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“So it wasn’t just me then,” he murmured.
“I’m trying to find a way to let him down gently,” she admitted, saying out loud what she’d been ruminating on earlier. “It’s trickier when everybody knows everybody.”
“Right?” He was smiling now, and she liked that so much. She didn’t want to go outside. She wanted to slip into the chair beside him and talk. Wanted to hear him laugh again.
Wanted to kiss him.
But neither of them needed World War Three to erupt in the Hartson family.
“I guess I’ll see you around,” she said softly, heading for the door.
“I guess you will.”
She stepped outside, reaching back to pull the door closed behind her, when she heard his voice once more.
“Grace?”
“Yeah?”
“Some guys can’t be let down gently. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.”
ChapterEight
It had been a long week.Michael had taken his mom back and forth from the hospital most days, and he’d hated seeing her so exhausted as they pulled into the driveway when they got home. He’d spent every evening working, making up for the time when they were on the road. Thankfully, he’d enjoyed being busy.
Made him think less about the mess he’d made of his life.
Even though she was tired from her treatment, his mom had still insisted that they go toChairsfor an hour that night. And since she didn’t need to be at the hospital over the weekend, he’d agreed – he could spend the next two days catching up on emails and be ready for his staff to be back in the office on Monday.
It wasn’t perfect, but it would do.
Grace hadn’t been atChairs. And maybe that was a good thing. Michael spent an hour sitting with his mom and Cam and their friends before she got tired enough that she wanted to go home, and despite her protestations that he should stay, he was relieved to have an excuse to leave.
Cam and his mom had gone up to bed, and Mason had gone out with his friends to a bar. Michael had agreed to pick up Sabrina from a party she’d gone to at her friend’s house.
Though he hadn’t heard from his baby sister all night.
“Don’t let her fool you into letting her stay late,” his mom had warned as she’d walked up the stairs. “She needs to be home by midnight.”
He didn’t bother to point out that nobody knew what time she got home when she was away at college. Nor that he’d stayed out way later at her age – and gotten into so much more trouble than Sabrina ever would.Hopefully.
Just after midnight he sent his sister a text because he didn’t want his mom to wake up and not find her there. He waited five minutes and there was no reply.
Which was fine. Right? What self-respecting college student would be constantly checking her phone at a party?
When ten more minutes passed, he brought Sabrina’s number up and pressed the call button, rubbing his hand over his face as he waited for it to connect. In another half an hour he’d be in bed, sleeping, he hoped, though the jetlag hadn’t seemed to let go of him completely. Or maybe the sleepless nights were down to worry. About his mom. His staff. The stupid mistake he’d made sleeping with Grace.
“Hello?” That wasn’t Sabrina. He checked the screen to make sure he’d called the right contact.
“Is Sabrina there?”
“Who’s calling?”
Jesus, did she have a receptionist now? “Her brother,” he said gruffly.
There was a pause. And he was trying not to get annoyed because Sabrina was an adult and she was entitled to have some fun.
“I’m afraid she’s not available right now,” the girl said, and his annoyance took root.
