“Damn, girl. When you come to play, you play hard,” Rosie said.
“I don’t think my hammer hand works anymore,” Shane said, his head back against the couch, eyes closed.
“Not something to brag about, dude,” Josh said, making them all laugh.
Grace was the best kind of exhausted. Noah texted to say he’dbe home late tomorrow night. He didn’t tell her how things went or were going but she thought that was probably something he’d want to update her on in person.
“He’s going to love this room,” Grace said.
Rosie’s gaze traveled around the room. “If he doesn’t, Josh and I will come over and hang out in here.”
“I can’t thank you guys enough.”
“Two of us are getting paid, so that’s a pretty good thank-you,” Shane said.
Grace’s laugh ended in a snort, which made the rest of them laugh harder.
“Okay, baby. We need to sleep here or get going,” Josh said, getting up off the couch, holding a hand out to Rosie.
Rosie groaned. “Sleep here? There’s literally guest rooms.”
“I’m positive Noah wouldn’t mind,” Grace said.
“I was teasing. We’ve got our own bed,” Josh said, looking at Rosie with adoration.
Grace walked the three of them to the door, locking up behind them so she could head to her own house. She said goodbye on her porch, let herself into her home, and got ready for bed. The heaviness in her limbs felt well earned.
She’d been home only ten minutes when the knock came. Hurrying to the door, that addicted hitch in her chest, she told herself it wasn’t Noah. One of her friends likely forgot something at Noah’s.
When she swung open the door, her smile dropped along with her stomach.
Her mother stood on her doorstep, the moonlight casting a glow around her ragged appearance.
“There’s my girl,” Tammy Travis said, stepping into the house without invitation. “Exactly where I thought I’d find you.”
Grace’s shock swallowed her words. Her mother’s dark hair was brushed but thinning. There were traces of the beautiful woman she’d once been, but her eyes held the same callous coolthat Grace remembered from her childhood. She had the look of someone who took too many hard knocks in life and expected nothing less. Nothing good.
“What are you doing here?”
Tammy’s smile was forced. “That answers my question of whether or not you read my letters. I told you I was coming. I’m here to see my darling daughter. And, because this house belongs to me.”
42
Noah let himself into his house, tossed his carry-on to the floor, and went straight for the stairs. He’d taken an earlier flight because he needed to get out of New York. Across the country didn’t seem like far enough away from his father.
He’d wanted to go straight to Grace’s, but it was three in the morning and she didn’t need the mood he was in no matter how much he wanted to see her face, touch her, kiss her, forget about anything else in the world.
As he wearily dragged himself from one stair to the next, he thought about everything his father had spewed at him. He bypassed the bed, heading straight for the shower. Under the hot spray of water, his muscles loosened even though his anger still simmered.
He turned off the shower, feeling cleaner inside and out. He’d cut ties. Screw the warehouses. Screw the financial losses. Noah wanted more than money in his life. He wanted happiness. He’d called both of his brothers on the way home. Things were going to be okay.
As he dragged himself to bed, he stopped short when he heardthe gentle sounds of breathing. His own breath hitched. Was he dreaming?
“Grace?” he said into the darkness.
The sheets rustled and his heart soared. He no longer felt the urge to stop it.
“Noah?” Her voice was sleepy.
