The hair on the back of Grant’s neck went up. Was I too confident there would be no consequence to learning the truth? I’m smarter than this. I should have taken into account that there might be someone left who would be afraid of loose ends.
He turned slowly on his heel, his body coiled and readying to dodge a bullet if need be. Two tall blond men in jeans and plaid shirts didn’t look like hitmen, but since he didn’t have much experience with those he really couldn’t say.
“I’ve seen a photo of him. That’s definitely him,” one of the men said.
“You think he can hear us?”
They each were about Grant’s height and build, but they weren’t exactly intellectually intimidating. Grant relaxed somewhat. “Who are you looking for?”
One of the men stepped forward and scowled at him. “Are you Grant Barrington?”
“If I am?” Grant asked, still assessing both threat and angles for defense.
“We’re here about Viviana Sutton.”
He grabbed the nearest one by the front of his shirt and hauled him closer. If these buffoons thought they could threaten him by threatening her, they were about to be introduced to reality. “If anything happens to her, there is nowhere you or anyone you care about could hide. I’m not Stiles. I’ll strike first, and I’ll keep striking until you and yours are erased.”
“No wonder she didn’t tell him. Dylan, I told you coming here was a bad idea.”
“Stop being such a pussy, Connor. How are we going to scare him if you piss yourself? It doesn’t matter who he is. We’re not leaving until we know he won’t show his face in Cairo.”
Dylan? Connor? They couldn’t be. Grant released the front of the man’s shirt. “First of all, I can hear you. Second, is your last name Sutton?”
Connor said, “He probably wants it for the police report.”
Dylan added, “We didn’t do anything wrong. He threatened us. Dad couldn’t be mad at that. He grabbed you. We’re still fine.”
“Dad told us to stay out of it. Now he knows our names. Viviana is going to kills us if she finds out we did this.”
So, this is Viviana’s family. They could not have been more different than Grant’s bothers. I kind of like them. “Why are you here? Is Viviana okay?” I knew I hurt her, but enough that she went home? That thought made him sick.
“Maybe she was right not to tell him. Listen to him. Does he sound like someone you’d want to share custody of a child with?” Connor asked.
Dylan grabbed his brother’s arm and yanked him away for a private conference a few feet away on the sidewalk. Connor’s question ricocheted through Grant.
Without hesitation Grant joined their think tank. No. She can’t be pregnant. Then he remembered how they hadn’t used protection the first time. “Is Viviana pregnant?”
“We are so screwed,” Connor said, shaking his head.
Dylan turned and went nose to nose with Grant. “I don’t care who you are or what you think you could do. If you mess with Viviana again, we have large machinery and huge fields. That’s the kind of erasing that would meet you in Cairo.”
“Is she pregnant?” Grant repeated his question in a harsher voice.
“We might as well tell him. He knows now,” Connor said.
Dylan nodded. “Okay. I’ll give him his answer.” With no warning, he pulled back and nailed Grant, fist to his jaw, with enough force that Grant stumbled back a few steps. “Now we go home,” Dylan said as he turned away.
Before Connor followed suit he said, “You took advantage of one of the sweetest, kindest women in the world. Maybe you’re not scared of us now, but try to see her again and you will be.”
Grant stood on the sidewalk for a moment, rubbing his bruised jaw as the ramifications of what he’d just learned sunk in. Viviana is pregnant with my child. Pregnant.
I’m going to be a father.
Holy, shit. I’m going to be a father.
Marc Stone appeared beside him. “You okay?”
Grant turned slowly to face him and mocked, “I’m your silent shadow. If you see me, I’m not doing my job right, but I’m always there. Where the fuck were you a second ago?”
Looking unfazed by the question, Marc shrugged and said, “For international criminals, Mafia, hired hitmen—I’ve got your back. You knock up someone’s little sister and her family comes for you—you take that shit like a man.”
Grant laughed even though there was not too much he found funny about the situation. “I’m going to be a father.”
“It does look that way.”
His phone beeped with incoming messages from his family asking him not to be late to dinner. He’d never been late . . . ever, so their texts were more about their own level of anxiety than actual reminders. I just have to get through tonight then I’ll call Viviana.
Or go see her.
