Page 51 of From Grumpy to Forever
Grayson shook his head and turned to walk away. “Let’s take a water break. I didn’t sign up for a workout this morning.”
Reluctantly, I followed him into the air conditioning of the shop. “Why are you loading? Don’t you have employees for this?”
He tossed me a bottle of water and popped the top on his own before answering. “It’s the middle of the week. Most of my employees are still in school. Besides, I thought you might want to talk.” He gave me a look before tipping the bottle to his lips.
Talk? Fuck that. I wanted to fight. Just not with Grayson.
“Nope. Nothing to talk about.” I knew my brother. Just as well as he knew me. Which was why I knew it was fucking killing him not to ask all the questions that were no doubt on the tip of his tongue.
I also knew he wouldn’t say a damn thing until I gave him an opening.
Which was exactly why I took my water bottle and walked to the other end of the shop, where he kept the few cuts of specialty hardwoods that he brought in. A nice piece of oak caught my eye. I ran my hand over the smooth surface and immediately I knew exactly what I’d do with such a piece.
“Add this to my tab, Gray.”
“Which one? They’re both growing.” My brother shook his head, but he didn’t say no.
“Mine.” I rejoined him where he lounged in the shade. “And what do you mean, they’re both growing?” I had a tab with the shop, but I paid it regularly.
“Avery’s bill is getting bigger every day, man.” He tipped his bottle to his lips and finished it before crunching the plastic and tossing it into a recycling bin. “I’d be worried if it was anyone else. But…”
“She’s my wife.”
“She’s your wife,” he repeated, but I didn’t miss the question in his voice. “I am going to have to close it out at the end of the month, though. She said something about a payment from the estate coming in…”
He was obviously waiting for some kind of reassurance, so I swallowed my mouthful of water and pretended I knew what the hell he was talking about. “Right. That’s coming in as soon as everything is settled with the lawyers.”
Fucking Jacob.
This whole thing with her cousin wasn’t just holding up the ownership of the inn—it was also interfering with the finances. Shit. It wasn’t something I’d considered.
The asshole was putting everything in jeopardy. What I didn’t know, however—and was going to ask her about as soon as I got the chance—was why she hadn’t told me that so much of the project was financed on credit.
Which meant…if Jacob was successful in holding things up too much longer, Grayson was going to have to collect on the bill and…fuck.
Worse, if he was successful in proving that—no. I refused to let myself think anything of the sort. That wasn’t going to happen. Because Avery and I were—well, I still didn’t know what the fuck we were. But what I did know was that whatever it was, it was real.
There was nothing fake about?—
“Reid!” My brother clapped his hands in front of my face. “Did you hear anything I just said?”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Of course. You said you needed to collect on the?—”
“No. I was talking about the Sprout n’ Shout. Tilley Beckett was in here earlier with a poster advertising it. Looks like it’s some kind of festival focused around flowers, where people bring in plants and seeds and you can take what you...whatever. You guys are going to be there, right? It’ll be a good opportunity to grab some new perennials for the inn and maybe clear out some?—”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I’d made my best effort, but I had no fucking idea what my brother was going on about. “Plant, what? Perennials for the inn? Respectfully, what the hell are you talking about, Gray?”
My brother was a patient man, but I could see I’d just about exhausted whatever reserves he might have. “You and Avery. We’ll see you there, right? It’ll be a good time to?—”
“Right. Grab some plants for the inn and fill out the gardens,” I finished for him, my brain finally catching up with the conversation. “I was listening.”
I didn’t miss the way he rolled his eyes. It would also be a good time for the two of us to put in another public appearance and hopefully shut Jacob up once and for all.
“Tilley mentioned that you and that beautiful wife of yours are the talk of the town.”
Fuck. Of course we were.
Maybe not the whole town. But there was no doubt our names were on Tilley Beckett’s tongue, that was for sure. In a way, I sort of brought it on myself by practically proposing in front of her, but that couldn’t be helped now. “Well, maybe we should skip this thing then. I don’t know if I need to subject Avery to any more public scrutiny.”
