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“We haven’t had a stabbing at Sunday dinner since Hazel got Simon for taking the last piece of cake,” Norman noted calmly. “Let’s not break our streak, shall we?”
“I was three!” Hazel protested from behind her square glasses.
“It didn’t hurt any less because you were three,” Simon grumbled. “I got seven stitches in my thigh from that.”
“Enough,” Norman said, his voice raised just over polite discussion levels. He rarely raised his voice, even in the courtroom. “Let’s talk about something else. Anything else.”
“I heard the peeper struck Gloria Everett Friday night,” Maddie offered, her gaze fixed on Grant with an apologetic smile. That was as close to an “I’m sorry” as he was going to get.
He’d take it.
“Gloria, the high school principal?”
“Yes, I overheard her when she was in the bakery yesterday to order a tray of croissants and muffins for the teacher-appreciation breakfast the seniors are hosting.”
The topic shift started the table buzzing and soon everyone was speculating on the creep’s identity and had forgotten all about Grant’s eyes. He let them talk, happy to eat his ham and roasted potatoes in peace at last. It wasn’t until he carried his dish into the kitchen when they were finished that his grandmother caught his attention and summoned him to her library.
She sat him down in the seat opposite her large mahogany desk. “What’s going on between you two? You and the Anthony girl?”
Grant sighed and slumped back in the chair. He wasn’t going to lie about what happened, especially not to his own grandmother. But he didn’t relish telling her the truth, either.
“We had a brief thing,” he said, being as vague as humanly possible.
“A one-night thing?” she asked, and he nodded.
“Holding a carving fork to your sister’s throat over an insult seems like a bit of an overreaction for a one-night stand.”
“It was just in my hand at the time,” he argued. “I could have just as easily threatened her with my spoon.”
His grandmother watched him over the top of her glasses. “Grant?” she prompted.
“She deserves better than the way Maddie treats her. The way a lot of people treat her. So what, she grew up poor? She’s done a lot for herself over the years. She’s worked hard, bought her own house. People just won’t let it go. Stupid small towns with small minds,” he lamented.
Adelia nodded slowly, although he was wondering how much more she was reading into his words than he was saying. “What is it about Pepper that makes her different from the other girls you’ve dated?”
That was a good question. He’d asked himself that a hundred times. Why did he want her so badly? Why was she the one woman he couldn’t get out of his head? He gave the only answer he could come up with. “She doesn’t want me,” he said. “Although I don’t know why that’s appealing.”
“You’re used to getting whatever you want without trying very much, especially when it comes to the ladies. You’re like your father that way. When he was young, all he had to do was smile and the girls would trip all over themselves like they do with you.”
He didn’t enjoy that comparison, but he knew it was true. The difference was that his father continued to charm the women long after he was married. Grant refused to commit so he wouldn’t be tempted to make the same mistake. You can’t cheat when there’s no one waiting for you at home to cheat on.
“I think you’ll find that sometimes,” his grandmother continued, “working hard for something makes it that much sweeter when you succeed.”
Grant had to admit the night they spent together was exceptionally sweet. At least up until he woke up alone. He’d never had a woman walk out on him like that. Of course, that was because he usually bailed first. Pepper had turned the tables on him that night and he liked it.
A lot.
“Pepper, can you fit in an emergency cut and color?”
Pepper sat aside her broom and looked at her appointment book to confirm. She nodded to Sarah. “Yeah. My two o’clock canceled, so I don’t have another client in until Colette comes in for her relaxant at four. Who is it?”
Sarah held the phone to her chest, a smirk twisting her lips. She reminded Pepper of Ivy when she did that. Adelia Chamberlain, she mouthed silently.
Pepper’s brow shot up in surprise. “She wants to get her hair done here?” As far as she knew, none of the Chamberlains had ever set foot in Curls before. Maddie went to Birmingham to the same salon her best friend Lydia Whittaker used. Neither of them cared for Pepper or Ivy, and the feeling was mutual, so coming to Curls was just like begging for Pepper to dish out some retribution for the years of hell they gave her in school.
Adelia and Helen usually went to a salon in Gadsden and had since before Curls opened.
/> Sarah nodded. It must really be an emergency if she was willing to darken their doorstop. Miss Adelia was rarely even seen in town anymore. Pepper had been planning to take a late lunch to fill the time, but she wasn’t about to turn down anyone’s money, even Chamberlain money.
