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Grant considered it but shook his head. As much as he liked that idea, he couldn’t get his arm wet and making love to her in the shower required a certain athleticism that he was lacking until he fully healed up. “You’ll be late for work,” he said. “And I’ve already promised you breakfast, so I’ll let you go it alone.”
With a smile, Pepper got up and went down the hall to the bathroom. Grant pulled his clothes together and waited for her in the living room. About a half hour later, they were both dressed and in Pepper’s car on their way to Ellen’s Diner.
They chose a booth, both of them savoring the diner’s strong black coffee while they waited for their omelets and pancakes. When their food came, Grant tried to focus on that instead of the wariness in Pepper’s eyes. She’d sat facing the door and kept watching out the front window for something or someone.
Was her family still giving her grief about dating him? He understood better why her mother was so concerned about the two of them, but he didn’t know how to prove to Miss Kate that he wasn’t his father. It seemed like Pepper was worried that she would run into one of them when she was with him. Before he could say anything, she would look at him and smile, all the worries fading away for a moment. He didn’t know what to think.
He let them finish eating before he worked up the nerve to ask her about it. He’d prefer to have this conversation over strong drinks instead of strong coffee, but he didn’t want to put this off any longer. “Are you okay?”
Pepper chewed her last bite and set down her fork on the mostly empty plate. “Of course I am.”
Grant’s brow drew together, his lips tightening. “There’s something wrong. You seem . . . tense. Wary. Tell me what’s going on. Please.”
“We’ve discussed this.” She glanced down at her phone.
“I know. But the issue doesn’t seem to be getting better. It’s getting worse. You’re anxious and sad. I hate seeing you this way, and I hate that I can’t help you because you keep shutting me out.”
“I need to get to the salon,” she said, pushing up from the table.
Grant sighed and put money on the table for Ruth. He followed Pepper to the front door, each footstep harder than the last as dread pooled in his stomach. This just wasn’t going to work. This secret was making her miserable and he couldn’t just sit around and watch it eat away at her. They paused on the sidewalk outside of the diner. He had intended to walk to his loft from here when they parted ways. But his intention shifted to finishing this discussion now that they were away from the prying eyes and ears of the diner patrons.
Before he could say anything, he noticed Pepper was once again looking over his shoulder at something.
When Grant turned, he saw Logan coming down the sidewalk toward the diner. Logan froze in his tracks when he saw them, his smile fading as he looked from Pepper to Grant.
In an instant, the muscles in his neck visibly tensed.
Grant looked back at Pepper and saw the same reaction. She was strung as tight as a drum, looking at her brother with an expression that pleaded but bordered on terror. What the hell was going on?
“Morning, Logan,” Pepper managed with a feeble smile.
Logan slowly closed the gap between them, his jaw hard as a rock as he clenched his teeth. Grant had hoped that over time, her brother and the rest of her family would come to accept him, but the opposite seemed to have happened. He looked even angrier than he had when he saw Grant at Pepper’s house.
His heated gaze flicked over Grant, then focused on his sister. “I don’t understand you, Pepper.”
“Not here, Logan.”
“Yes, here,” he snapped. “This is more than you being stupid about who you date. Everything has changed. How can you continue to see him when you know the truth?”
“It’s got nothing to do with him,” Pepper argued. “We’ve been through this. My personal relationships have nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me because you’re my sister. And he’s . . .” Logan turned back to Grant, his face red with anger. “He’s who he is,” he finished. “Why don’t you just punch me in the face? It’s the same kind of betrayal.”
“Betrayal?” Pepper visibly flinched at her brother’s harsh words. “Don’t you think that’s a little much, Logan?”
“Not at all. Put yourself in my shoes, Pepper. How would you feel?”
Pepper sighed. “I know it’s hard,” she said, reaching out for her brother, but he pulled away. “Dad doesn’t want us fighting about this. He told you all those things to put an end to the fighting, not to make it worse.”
Grant didn’t know what “all those things” were, but it didn’t sound good. It made him wonder if whatever they were alluding to was the secret bothering Pepper. No matter what they were talking about, though, it didn’t call for Logan to take such a hard tone with Pepper. She didn’t deserve that.
“Well, that’s too bad,” Logan snapped with a bitter tone in his voice. “I’m not out to upset Dad, but I’m also not out to make other people happy. For years, people have been deciding what’s best for me, but not anymore.”
“Logan, you know that we—”
“Just forget it. Forget it,” Logan interrupted, holding his hands up. He looked over Grant again with visible distaste wrinkling his nose. He shook his head and looked back at Pepper. “Call me when you two break up—and you will. I really don’t want to see or talk to you until then.” Logan spun on his heel and marched around the corner of the diner.
Pepper started after her brother and then she stopped. With a heavy sigh, her shoulders collapsed and she dropped her face into her hands.
