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Elouise believed in how the arts helped support students in learning and the enjoyment it brought to lovers of art. While she was living, Grant and Allie participated in every art related program during the school year and in the summer months. Three years ago, they decided to fund projects outside Dawson Falls and hosted a benefit gala each year to showcase how the grant benefited the community. His grandmother would be hurt if she knew grant funding for arts programs had been cut for no reason other than his father just stopped.
Grant began looking into the grant rejection letters that Aubree received on several occasions from the New Horizon Dream committee. Based on two of the applications submitted she did not meet the criteria, but the last three applications she had help from other people— one being Allie. The criteria was met, but she still received a rejection letter from the committee which didn’t make sense. Grant pulled the files from other individuals or organizations that received rejection letters and the pattern was the same. By the second or third attempt they had qualified but were rejected. Grant requested the grant financial records to review disbursement of funds and the organizations that were approved for funding. Something wasn’t right with the committee’s approval system, or someone was trying to cover up something.
Allie and Grant were no longer members of the committee because they trusted the eleven-member group handpicked by the family. He couldn’t imagine committee members purposefully not awarding funding to projects that could benefit the community. After reviewing two years’ worth of financial documents, he couldn’t find discrepancies in the financial records, so he tried to access the online financial reports from previous years but without success. Only a few people could access the financial reports for New Horizon, but for him not to have access was a huge problem. Grant placed calls to Jonathan in the IT department to help him, Allie to make sure she could access the financial records, and asked his secretary to talk with Bill Roberts, the secretary for New Horizon Dream’s financial reports. Someone was going through a lot of trouble to make sure he couldn’t access information on New Horizon, but the one person that could help was his best friend, Roland Clarke. If Grant Sr., had done anything questionable, he would have hell to pay.
After a long day of research and meetings, Grant decided to call it a day and head home. On the drive home Grant reflected over how far his relationship with Aubree had come and hoped he wasn’t making a mistake. Her strange behavior the other night let him know that there was more going on than she told him. One of the main reasons he knew something was off was because the main square district had an elite security team and system so there was no way a car could be vandalized with no witnesses nor available security footage. The other reason was the amount Chris stated to repair the damages done to her car. There was no way in hell Chris was charging $4,700.00 for a busted windshield, flat tire, and light frame damage. The price he quoted was more like ‘you cheated on me, so I busted the windows out your car, flattened your tires, and tore your shit up out the frame’. He wanted to believe that Aubree would trust him enough to tell him what really happened. Their relationship couldn’t grow if it was nurtured with toxic elements, lies, and mistrust.
Every woman that entered his life, his mother compared it to his relationship with Mariah. In the beginning, Mariah said she wanted the same things as Grant; marriage, children, grow the family business, but it was all a lie. Wealth, power, influence, and high society were the only things Mariah cared about, and it was too late for Grant to walk away when he learned she didn’t want the same things. He was willing to make it work because a life had been created, and she deserved the best of them. However, a six-figure check and a new wealthy businessman got Mariah out of his life before Chanel was a month old. She left her daughter for the next big cash payout, to sail the Rivera and no responsibilities other than fucking and sleeping.
There was no way to compare Mariah and Aubree; it would be like comparing a dark soul to the light. Aubree brought light into Chanel and his life and their house and made it feel like a home. She enjoyed spending time with Chanel and teaching her all the things a mother should teach a daughter. He felt things with Aubree that he didn’t feel for Mariah, Celeste, nor any other woman. Aubree had a dream she was working toward and was trying to do everything she could to accomplish her dream. He could not deny that she had some difficult times before coming to work for him, but she found a way to push through. Having her in their life was an added bonus that he wanted to keep for a long time.
Ever since the night of the vandalism, Grant had noticed that Aubree seemed preoccupied with something. She said it was stress from the preparations for the Fall Dance Festival, but Grant believed that it was something or someone else. Aubree mentioned her grandmother never approved of her working for Grant and knew they were more than employer-employee. They had an argument about the budding relationship which caused her Grandma Margrett to put her out. If that was a stressor for her, he wanted to ease her worries as well as her grandmother’s worries, too. This relationship was not just a fling for Grant but much more that he hoped to build a future with Aubree. The alternative would be to think there was someone else, and he would not allow himself to think that Aubree would be involved with someone. Grant decided to call Margrett Rogers and extend an invitation for dinner and hoped all would work itself out in the end. The phone picked up on the second ring.
“Hello,” Margrett answered with a smile in her voice.
“Good evening, I am trying to reach Mrs. Margrett Rogers. Is she available?” Grant asked.
“It depends on who’s asking. Now who’s asking?” The smile faded quickly from her voice based on the snap attitude he just received.
