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“I’ve been unkind to Pepper in the past. I know that the two of you have gotten pretty serious and I wanted to apologize for things I’ve said about her. I don’t want that to become a problem between the two of us if you and she stay together.”
That sounded nice, but he knew his sister too well. “Does that mean you’re really going to be kind to her or are you just not going to say aloud the nasty things you’re thinking about her?”
Maddie’s mouth dropped open, at a loss for words. “I-I’m . . .” she stuttered. “I’m going to be nice to her in thought and deed. I promise.”
“And what about the rest of her family?”
Maddie sighed. “Yes, okay. I will not say anything bad about her or her family. I’m going to try to be more open-minded to people in town.”
“And you’re going to apologize to Pepper personally,” he added. “Apologizing to me doesn’t mean much.”
Maddie flung the brown waves of her hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms over her chest. “This isn’t blackmail, Grant. Stop negotiating what I’m going to do.”
He shook his head. “You can say whatever you want to me and it doesn’t make a difference. It’s not just what you say about Pepper that bothers me, Maddie. It’s your whole attitude about people and how you think you’re better than everyone else. You think Blake appreciates the things you’ve said about Ivy in the past? She’s a big star now, but the way you treated her in school wasn’t cool. They’re getting married, so I can assure you he remembers your cruel taunts with Lydia Whittaker at your side. And so do I.
“Right now Pepper and I are just dating, but I want more. Who knows? She might be your sister-in-law someday, just like Ivy. If you’re really worried about things coming between all of us, you need to take a serious look at how you treat everyone, not just the people you feel are good enough. If you’re going to open your own business in Rosewood, you can’t alienate any potential customers with your attitude. And making that happen is going to take a hell of a lot more than a Bundt cake and an apology to me.”
“You mean it was Jeanette the whole time?” Their mother, Kate, looked aghast to hear the news as she sat across the dinner table.
Logan knew how she felt. This had been one crazy day, but in the end, he was pretty pleased with how everything had turned out.
“Yep. She was looking in all the windows of single women in town hoping to catch her cheating husband. All she got was a stiff fine and community service.” Logan was able to negotiate a deal for submittal to the judge. Jeanette would provide a full written confession, detailing all the houses she watched and why. She wouldn’t serve any jail time or receive a sex offender designation, but she had to pay a forty-five-hundred-dollar fine—three hundred for each incident—and serve fifteen days of community service. When she went to court, the judge would hear her statement and decide where Jeanette would serve.
It turned out that Pat had saved exactly forty-six hundred dollars for their trip, so after they paid the fine in court, they would have a hundred dollars left for a nice anniversary dinner. Considering everything that happened, that was a satisfying ending for everyone involved.
“That’s just awful,” Pepper noted. “None of that needed to happen.”
“You’re right,” Logan agreed. “I never realized until today just how much a secret can undermine a happy family. Even well-meaning secrets. I’m sure Pat never dreamed that Jeanette would go to such lengths to find out what he was hiding from her. Twenty-five years together and they can’t trust each other. Pretty sad.”
He watched as the expression on Pepper’s face changed. She suddenly looked a little pained. Before he could ask about it, her eyes met his and the look faded away.
“Well, congratulations on your first criminal case in Rosewood!” Pepper lifted her glass of sweet tea. “Hopefully you made enough off the whole ordeal to pay your light bill.”
Logan smiled and accepted their praise, but in truth, he didn’t have the heart to charge the Kincaids for his services. He hadn’t really done much. The publicity from the case would hopefully bring in more clients and he needed that more than he needed a couple hundred dollars from them.
“It’s been quite the eventful week,” Vince pointed out. “They had that warehouse fire, the peeper was caught, and one of the Chamberlain boys set himself on fire.”
“He’s a fireman, Daddy,” Pepper corrected. “He didn’t set himself on fire, a car blew up.”
“I’m assuming he’s all right,” Kate said with a flat tone.
Logan didn’t like the Chamberlains any more than their mother did, but even that sounded a little harsh. He felt really awful about Grant’s accident. He couldn’t even imagine the pain of catching on fire. Just because he didn’t care for that family didn’t mean he wished them ill. Mama might feel otherwise.
He’d gotten an earful from her when she found out he knew about Pepper and Grant and didn’t say anything. He’d gotten yelled at for nosing into his sister’s romance and yelled at for minding his own business. He couldn’t win.
“He’ll be fine,” Pepper answered. “I’m taking good care of him. His arm is healing nicely.”
Kate frowned over her mashed potatoes. “I still don’t like you spending time with him, Pepper.” Pepper didn’t even bother to suppress her irritation as she spoke.
“We’ve been over this, Mama. Anyway, we’re here to celebrate Logan’s case, not to rehash m
y sex life.”
“I just think that—”
“Let it go, Kate,” their father said with a resigned sigh. “Pepper is a beautiful, intelligent, and grown woman who can make her own decisions. I happen to think Grant is a fine boy.”
“Vince . . .” Kate warned, but Vince seemed unaffected by it.
