by Addison Fox
If her days were the height of productivity, her nights were the height of ecstasy. She and Mick hadn’t spent a night apart since the day she found him in the cemetery, and she knew every moment they spent together drew them closer and closer.
A big part of her had been fearful at first, but over the last couple of days she’d begun to relax. She wasn’t ready to give up life in New York, but she was in no rush to leave Indigo, either.
And why did she have to decide yet? Or choose?
The thought flitted through her mind as she double-checked a column of numbers and then jotted it down on a piece of scrap paper. A light knock on the open door pulled her from her task and she looked up to see Kate standing in the doorway. “Grier? Do you have a minute?”
“Of course.”
When Kate didn’t move from her spot in the doorway, Grier waved her in. “Don’t be afraid of the receipts. Just push them out of the way and grab a seat wherever.”
As if pulled out of a trance, Kate nodded and stepped into the room. She moved around the edge of the heavy leather chairs that ringed the table, choosing the one directly opposite from Grier’s.
Kate took her seat, the chair dwarfing her small frame. On a half smile, Grier leaned her head back and realized they must look like bookends. While they were by no means identical in their appearances, based on their different mothers, their physical size and shape were similar.
And then there were the eyes.
She’d yet to meet anyone who didn’t remark on the fact that they both had the same gray eyes as Jonas.
“Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure.”
The honest answer caught Grier up short. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
“I think I’m in love with Jason. And I had sex with him.”
“That’s fantastic.” The words were out before Grier even thought about them. Kate’s head shot up and a smile brightened her face before she spoke. “Really?”
“Ever since I saw the two of you sitting together in the lobby, something seemed to click. I think it’s a great idea.”
“It doesn’t upset you?”
“It did at first, but not for the reasons you think.”
Kate nodded as she picked up a lone rubber band and began stretching it. “So what are your reasons?”
“I think the two of you as a couple is an inspired idea. You can see it, looking at you both together.” Grier leaned forward and waited until Kate lifted her gaze from where she played with the rubber band. “And I support it completely.”
“Oh.”
“But I’d be a bad sister if I didn’t worry a bit that he’d do to you what he did to me.”
Kate nodded. “Yeah.”
Grier knew she was on dangerous ground. She couldn’t predict Jason’s behavior—or anyone’s for that matter—and he had made a major mistake. But no matter how she spun it in her mind, she couldn’t separate his behavior with his desire to get out of their relationship as opposed to a chronic character defect.
“For what it’s worth, I really don’t think Jason’s going to make the same mistake if he’s with the right woman.”
“I didn’t purposely go after him.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” Kate’s expression changed, the light blush of love vanishing as something darker covered her face. “Because I’ve done other things to you. Purposeful things you didn’t deserve.”
Grier sensed the immediate change in the conversation and knew they weren’t talking about Jason any longer. And while her usual approach to conflict was to be polite and wait for it to pass, she found she wasn’t quite able to let Kate off the hook.
“Yes, you have.”
“I’m sorry, Grier. I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve it and I don’t have any excuse for my behavior. And I’m not just telling you this because you’re okay with Jason and me.”
“I know that. And you were sad.” Grier was willing to give her that. “Any loss is hard, but you had to watch him suffer, too.”
“And you never got to know the wonderful person that he was at all, so we both got a shitty deal.”
“Did he really have a big Christmas light display every year?”
Kate smiled, the memories bringing a warm smile to her face. “Yes, he did. Lights covered the house. You would have loved it.”
“I know I would have.”
Grier paused as her thoughts from the cemetery floated back through her mind. “I want to have a relationship with you. I’d like to know my sister.”
“I want to know my sister, too.” Kate reached forward and took her hand. “And maybe if it’s not too intrusive, I could join you and Avery and Sloan for wine sometime?”
Warm heat suffused her as Grier felt the subtle winds of change in her relationship with Kate. “I’d like that and I think my friends would, too.”
The moment was broken by the ringing of her phone, Walker’s name covering the display. As she answered it, a strange premonition came over her. It shot small sparks down her spine and she sat straighter as her skin prickled with awareness.
If he called with the information she believed, there couldn’t have been a more perfect time for the news to arrive.
She was with her sister.
And they should hear it together.
Mick rapped two hard knocks on his grandmother’s front door and inhaled the warm scents from the box in his hands. He couldn’t shake the restless anxiety that crawled under his skin and knew a visit to his grandmother would help settle him.
He’d grabbed a pizza for them and ordered it loaded up just like his grandmother liked—sausage, mushrooms and a double order of anchovies. And he smiled when he realized he’d flown the anchovies in himself.
A broad smile appeared on Mary’s face when she opened the door. “Darling. Come in.”
The moment he crossed the threshold and pressed a kiss to her warm cheek, Mick knew he’d made the right choice. He followed her down the hall toward the kitchen.