He made a pained face. That should be interesting. He turned to Marc and took a stab at a joke. “This is all your fault, you know. You’re the one who told me I needed to get out there in the world and learn how regular people behaved.”
Marc smiled and shook his head. “You certainly did that. Not that you asked my opinion, but yes, I do think they hate you.”
“That’s going to prove awkward because I want to be with Viviana. I was waiting for the situation with my family to settle before I sought her out again, and this hasn’t changed how I feel. In fact, it gave me more of a reason to try again with her.”
Marc groaned. “You’re not going to say it like that to her, are you?”
Grant paused because he didn’t yet have a better plan. “Of course not.”
“Don’t they teach you anything about women in billionaire school?”
“Not women like Viviana. I’ve never met anyone like her. She’s smart, she’s beautiful. She’s strong. She doesn’t care about my money. I couldn’t have chosen a better mother for my child.”
“Your challenge will be convincing her this isn’t all about the baby.”
“It’s not. I was already planning to convince her to give me a second chance.”
“Yeah. Crash course on regular women 101: she’s not going to believe that.”
Grant rubbed his sore jaw again. “You don’t know me very well if you think I’m intimidated by a challenge. Tell me something is impossible, and I will prove you wrong every time. You should understand that. As Andrew would say: Adapt. Improvise. Overcome. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“I have to give you props for confidence.”
“I do have one question, though.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“Do you think I need to buy plaid shirts?” He shuddered at the thought.
A few hours later, Grant, along with his siblings and their significant others, stood in the living room of his parents’ home waiting for their mother’s reaction to the news that her sister was responsible for Kent’s death. The room remained painfully silent as Sophie took hold of her husband’s hand while sinking into a chair, her face losing all color as she did.
“How certain are you that this is true?” she asked.
Grant went to her side and sank to his haunches so his face was level with hers. “All we have is Stiles’s word, but it seems to be supported by your sister’s journal.”
His mother covered her eyes with shaking hands. “I tried to reconcile with Patrice so many times, but she was so angry. Always so angry. I told myself if I kept including her, one day I would reach her. I couldn’t give up hope on her. That’s why I called her from Aruba to tell her I was going into labor early. I gave her all the information about where we were. And she took my baby.” Tears filled her eyes. “This is my fault.”
Dale sunk to his knees and took her hands in his. “No. Your sister was a sick, sick woman, but we don’t have proof that she went this far.”
With tears running freely down her cheeks, she said, “You don’t have to protect me anymore, Dale. My sister was jealous when I first told her I was expecting twins and that one was a little girl. You warned me to cut Patrice out of my life. You said she was getting worse rather than better, but I didn’t listen. I loved her; we were close as children. All I wanted was to have that back. I should have protected our children from her. I should have protected you. She ended your career by spreading those rumors, and I was so afraid of losing her I asked you not to retaliate. How do you not hate me?” She looked around at her children. “How do you all not hate me?”
Asher placed a hand on Sophie’s shoulder. “How could we? You’re the one who showed us how to love. It’s not always easy, and it involves a lot of forgiveness, but you showed us how to be a family.” He turned to his wife who came over to hold his other hand. “No matter what your sister did, she didn’t break us.”
Lance walked over hand in hand with Willa. “Look around, Mom. We’re all here because we love you, and there is nothing anyone could ever do that would change that.”
Ian stepped closer and stood beside his father. “You, too, Dad. None of us knew the reason you made the choices you did, and we judged you harshly for it, but this is our chance to move forward with open eyes.”
Their dad nodded, tears filling his eyes. “All we can do is make loving decisions and hope they’re right. Only time reveals which were mistakes, but you can live with them if you have good in your heart. I was wrong so many times, but I love all of you more than you’ll ever know.”
“We know, Dad,” Grant said kindly.
In the silence that followed, Grant realized Andrew and Helene were hanging back. He met Andrew’s gaze across the room. “We are not the sum of what has been done to us, nor should we carry the guilt of the wrong others have done. We have our answers now. It’s time to move on and heal.”
Andrew hugged Helene and nodded. As much as Grant wanted this meeting to be over, he wanted Andrew to get what he needed from it. Patrice would not take a second brother from him.
