Page 52 of From Grumpy to Forever
Grayson shook his head and scratched at his chin. I could tell he was working hard to keep an opinion to himself.
“What?”
“I didn’t say a word.” He raised his eyebrows.
“You didn’t have to.”
“You want to know what I think?”
“No,” I answered honestly. “I really don’t. But I also don’t think you’re going to be able to keep it to yourself. So go ahead.”
Grayson frowned and shook his head. But after a moment, he started talking, just like I knew he would. “I think that’s exactly why you should both be there.”
“To expose Avery to more scrutiny?”
“Yes.”
My fingers twitched. If he wasn’t my twin—and he didn’t have a good point—I’d knock him out right now.
Reading my mind, he chuckled. “I’m not going to pretend to know what exactly you’re up to, Reid. But I know you well enough to know it’s something. And no.” He held up a hand. “I’m not asking you to come clean. I figure if you’re going to these lengths to keep it quiet, it’s important. So, I’m not going to ask. But I will give you my opinion. Whether you want it or not. And that opinion is that if you want people to think you’re the happily married couple that you obviously are”—a growl rumbled inside me, but again, he held up his hand and continued—“people need to see it for themselves,” he finished.
“We were just at the wedding.”
“You were.” He nodded. “And everyone is talking about it. Now’s the perfect time to keep them talking. In a good way. Hiding out in the inn, no matter how much you might prefer it, is not going to satisfy anyone’s curiosity. And like it or not, brother, the entire town is watching you.”
I let his words sink in for a moment. Reality set in as I blew out the breath I’d been holding. “Fuck.”
“Exactly.” Grayson didn’t bother hiding his grin as he shook his head. “So I guess we’ll see you there?”
I growled in his direction, grabbed my paperwork, and headed to the shop for a few hours of quiet. Maybe if I was alone, I’d be able to think this through.
There was something Avery wasn’t telling me. And if she was working herself into a mountain of debt, it was crucial that we make the ownership of the inn official as soon as possible. I wasn’t going to let her lose the inn. No matter what.
Even if it meant losing her.
The thought hit me like a truck as I drove away.
We were only married in name. And only so Avery could secure her inheritance. There was no other reason.
No matter what I was starting to feel.
Which meant, when her inheritance was official, there was no reason for us to continue the farce of our marriage.
And I’d lose her.
Just when I’d found her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Avery
Every muscle in my body ached. Even muscles I didn’t know I had. What was it about gardening—or, more specifically, wrestling with weeds the size of small trees—that was so exhausting?
I let the hot water spill over my head and streak down my body in rivulets, washing the dirt and grime as well as the stress of the day down the drain.
It wasn’t just a day spent in the hot sun trying to tame the garden that had drained me, and I knew it. The confrontation with Jacob had taken more out of me than I’d realized. Or maybe it was the reality of what that conversation had meant. I knew he was right. I wasn’t going to let him have the inn. No matter what. But would I really let everything my grandparents loved so much be destroyed rather than let him have it?
The question had plagued me all day. Did I even deserve to have the inn if that was true?
