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All the other women flowed past him, greeting their bachelors with hugs and muted laughter. Then there was Pepper.
She was the last of the women, and nowhere near the most enthusiastic. Her face was far from the peachy tone that inspired the rose; it was red, blotchy, and tear-streaked. There was also a large dark stain down the front of her sweater.
Grant frowned. This was not the reception he was expecting at all.
Pepper stopped at the table where he was standing and dropped her purse unceremoniously onto it. Without so much as greeting him, she started digging around inside her bag, finally pulling out her checkbook. He watched her hand tremble as she attempted to make out the large check, a tear falling onto the paper and smearing the date at the top.
That’s when it hit him. She didn’t want him. For some reason, she’d paid all that money for him, but she still didn’t want him. That didn’t make any sense.
“Pepper?” he said as she ripped the check from her checkbook.
She looked up at him for the first time. Her pink lips were pressed into a hard line and her jaw was tight like she was trying to keep something in.
“Thank you for bidding on me,” he said with a smile. “If I could’ve chosen any woman in Rosewood to spend Valentine’s Day with, it would be you.”
Pepper just glared at him and swallowed hard. Grant held out the rose to her and she accepted it reluctantly. She brought the rose to her nose and sniffed delicately. Instead of smiling, he could see the tears start welling in her eyes again.
“Have you ever been to Brio’s?” he asked, trying to shift the subject to something more pleasant.
“No.”
“It’s really nice. The food is amazing. I made reservations over a month ago because it’s so hard to get in there on Valentine’s Day.”
“Grant . . .” she started, then her voice faded out. “Valentine’s Day isn’t really my thing.”
That was a first. Grant had dated a lot of women in his time, and even if they claimed that Valentine’s Day wasn’t a big deal for them, it was usually a lie. He always took the holiday very seriously and it hadn’t steered him wrong yet.
“Well, we could do something different if you like. I am at your mercy. Whatever you want, I can make it happen.” She looked up at him, her dark eyes dry, but still red.
“Whatever I want, huh? You don’t happen to be a Sheetrock guy in your spare time, do you?”
Grant’s brow furrowed. “Sheetrock? Uh, no, I’m not. Why do you—”
Pepper turned on her heel and walked away before he could finish. She handed over her check to Gloria, got her receipt, and marched out of the room without another word to him or anyone else.
That’s when he realized what was going on. She’d told him last week that she was saving up to work on her house. For some reason, she’d just bid the majority of it on him and she wasn’t happy about it. That didn’t make any sense at all.
“Did you hear Grandma Dee tripped and dumped a whole glass of ice water in Pepper’s lap tonight?” Simon asked.
Grant closed his eyes, the final piece falling into place. The tears, the wet sweater, the Sheetrock . . . she hadn’t meant to bid on him. She’d had no intention, whatsoever, of laying out a penny for Grant, much less four hundred thousand of them.
This was his grandmother’s doing. Sure, she’d tripped, but he could feel in his bones that she was meddling. Grant would gladly accept any help to melt Pepper’s icy reception of him, but this wasn’t the right choice. Her house was so important to her. She needed that money to fix it up.
Without answering Simon, Grant whipped open the curtain and found his grandmother talking with a few people in the gymnasium. “Grandma Dee, may I have a moment, please?” She appraised him with an arched brow, then politely dismissed herself from the conversation. “Yes, Grant?”
“Did you do that to Pepper on purpose?”
“Do what to Pepper on purpose?” she asked.
“Did you dump water in her lap so she would bid on me tonight?”
Adelia sighed and considered her answer. She knew how big Grant was on being honest, so lying was pointless. Finally, she gave him a curt nod. “Yes, I did. She wasn’t going to bid on you otherwise.”
There wasn’t an ounce of shame on the older woman’s face. In her mind, she’d simply done what needed to be done.
“Grandma Dee, she couldn’t afford that. Four thousand dollars? That’s nearly everything she had saved to work on her house.”
She watched him for a moment and then sighed. “That’s unfortunate. If only there were a strong, handy man in her life who could help her work on the house. . .”