“No,” Sophie said in a soft voice before repeating the word with more force. “No. I can’t move on yet. I know Kent isn’t dead.”
Grant’s heart broke for his mother. It would take time for her to fully absorb what she’d heard that day. “He is dead, Mom. We buried him, remember? Now we’ve learned how he died.”
His mother surged to her feet, grabbed Grant’s forearm, and looked around to each member of her family as she spoke. “No one believed me when I said I’d held Kent. I thought I’d gone crazy because I knew I had held him. I knew it. Just like I know he’s alive now. He’s out there somewhere. We have to find him.”
Asher said, “Tell us what you need us to do, Mom, and we’ll do it. You deserve to have answers.”
Shaking his head, Ian said, “There are no more answers to find. We know where Kent is.”
Sophie’s grip on Grant’s arm tightened. “Grant, you believe me, don’t you? Kent is alive.”
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Grant said gently.
With her husband in tow, Kenzi stepped forward and said, “I’ve always known Kent is out there. I would know if he’s dead. He’s not.”
Sophie rushed over to Kenzi and wrapped her arms around her. “What we feel can’t be wrong. As his twin, you have a closer bond to him than anyone else. If you believe me, I know I’m right. A mother knows when her child is alive.” She raised her chin. “We need to exhume the body we buried. It’s not Kent.”
Ian jumped on that. “There’s no way to do that quietly. If that gets in the news—”
A rabbit hole that could only lead to pain opened before Grant. He’d thought the truth would bring his mother comfort, but it hadn’t. However much he wanted to deny it, Ian’s instincts were correct. Once his family started on this path the news would run with it.
Not only would their family tragedy once again become public interest, but wherever it led would be, too. There would be no way to protect Helene from the possible backlash. And, for what? To discover an even more revolting truth? Patrice had hired someone to kill either Kenzi or Kent. There was no happy ending to discover. “It won’t, because we’re not exhuming anyone.”
Dale moved to stand beside his wife. “That’s not your decision to make.”
“That baby is not Kent,” Sophie said. “And I’ll prove it. Help me do that, Grant.”
Grant didn’t make snap decisions. He looked around the room at his married and engaged siblings. He weighed the potential collateral damage and shook his head. He didn’t want to chase more ghosts. He wanted to close this chapter of his life and start a new one with Viviana. After everything his family had been through, didn’t they all deserve to finally be happy? “No. Every time we dig into this, we find something worse. I won’t give Patrice the power to hurt us anymore. I’m done.”
Sophie gasped. “How can you say that? Kent is out there.”
“He’s not, Mom,” Grant countered. “It’s time to let him go and move on.”
“You’re wrong,” Kenzi interjected angrily. “If you don’t care enough to help, Grant, Dax and I will find him.”
Dax hugged his wife but said, “I don’t think it’s that he doesn’t care, Kenzi.”
She glared up at Dax. “Whose side are you on?”
Lance added, “Everyone understands why you want to believe he’s alive, Kenzi. You’ve always had a fascination with twins. Being one made you feel special. We all want to find him, but—”
Kenzi’s face went red. “Oh, my God, you’re ready to just give up on him, too? And this isn’t about how I feel, this is about Mom. Is it too ugly for you to want to deal with it? You’d rather just sweep it under the rug and pretend we’re a perfect family again? When are you going to grow some balls and face that life isn’t always pretty?”
Andrew withdrew to the other room with Helene. Ian followed them.
Dax suggested gently, “Kenzi, why don’t we step outside for a minute?”
She stepped away from Dax. “You always say you’re big on honesty. Well, I’m honestly disappointed that you’re not on my side about this.”
“Stop,” Grant roared in a voice many decibels above anything he’d ever used with his family. “Do you see the destructive potential of going down this road? Look at us, we’re already turning on each other. We’ve come so far. Asher, you have an amazing wife and child. Lance, you and Willa have the twins. Kenzi, I’ve never seen you happier than you are with Dax. We have too much to lose. Thirty years ago, Patrice nearly destroyed this family. What she did hung over all of us. There is nothing to be gained by learning more. If by some crazy twist it isn’t Kent that we buried, what do you think she did with him? I can guarantee you it wasn’t good. I want my brother back as much as anyone else, but you know what I don’t want? I don’t want to trade the chance I have at having a family of my own for what will almost certainly be another disgusting insight into the evil a sociopath is capable of. I love all of you. Don’t give one sick woman the power to rip us apart again. Haven’t we given her enough?”