“Your timing is perfect. I was just deciding between a salad and some leftover tuna casserole. A hot pizza—shared with my grandson, no less—sounds a million times better.”
Within minutes he had them settled at her kitchen table, slices laid out on plates and cold Cokes fizzing in tall glasses. Mary took a bite of her pizza and closed her eyes in ecstasy. “Perfection.”
“They order the anchovies for you.”
“And well they should. I’ve been ordering them for forty years.”
He smiled at that. “Forty years. A long time.”
“Are you reminding me of my age, young man?”
“No, ma’am. Just thinking about how you’ve made a life here.”
“I’ve made it here a lot longer than forty years.”
“So you have.”
Her blue eyes, so like his own, turned misty. “I’m a second-generation Alaskan. I can’t imagine life anywhere else, even if people in the Lower Forty-eight think we’re insane.”
Mick lifted his glass and waited until she did the same, then clinked them together. “To insanity.”
“Absolutely.” She took a sip, her gaze growing thoughtful. “While I’ll never turn down a pleasant lunch with my grandson, you’re not here for fun. What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
Her ease in reading him stung a bit, but Mick also knew that was why he’d come here. She understood him. And she’d always loved him just as he was. “You already know the answer to that.”
“Grier?”
“Of course.”
Mary gave him her full attention, laying her half-eaten slice on her plate and sitting back in her chair. “Tell me about it.”
“She’s the one. On some level I knew it from the first moment I looked at her, but the last few weeks have confirmed it.”
“I believe she feels the same way about you.” Mary hesitated for a moment before adding, “I think you do, too.”
“Yes. Unequivocally yes. Which is wha
t makes all of this so damn difficult. She’s going to leave. The information her aunt gave her about Jonas was the last bit of proof Kate couldn’t block the inheritance any longer. She’s got what she’s come here for and she’s going to leave.”
“Do you want to go with her when she does?”
The question ate at Mick’s gut. He’d go and he’d go willingly, but he knew the depths of what he’d be giving up. “I’d go in a heartbeat and leave my life here for her. I’d miss it, but I’d go.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“She hasn’t asked me to.”
Mary took a deep breath. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
He heard the immediate change in tone and knew something was wrong. “Are you okay?”
“Of course, darling.” She patted his hand. “But I did something. And you may not be very happy with me.”
“What is it?” Mick searched his mind, unable to come up with anything she could possibly have done that would upset him.
“I called Grier’s mother. Told her—well, actually, I ordered her—to come to Indigo.”
The words hovered in his mind, yet he was unable to make sense of them. “Grier’s mother?”
“I heard her name years ago. From Jonas. And I kept track of it.”
“You called Grier’s mother?” Mick knew the question was inane, but he couldn’t make sense of it.
On a soft sigh, Mary nodded. “Let me start at the beginning.”
Kate handed Grier the key as they stood before the front door of the small house on Spruce Street. “You should do it.”
Grier glanced down where Kate held the key to their father’s house between her gloved fingers. Before taking the key, she turned and opened her arms, pulling Kate into them.
And was gratified when her sister held on as tightly as she did. Tears filled her eyes and Grier let them fall, happy she and Kate had finally come to an understanding.
On a final squeeze, Grier pulled back and wiped at her cheeks. Tears ran twin tracks down Kate’s face as well. “To new beginnings.”
Kate held up the key once more and smiled through her tears. “To new beginnings.”
The key turned easily in the lock and moments later, Grier walked into her father’s house. The small foyer was dark and she heard Kate move up behind her. “Let me get the lights on and some heat going.”
Grier nodded as Kate walked off down the hall and continued to stand in place. The hallway led to a kitchen straight in front of her. A small living room lay to her left and a dining room to her right. She didn’t know where to look first.
So she moved into the living room and looked around.
She was finally here.
In her father’s house.
A floor-to-ceiling bookcase ran along one of the walls of the living room and she crossed to it. Neat, even rows of books filled the wall, all alphabetized and organized by genre, and another wave of hot tears blurred her vision.
“The heat should be up in a second,” Kate’s voice echoed behind her.
Grier turned and Kate’s smile fell. “Are you okay?”
She swallowed around the hard knot in her throat. “He alphabetized them. The books.”
Kate nodded and Grier didn’t miss her puzzled smile. “Always.”
“Just like me,” Grier whispered. “I do that.”
“Do you get twitchy if someone takes one out and puts it back wrong?”
“Yes.”
“So did Dad.” Kate extended a hand. “Come on. Let me show you around.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Mick picked up his coffee and let the strong brew slide down his throat. The Indigo Blue’s lobby was quieter than it had been in days. The town’s interest had clearly waned now that the TV crew had headed back to New York.
“Have you heard from her yet?” Walker probed.
“She texted me as I was finishing up lunch and told me she and Kate were headed to Jonas’s house. Said she’d fill me in when she got back.”
“Sloan hasn’t heard from her yet, either.” Walker nodded to where she stood at the bar, talking to Avery.
