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He spun around. He momentarily forgot about his grandmother sitting at the table. “Yes.”
“I didn’t see it. Where is it?”
“My bedroom.”
“Oh. Is it something an old woman can see?”
He chuckled. “Yes, Grandma. Come on.” They walked back to his bedroom, and he pointed at the painting.
“This is absolutely breathtaking,” she whispered with her hands clasped together. “Is she showing in a gallery somewhere?”
“No. She doesn’t want to. Grandma, she has a good twenty or thirty finished pieces, and all of them are of this caliber,” he answered without thought. Turning, he met his grandmother’s piercing stare.
“You sound like you’re quite taken with her.”
Terrence had no idea how to explain what he felt. The feelings were completely strange to him, a man who’d never allowed his emotions anywhere near a woman.
“Well?”
“Something like that, I guess.”
“Oh, goodie. Does this mean—?”
He cut her off quickly. “No, Grandma. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Hmm. So what’s her name and where did you meet her?”
“Her name is Janae Simms, and I met her...at the concert in San Francisco.”
“Really? You don’t usually hang out with the groupie crowd.”
“Believe me, Grandma. She’s not a groupie. Janae’s a really nice young lady.”
“Must be, to give you these kinds of gifts. Well, I’m going. I figure you want to call your young lady to thank her.”
“I do. Good night.” They embraced. “Tell Grandpa good-night.”
He followed her back downstairs and waited until she’d gone through the breezeway before sitting at the table. His gaze strayed to the painting again and lingered over every detail.
The fact that Janae had given him a second painting worth several hundred dollars without asking anything in return blew him away. It also dented the armor he’d worn around his heart for most of his life. To protect his heart, he needed to put some distance between them. But he couldn’t resist her. Hadn’t been able to since the first time he laid eyes on her.
Terrence held the phone in his hand for several minutes before making the call.
Chapter 9
Janae held the phone away from her ear, rolled her eyes, then placed it back. “You guys do realize that I’m an adult now, and I’m entitled to my own life.” All three of her brothers had decided to do a conference call. “Devin, you really didn’t need to call Erik and Justin.”
“Well, if you were more forthcoming with information, I wouldn’t have had to,” Devin replied.
“Yeah,” Erik added. “You can’t even tell us his last name.”
“I don’t ask you guys the names of the women you date and what you do with them,” she huffed. “Justin, can you control your brothers?” Justin was the oldest and lived with his wife and baby daughter in neighboring Nevada.
Justin chuckled. “All right, guys. Go easy on your sister. How long have you known the guy, Jan?”
“His name is Terrence and only a couple of weeks. So it’s not like he’s ready to propose or anything. We’ve hung out a couple of times. It’s nothing serious. He’s a friend. Y’all need to back off.”
“He sounds like a nice person, so why are you guys so riled up?” Justin, as the oldest, had always been calmer, even more so since getting married.
“He said his name is Terrence, but I don’t think that’s his real name. He seems familiar, but I can’t seem to place him,” Devin said.
“If Jan tells us his last name, I can run him through the system to see if he’s legit,” Erik added.
“That’s exactly why I’m not telling you!” she yelled.
“Hey, hey.” Justin jumped in. “Calm down, Janae. Devin and Erik, you need to dial it back. As she pointed out, Jan is an adult now. Doesn’t seem like this guy has done anything wrong, so give him a chance. Okay?”
Devin and Erik grumbled.
“Okay?”
“Fine,” Erik said.
“Yeah, I’ll stay out...for now,” Devin emphasized.
“Thank you. Now tell your sister you love her.”
Justin chuckled at their grumbled responses before saying, “Now, Janae, this only holds if he doesn’t hurt you. If he does, all bets are off. Understood?”
“Yeah. Thanks, Justin. Hold on, guys, I have another call.” She clicked over. “Hello?”
“Hey, Janae. It’s Terrence.”
“Hi. Hold on, Terrence. Let me get my brothers off the phone.” She went back to the other line. “Guys, I need to take this call. I love you all.”