A heavy silence hung over the room. Sophie went to Grant and placed a loving hand on her cheek. “I can’t move on until I find Kent.”
“I understand.” Grant placed his hand over his mother’s. “But I can’t do this for you. I just found out I’m going to be a father with a woman who thinks I don’t care, and that’s where my time and my energy will be directed. I don’t want to live in the past. I choose now. This is where I can make things better. I love you, Mom, but I can’t go where you want to take us.”
In the background, Kenzi said, “Does it have to be one or the other?”
Grant met her eyes over the head of their mother. “You tell me. If I were you, I wouldn’t risk what you have to discover what you probably don’t want to know.”
Dax took Kenzi’s hand. “There is no risk, because I stand with Kenzi no matter where this leads.” He arched an eyebrow at Grant. “But it does sound like you need to resolve that other issue before you can do the same.”
Sophie lowered her hand to her son’s chest above his heart. “You’re going to be a father?”
“Yes,” he said with a small smile.
“So when is the wedding?” she asked.
Dale interjected, “He might have some convincing to do first.”
Sophie searched Grant’s face then said, “Thank you for understanding that I’m strong enough that you can be honest with me. You’re right. You don’t belong here, hunting down what happened a long time ago.”
He kissed her cheek softly. “If I thought there was any chance—”
“Go get me my next daughter-in-law and grandchild,” his mother said. She looked around, seeming to realize only then that some of her children had left the room. “And thank you for reminding me this has to be done delicately. I will protect my children this time—all of them.”
A short time later, Grant was walking down the steps of his parents’ house when Kenzi called out to him, “Grant, wait.”
He stopped short of his car and turned around. Things had ended on a reasonably good note, and he was happy to leave before the tide turned again. “Yes?”
She rushed toward him with Emily, Willa, and Helene at her heels. “We wanted to talk to you before you left.”
We? Oh, God. “Okay.”
They made a semi-circle around him, backing him practically up against his car. Willa asked, “Was the woman who rushed out of your office the one who is having your baby?”
“Yes. Her name is Viviana Sutton.”
“Why would she think you don’t care that she’s pregnant?” Helene asked.
“How long have you been seeing her?” Kenzi added.
Emily chimed in. “How far along is she?”
What no chair, ropes, and flashlight? Didn’t every interrogation require those? His head was spinning from their questions. “How about if I simply introduce you to her after we work things out?”
Kenzi cocked her head to one side. “She’s the reason you’ve been acting so different lately. It all makes sense now.”
“Different?” Grant hedged.
Emily nodded. “Even Asher says he’s noticed a change. She’s good for you.” She smiled. “He said you chewed him out about not telling me where he was going with Andrew. Thank you for that. I love your brother, but he’s still rough around the edges.”
Feeling more than a little uncomfortable, Grant merely shrugged.
Willa said, “You’re always there to take care of everyone else. We wanted you to know you’re going to be an incredible father.”
“Thank you.” If I shift just a foot over, I can open my car door.
Helene rubbed her chin. “In nature, animals woo mates in all kinds of ways. Some pound their chests. Some make an attractive nest. Others flaunt bright plumage.”
Kenzi’s eyebrows came together in concern. “None of them offer to balance each other’s checkbooks. Go easy on that.”
Grant straightened to his full height, feeling offended. Not one of the women around him seemed the least bit intimidated, though.
Emily added, “She may or may not have health insurance. Don’t let that be the first thing you ask her about. You can figure all of that out once you’re with her.”
“I know how to talk to women,” Grant protested.
“Of course you do,” Willa said a little too quickly. “We just want this to work out for you.”
“So, what’s your plan?” Kenzi asked.
A movement in the background caught Grant’s attention. His brothers were standing just outside the door with huge smiles on their faces. Even Dax. When they realized he saw them there, they waved and retreated back into the house. Cowards.
“I thought I would drive down to see her,” Grant said.
“And?” Kenzi prodded.
“Tell her that hearing she’s pregnant moved up my timetable of seeing her again.”
