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Four
“So you’d really go?” Even as he asked the question, Paul recognized exposing her would throw his whole family into chaos. “If I convinced Ethan that you should?”
“Yes.” She cocked her head and studied him. “Frankly I’m surprised you haven’t done so already.”
“He’s not taking my calls.”
Paul gripped the steering wheel and contemplated Lia’s declaration. Would she really leave the decision up to him and Ethan or would she act behind the scenes to win Ethan to her side?
“So you don’t know.”
“Don’t know what?” Paul asked, wondering what else had gone wrong in his absence.
“How this whole situation came about.”
Paul glanced her way. “And how’s that?”
“Ethan put me in a position where the only choices I had were to go along and pretend to be Grady’s granddaughter or tell the truth and risk that he might not recover from the blow.”
Although he wasn’t surprised that she’d blame the whole situation on Ethan, Paul asked, “Why don’t you tell me what happened.”
“Ethan set me up. I thought I was visiting Grady as myself. Instead as I stood beside his bed and held his hand, both he and Ethan ambushed me with this whole thing about being Ava’s daughter.”
“So you’re blaming my grandfather for this situation, as well?”
“No. Yes. Sort of. Ethan told me Grady came up with the idea on his own.”
“You didn’t mention that Grady might be inspired to improve if his granddaughter miraculously appeared?”
Lia’s mouth dropped open. “To what end?”
“The Wattses are a wealthy, old Charleston family. We wield both power and influence in this town. You might’ve liked the idea of being a part of that.”
“Hardly,” she sniffed. “In fact, it sounds stressful and intimidating. Not to mention having the threat of a simple DNA test hanging over my head all the time.”
“Yet here you are.” Distracted by their conversation, Paul almost missed the turnoff to Sullivan’s Island. “And here I am. Damn it. I hate having to lie to everyone in my family, but most of all to Grady.”
“I feel the same way. Your mom and aunt have been welcoming. And your cousins are really nice. It’s horrible that I can’t be truthful, but then I see how happy Grady is and watch him get a little better every day, and I think the whole messed-up situation might work out okay.”
Paul refused to be persuaded by her feel-good justification. “I’m sure this is the logic you and Ethan have used to justify what you’ve done, but lying is wrong.”
“A lot of the time it is, but not always. What about lying to protect someone’s feelings? As long as the lie isn’t malicious it doesn’t do any harm.”
It all sounded like a bunch of excuses to Paul, but he’d invited her on this trip to his house to gain insight into her and this conversation was teaching him a lot. “So you don’t believe the truth can set you free?”
“Not always. Sometimes it can be painful.”
“That doesn’t justify lying.”
Lia shrugged. “We will just have to agree to disagree.”
Paul glanced her way and saw that she was staring out the passenger window at the passing landscape. Despite their opposing opinions, he couldn’t shake his fascination with her.
“I guess we will.”
An unrelenting silence fell between them that didn’t break even as Paul turned the SUV into his driveway and stopped before his house. Switching off the engine, he glanced her way. Lia radiated disappointment and hurt, but Paul refused to be drawn in. Despite her positive effect on Grady, Paul couldn’t shake the notion that Lia Marsh was going to cause trouble for his family.
She was working an angle. He just needed to figure out what it was.
