Page 45 of Book Club Confidential

“Are you and your brother still close?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Not at all.”

Grant tented his brows but didn’t push for more.

Tessa took another bite and chewed slowly, then finished a story she very rarely told. “I had a dad my whole life and a mom for my first two years of high school. Then Alice died, and she took a huge piece of each of us with her. Devin spiraled, Dad focused on him, and I held down the fort while trying not to be a burden. I blamed Devin for taking Dad from me then, and I stayed angry with him for continuing his destructive patterns years later. Mostly I hated when he used his mom’s death as an excuse to be a disaster of a human and for living a reckless life that would’ve worried and horrified her.”

Tessa flinched as shame spiraled through her, with guilt and humiliation riding sidecar. She’d never spoken so candidly or so transparently about her family to anyone she’d known so briefly.

If Grant thought she was petty and ridiculous, she’d lose a new friend and a client. Two hits she wasn’t prepared to take.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t know where that all came from.”

But that wasn’t true. She dreaded the family dinner with Devin as if it was a mile trek across hot coals, and it was coming up fast.

“Hey,” he coaxed, drawing her gaze to meet his. “There’s nothing wrong with how you feel about any of this. Missing your dad’s attention when you needed it most is understandable. It’s reasonable, human, and valid. Wanting your brother to get his shit together is a pretty fair expectation too.”

Tessa examined him, searching for any sign that he didn’t mean the things he’d said. She started getting a little lost again in those blue eyes as she searched. “I don’t feel the same now,” she said, wanting him to know she wasn’t as horrible as she sounded. “I’ve spent years in counseling to process my pain. I have plenty of tender spots when it comes to my family, but I’m okay now.”

The server arrived with the bill, interrupting her confessional. Grant placed his credit card immediately on top. “I’ve got it.”

The server turned on her toes and smiled. “I’ll be right back.”

“You didn’t have to buy me dinner,” Tessa said, thankful for the change of subject. “You hired me. I should’ve covered this one. It’s a business expense.”

“Or,” he said softly, “it’s a friendly meal where I got the chance to know you a little better.”

The server returned Grant’s card a moment later, and before Tessa could process his implication that their dinner wasn’t strictly professional, they were headed back outside.

“Tell me about your friends,” he suggested while they waited to cross the street. “You’ve mentioned them a few times. You seem close. Have you known them long?”

“I have,” she said, answering his last question first. “And we are. How about you?”

“I have four close friends,” he said. “Two I’ve known since elementary school and two more I met in college. They’re all married or live out of state now, but we still rent a beach house every May and meet up. It’s pretty cool having people in my life who knew me before I knew me, you know?”

“I do.” Tessa only hesitated a moment before sharing yet another important thing in her life. “Kate, Hallie, and I have been in a book club together since college. It’s just the three of us now. We read whatever we want, and we talk about our lives. Earlier this month, I realized that none of us are truly happy in the ways we expected to be by now. And why shouldn’t we be? We’re great.”

Grant listened closely, hands clasped behind his back as they walked.

Tessa wet her lips. “Somewhere along the line, we became complacent, but the heroines in our books are fearless and confident. They improve the lives of those around them, and they go after what they want. So my friends and I made this sort of spectacularly bookish pact.” Her heart rate rose as she spoke, suddenly unsure if she’d started a conversation she shouldn’t finish. The women at her office understood and supported her, but would Grant understand? Would he think she was being overly dramatic or silly?

He waited, giving her the time and space to decide.

Something in her said that he wasn’t the sort of man to be anything other than supportive. He’d shown her as much every step of the way so far, hadn’t he? And what she and her friends were doing wasn’t silly. It was brave. If he couldn’t see that, he wasn’t a good friend for her.

She cleared her throat. “We promised one another that we’d only make decisions that the heroines of our stories would make, if our lives were books.”

Grant stilled, expression unreadable for a long moment. “The stand against the patriarchy?”

She nodded. “Among other things.”

“And you’re all doing this right now?” he asked. “We’re within the thirty days?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

Tessa’s nerves flared, and she felt miserably exposed. “We’re taking this seriously,” she said, defending the pact. “It’s important to us.”