All four women shook their heads in an eerily synchronized manner.
“Don’t say that,” Emily said.
Helene added, “Yeah, that’s bad.”
“But it did. I knew that hearing about Kent would shake the family up. I wanted to wait until that had passed before calling her.”
“How did you leave things with her?” Kenzi asked. “What was the last conversation you had?”
He cringed. “It wasn’t good. She came to my office, but all the shit was hitting the fan then, and I may have offended her by being too honest about how we met.”
“How did you meet?” Emily asked.
Leaving out the storage room details, Grant briefly outlined what had sent him out that night in search of regular people. “Marc said it was vital I learn how the average person speaks.”
Willa gasped and asked, “And that’s what you told her?”
“I was attempting to explain—”
Kenzi turned to the other women. “He didn’t mean it in a bad way. Grant is the most grounded of my brothers. He just doesn’t sound it sometimes.”
“I’m perfectly capable of speaking for myself,” Grant protested.
Emily folded her arms across her chest. “What do you like about this woman, Grant?”
There was so much, he wasn’t sure where to start. “She’s smart. Funny. Spirited. When I’m with her I like who I am and how she makes me feel.”
Willa continued to look him over with a critical eye. “That’s better, but if she went to see him to tell him about the baby and he dismissed her as average . . .”
“I didn’t dismiss her. She ran off. I was simply explaining—” He reviewed the conversation they’d had and stopped. Shit. “Oh, my God. She must think I’m an asshole.”
“Probably,” Helene agreed. “But on the good side, you’re not. So, all we have to do is prove that to her.”
“Should we go with him?” Kenzi asked. “Vouch for him?”
Lord save me. “No one is—”
“No, he needs to do this himself for her to respect him,” Emily said.
Thank you.
“Do we trust him to not mess this up?” Kenzi asked.
Helene waved a hand in the air. “He was doing something right, or she wouldn’t be pregnant.”
Enough. Grant opened the door to his car and slid inside. He closed it, but rolled the window down. “I love you all for caring, but I can handle this. I’ll call you with an update after we work things out.”
Kenzi leaned down next to the window. “Grant, I’m sorry I made it sound like not looking for Kent meant you didn’t care. We all know you do.”
Grant started his car. “Thank you. I can’t straddle both. This is too important to me.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “You’ve got this.” She straightened and added, “But call us if things get dicey. And don’t talk about money with her. I know you do it because that’s how you show you care, but focus on her and the baby. Just keep telling her you care, and it’ll work out.”
“Tell her you love her,” Helene said.
“I’d prefer to wait until I’m certain I feel that way—”
“Don’t say that either.” Emily waved. “I’ll have Asher call you.”
“There’s no—” Maybe there is need. After all, he made it to the altar. “Fine. Now I really do have to go.”
He made the mistake of looking into his rearview mirror before he drove off. Although they were all waving goodbye, they each looked concerned enough that he had a moment of doubt.
What if Viviana was too angry to see him?
Male confidence surged forward to save him.
Then I’ll just change her mind.
“Come in,” Viviana called out while finishing entering an invoice for the rental of a bulldozer in her office trailer. She glanced down at the yellow sundress and sandals she’d purchased on impulse. She’d already found a small apartment of her own and was discovering who she was when she stopped worrying about what she was supposed to be. A year ago sitting at this desk had felt confining, now the familiarity of it brought her comfort. Being here now is my choice.
The door opened and Gerald, one of her father’s oldest employees, entered. He was past retirement age, but he’d said he had little to go home to and preferred to keep working with a lighter workload. He was presently a glorified delivery man—which sometimes included coffee and lunches—but he never seemed to mind. Retaining Gerald as an employee, even though his most productive years had ended long ago, exemplified what Viviana admired about her father: he was a strong man with a loyal, caring side.
Gerald approached Viviana’s desk with a shyness she didn’t normally associate with him. “You busy, Viv?”
Viviana turned from her computer and stood. “Never too busy for you, Gerald. What’s up?”
He sat in the seat before her desk and smacked his hands on his jean-clad thighs, adding a puff of dust to the office. “Are you looking for a husband?”
Viviana coughed in surprise. “Not right this moment.”