Grant braced himself. “You don’t know me, but my name is Grant Hollings and…”
“I know who you are! You the one that’s playin’ with by baby acting like you want more with her, but you don’t. What is it that these you people say? You a fuck boy. That’s it, you a fuck boy!” Margrett had him by the neck with her comments.
“May, don’t talk to that boy like that. You know Aubree love that boy and would be hurt if you broke them up. You already done put her out, now you gon’ drive her out of town,” a man in the background fussed. Grant was so glad to have an ally, but he didn’t know how many more boys he could be.
“Mrs. Rogers, I’m calling because I would like to invite you to have dinner with Aubree and me on Sunday. We would love to have you and… uhm… your friend.”
“No, I know you lyin’ because Aubree hasn’t called me!” Margrett yelled.
“Damn May, you put her out and wantherto call you? Now that makes as much sense as mac and cheese chitlin’. You stubborn as ole Pearl. Accept the man invitation, May. Damn.”
“Cyrus shut the hell up! I’m not going to that fancy ass house eating no fancy ass food. If we having dinner, we are having dinner here.”
Grant sighed, “Okay, so we will come to your house for dinner Sunday. What time should we be there and what do we need to bring?” Grant wasn’t so sure about this idea he had. He probably should have run it by Aubree first.
“Be here at two o’clock and don’t bring shit. I’m not eating anything that I didn’t buy from Scott’s. Bring your daughter she is invited too.”
“Well, I guess we will see you and your friend Sunday.”
“Yeah, Sunday. You and I need to get an understanding. Don’t be late! Bye.” Grant was still holding the phone when he heard the dial tone in his ear. He knew Aubree and her grandmother had an argument, but he didn’t know her grandmother had put her out because of their relationship. If Aubree hadn’t been staying with him, she would be homeless. He never wanted her to be without because she chose to love him. That’s not the type of love their relationship would be built upon.
Later that night as Grant, Aubree, and Chanel laid on the couch watching a movie, Grant told her about the phone conversation with Grandma Margrett. He explained how the dinner was now at her grandmother’s house instead of his and gave specific instruction on time.
Aubree rolled her eyes. “If you had asked me first, I would have told you she was going to say no to having dinner here. Grandma Margrett has a thing about being in rich folks’ houses eating their food and enjoying their stuff. She refuses to drive on the upper east side of Dawson Falls and won’t give me the why behind this story. Her experience is the reason she is so against my relationship with you. Maybe she will share her story one day so I can understand.”
Aubree wished she would share what happened with her and the wealthy side of Dawson Falls. Since she was a little girl, it was drilled in her not to engage with the rich folks, but it wasn’t a way to truly avoid them. If Aubree had avoided wealthy people, Nova wouldn’t be one of her best friends. This dinner was necessary for Grandam Margrett to see Aubree’s relationship with Grant was real.
“Baby, everything is going to work out. No matter what happens you and I will still be together. I’m not giving you up over someone else’s insecurities.” Grant leaned over to kiss her on the lips. He knew he was the cause for the strain that had been placed on Aubree and Margrett’s relationship, so it was time for him to do his part and fix it.
On Sunday, Grant, Aubree, and Chanel were in the car headed to Margrett’s at 12:30 PM so they could make it before dinner time at 2:00 PM. He did not want to get on her bad side by being late to dinner. Even though he was already on her bad side he didn’t want to make it worse. Margrett and Aubree had not spoken to each other since the last time they had dinner which resulted in Aubree getting the taste slapped out of her mouth for being smart mouthed. Grant nor Aubree knew what to expect with the dinner, but at least Margrett would know they were together for the long haul.
As they drove through the southside neighborhood, Grant noticed Aubree’s leg bouncing and her looking up and down the street as they drove down the main street like she was looking for someone. The uneasiness she displayed almost made him think it was all about seeing her grandmother after their long absence, but the nagging feeling he had in the pit of his stomach told him this nervousness was about something deeper. He followed the directions of the navigation system until they reached Aubree’s childhood home. Before they could exit the car Margrett and a man stood on the porch waiting for them at the door.
“Babe, I know we are here, but if you don’t want to go through with this let me know now and we will get out of here,” Grant said. He meant every word. It didn’t matter who the person was; Grant wasn’t going to allow anyone to mistreat Aubree—family or not.
“No, I’ll be fine. Let’s just get this over with so we can go home. Like you said we are in this for the long haul, so I need for my grandma to understand your and Chanel’s place in my life.” Leaning over the console, Aubree kissed Grant on the lips before he got out of the Range Rover.
“You ready to go, sweet pea?” Aubree asked as Chanel gathered her small backpack. Wherever Chanel went she carried her tablet and trusty backpack. A person would think she was the black version of Dora.