Mick took another sip of his coffee and tried cracking his neck. Tension had his shoulders stiff; even his visit to his grandmother hadn’t loosened it. In fact, it had only made it worse at her revelation that Patrice Thompson was headed their way.
Today.
Add to it that damn text message, and he couldn’t shake the anger that lay beneath the tension.
He didn’t even rate a phone call? Grier had been in Indigo for two fucking months, waiting for news of her father’s home, and she couldn’t be bothered to call him?
“You doing okay?” Walker’s sharp gaze washed over him.
“I’m fine.”
“Because you look like shit. And the coffee’s a dead giveaway you’re pissed.”
“I drink coffee every day.”
“It’s the fact you’re not drinking alcohol. You never drink when you’re pissed off.”
Mick shook his head and amended his earlier observation. Walker’s gaze wasn’t sharp—it was bug-under-a-microscope sharp. And he had no interest in being dissected.
“I didn’t want a beer.”
Walker held up his hands. “Fine by me.”
His oldest friend was delivered from a smart-ass reply by Grier’s arrival in the lobby. A broad smile filled her face as she walked toward them. Desire—sharp and insistent—spiked through him.
God, how could one woman affect him like this? He was growing madder by the moment and he still wanted her.
Still needed her.
And it was that realization that had him reaching for his coffee and an attempt to rein in his thoughts.
He’d gone to his grandmother’s to get perspective because he knew he had very little when it came to Grier Thompson. And then that damn text message came through, and whatever perspective he thought he had was shot to hell.
They loved each other, or so he thought. And still, he didn’t even rate a phone call?
After all they’d been through.
“Hi there.” Her smile never wavered as she leaned over his chair and pressed her lips to his cheek. “How was your day?”
“Good.”
Confusion flittered briefly in her eyes, but the bright smile remained. “Mine was outstanding. I made up with my sister and learned about my father.”
“Great. Good.”
Real confusion now clouded her eyes as Grier took the seat next to him. With a bright smile for Walker, she added, “Things went really well today. Thank you for all your help.”
“It was my pleasure.” Walker reached for his beer and stood. “I’m going to give you two a few minutes to talk about it and keep Sloan’s and Avery’s curiosity at bay. They’re anxious to talk to you.”
“I’ll come over in a minute.”
Mick kept his gaze on his coffee cup.
“Did everything go okay this morning? I know you were waiting on that big order to arrive.”
“Yep. Everything arrived on schedule.”
He saw Grier reach for him from the corner of his eye. “Mick, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“Your message, for one.”
“What message? The text?”
“That’s all I rate, Grier? A fucking text?”
“I was excited. And it was a whirlwind. I was working on some tax returns when I got the call. Then Kate and I had to get to Walker’s to sign papers and I wanted to get there as fast as I could.”
“And there was no time to make a call?”
“Mick, why are you making such a big deal about this?”
“You’re the one who’s made a big deal out of it. Hell, you tried breaking into the house a month ago.” He laid his empty cup on the small table in front of his chair and turned to her. “I’d have liked to hear about it from you.”
“You did hear about it from me.”
“Fine. I heard about it.” He knew it was piss
y and unkind, but to hell with it all; he was done with being understanding.
“Can we go talk somewhere else?” She looked around the bar.
“It’s not that crowded. No one can hear us. And you’re going to go tell Avery and Sloan the moment I’m gone, anyway.”
“Gone where?” Her tone was sharp and whatever merriment had ridden her shoulders when she walked in was long gone.
“Home. I’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
“You’re not leaving until we talk about this.”
A harsh laugh welled up in his chest. “Why does it matter? You’ve got what you came here for. Your father’s estate is well on its way toward being settled. When are you booking your flight home to New York?”
“Mick, what’s wrong?”
“Everything, Grier. Every fucking thing.”
“Well, I’m not going to sit here and discuss it with you out in the open. I think I deserve more than that. I think we both do.”
He nodded, her point well made. “Let’s go back to the conference room. We can talk there.”
She stood and he followed her. As they crossed the lobby, the heavy front doors of the hotel swung open. Grier stopped so suddenly, he nearly ran into her and he immediately reached for her shoulders to balance himself.
And felt her body go rigid under his fingers.
A woman stepped through the door. She wore a fur coat that surrounded her from head to toe, and a matched hat covered her familiar, sable-colored hair. She stopped before them and Mick could only imagine what the three of them looked like to anyone watching, all of them frozen in place.
Grier moved first, stepping backward into his chest.
“Mom?”
If Jason’s sudden arrival in Indigo the few weeks prior had filled her with shocked surprise, her mother’s was like an asteroid striking outside the door.
What the hell was she doing here? How’d she get here?
And why?
“Hello, darling.” Her mother ignored the chilly reception and moved forward. Grier felt her hands lifted as she was pulled forward, away from the warmth of Mick’s solid chest. “I’ve missed you.”