Gerald cleared his throat. “Sue Wickers was at the pharmacy when you bought pre-natal vitamins.”
With a groan, Viviana sat heavily back onto her seat. I grew up here. Why did I think for a second I would be as anonymous as I was in Boston?
Gerald removed his baseball hat, folding and unfolding it in his hands as he continued, “She told Claire at the donut shop. Claire’s son, James, is graduating from college this year with a master’s degree in education. She asked me if there was a father in the picture because her son has always had a sweet spot for you. I said I didn’t know. I hadn’t heard that you were expecting. I said you might have been buying the vitamins for a friend. No one is looking to upset you, but a couple of the crew might also toss their hat into the ring if you’ve found yourself in a difficult situation and it’s something you’re not wanting to go through alone.”
Viviana didn’t say anything at first as she rode out a wave of sheer embarrassment. If Gerald knew, then everyone in town knew. And, apparently, there was a mortifying number who felt sorry enough for her to make this even more awkward. “That’s so generous of everyone, but I’m fine.”
Gerald made a pained face. “I’ve made you feel bad. I didn’t mean to. I’d offer to marry you myself if I were forty years younger.”
Oh. Now I’m going to cry. Viviana went over to sit in the chair beside him. Gerald didn’t have a mean bone in his body, and he wasn’t one to talk about this kind of thing. He was there because he cared. She gave him what she hoped was her sweetest smile. “And I would have scared the shit out of you by accepting.”
He cackled at that then became serious again. “Are you really pregnant, Viv?”
“Yes. It wasn’t something I was going to announce yet, though.”
“And the baby’s daddy?”
Someone else might have found his questions impolite, but Viviana had grown up with him. Half the swears she knew she’d learned from following him around the site. “He won’t be in the picture.”
“Then he’s a fucking idiot,” Gerald announced.
“Yes,” Viviana agreed, even though that wasn’t the way she wanted to remember him. She was still trying not to think of him at all. “Tell everyone they don’t have to worry about me, though. I’m doing okay. Hard as it may be to believe, I missed your sorry asses, and I’m happy to be back.”
Gerald cackled again. “Not surprising at all, some of us have mighty fine asses regardless of our ages.”
Viviana laughed at that. There was a fun swagger to the men she’d grown up around. It was harmless and something she hadn’t realized was so funny until it hadn’t been part of her life anymore. She sat back with a smile and reflected on what he’d come to tell her. “Could you also please spread the message that, although the idea of sympathy proposals is sweet, they’re not necessary?”
Looking her straight in the eye, Gerald asked seriously, “What sympathy are you talking about? Half the men in town have been mooning over you since you kicked their butts in high school. They’ve been panting for you to have a reason you might need one of them. Strength in a woman is good, but you’ve been so damned independent for so long, none of them thought they had anything to offer you.”
“Independent? I was living with my dad until I moved away.”
“Because you give all your money to the Cairo Mercy Foundation. You’re softhearted. There’s a lot of people in this town who are grateful to you for what you’ve done for them through those grants.”
“Their gratitude belongs with my mother. She founded it.”
“But you’ve funded it.”
Viviana shrugged. “Sometimes. Mostly it is self-sufficient since people pay back into it when they can.”
“James used a grant from the foundation to finish college. Now he’s coming home single and grateful. Rumor is he’s handsome, too.”
Oh, boy. “I’m not looking for a husband, Gerry.”
“But would you be offended by some flowers? A few date requests? I’m only asking you because people keep asking me.”
Her first reaction was to say no, but she didn’t voice it. Why not? I’m single. She couldn’t imagine feeling anything for anyone, but she’d told herself her return home wasn’t a defeat. So, why hang my head and hide? “I’ve never gotten flowers,” she said honestly. “That might actually be nice.”
Gerald nodded, stood, and replaced his hat. “I’ll pass the word.”
Viviana almost told him not to. She wavered on whether or not she wanted to open that door, but she reminded herself of something Audrey had once said, “The best way to get over a man is to find a new one.”
Memories of how it had been to be with Grant tumbled through her thoughts. Even as she said goodbye to Gerald, she fought to push back a yearning she told herself was a waste of time. Don’t think about him. When it was good it wasn’t real, and when it was real it definitely wasn’t good.
Let him go.