by Hart, Hanna
Grace giggled at her friend, and Paul said, "You ever been?"
"To Germany?" Addison said defensively. "Um. No."
"What, you have something against the Germans?" Paul chuckled out, but the end of his sentence went dull. He sipped at his beer and looked Addison over from top to bottom as she shook her head. "You ever... left the island?" he asked with some humor.
"Nope," Addison snipped. "Born and bred here."
"Wait, seriously?" Paul laughed.
Cooper chimed in, "Wow."
"I didn't think such a rare species existed," Paul snorted. "I feel like I should get a picture with you or something, Addison!" His friend continued to amuse himself at Addison's expense until her face pinkened and Paul continued, "Can you imagine never being on an airplane?"
"She should consider herself lucky," Cooper said. "Airplanes are boring."
"Not as boring as being on the island for your whole entire life," Paul continued to laugh. "What do you even do?"
"Not everyone has the means to travel around the world," Addison said firmly and then locked eyes with Paul. "And if I did have the opportunity to leave the country, I certainly wouldn't be as rude and dismissive of people as you are. And if service was truly, truly horrible like you say, I would at least have the guts to leave my own review instead of passing the buck to," she paused and said the next words with intense mockery, "my assistant."
"Okay, princess," Paul nipped. "Well you tell me how much free time you have when you're the CEO of a million-dollar company and then get back to me. Until then, stick to burger joints on the mainland."
The night spiraled out of control from there, with Paul and Addison taking pot-shots at each other at any given opportunity. It was only two hours later that Addison bailed on the evening, citing that the company was making her ill.
Paul left in a water-taxi soon after she went and Cooper and Grace were left in the awkward aftermath of their social war.
"I really hope you're not offended," Cooper said slowly. "Paul's just..." he gave pause.
"Paul just grew up super entitled?" Grace laughed.
Cooper bit his lip, unsure how to respond. He set his hand on the wooden beam and finally he relented, "I guess, yeah."
"Not everybody is rich. Not everybody grew up with money. But that doesn't mean they should be looked down upon for it."
"I know!" he said with a laugh. "Hey, don't yell at me, yell at Paul!"
"I should!" she fumed. "He's completely insensitive."
"Well, hey," Cooper said with a laugh, putting up a hand, "Addison was hardly a charmer."
"You're just saying that because she's from the mainland," Grace said, rolling her eyes with a pointed scoff.
"Or you're just complaining about Paul because he has money," Cooper argued back.
"Maybe I am!" Grace threw her hands into the air. "But that doesn't mean you didn't judge her."
"I didn't. You're just being sensitive, and I'm not sure why."
"You're not sure why?" Grace repeated, incensed. "All night you guys talked about your fancy schools and traveling and business deals, and when she tried to share about her job and you guys started laughing."
Cooper blinked in surprise. "You're making something out of nothing!"
"Am I? What must you think of me, then?" she said, voice growing thick with emotion. "I'm just some poor reject that you rescued? Some charity case you're throwing your money at?"
"Grace!" Cooper said with an incredulous laugh. "Of course not! If anything, you're the one saving me here. I asked for your help, remember?"
They continued arguing for the next ten minutes until Cooper did the thing he usually did when his partner was being unreasonable and backed down a little. Tried to calm her down. But Grace was insistent on escalating the argument over class distinction.
After getting absolutely nowhere with her, Cooper folded his arms in frustration and watched as Grace stormed back into the bungalow. He stood at the side of the open sliding-glass door as she began scooping up her belongings and shoving them into her tote bag before slinging the messy contraption over her arm.
"What are you doing?" he asked with annoyance.
"I'm going home for the night," she snapped.
Cooper sighed. "Don't do that," he said evenly. "Just stay here and tell me a thousand more times why you're mad."
"I already told you!" she exclaimed. "You make a class distinction between us and I don't like it!"
"Have I ever, once, acted like I was better than you because I have money? And, lest we forget, Grace," he enunciated, "You are going to be a millionaire in about a month. So, you'd better stop acting like you're not part of the club."
Grace gave him a cold scowl and shook her head. "I don't want to be part of a club of people who treat people differently because of the way they grew up or because of where they live."
"Oh stop!" Cooper called to her. "We didn't treat Addison badly because she lives on the mainland; we treated her badly because she's rude."
"I'm leaving," she snapped back with a laugh.
Cooper pressed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You can't do that," he said. "We're supposed to be married now. Go back to my place. Use the key I gave you. I'll... I'll sleep here."
Grace stopped in her tracks and spun around to look at him. She looked angry, then her features fell. With a huff she walked back down the dock and walked up to him, stopping just a few feet from where he stood.
"I'm not doing that," she said, softer then. "That's your place."
"No, technically it's our place, and you have to," he said and immediately saw a look of defiance cross her face. "Please," he added.
Grace stared down at his hand and said nothing for a moment. Then she set her jaw and grabbed his hand.
"Fine," she said stubbornly. "But you're coming with me. I'm not kicking you out of your own house."
Chapter Thirteen
Grace
The last three days had been agony for Grace. As if she hadn't already put herself in a precarious position as the new wife of the island billionaire, now they were fighting.
Or, not fighting? But not talking the way they had been.
Everything at the bungalows had been perfect until she opened her big mouth. She had let her insecurities get to her, and everything came flooding out of her mouth. They had gone back to Cooper's expensive condo that night, but they hardly talked. In fact, they'd hardly talked since then. He would be gone before she left the guest room in the morning and things at work were business as usual.
"How's life as newlyweds?" Mirna had gushed when Grace walked into the office that morning.
Mirna had been furious not to find out about the Grant wedding before it happened. She reeled against Grace, asking whys she didn't tell her earlier, to which Grace blamed Brielle.
"I didn't want to poke the bear," she had said with a sheepish grin.
"But you guys weren't having an affair while they were married," Mirna said with confidence as she offered a tray of Danishes and other baked goods to Grace. She had been taking them around the office and offering them to co-workers, though Grace thought she was just doing it to catch up on office gossip. "Did you?" Mirna asked, narrowing her brows severely.
"No, of course not!" Grace laughed. "I was with Shane."
"Wow," Mirna said breathlessly, pressing a hand to her cheek. "And you had a whirlwind romance right in these offices."
Mirna was right about that. It had to have been a whirlwind because who in their right mind would have gotten married after just a week of courting?
Rich people. Celebrities. Grace thought. Two things she most definitely was not.
And then something strange had occurred to Grace. She had spent the last three days wondering about whether or not Cooper was mad at her. Thinking about what the state of their friendship was and how awkward things would be at work, and hadn’t given a passing thought to Shane.
Shane, the man who had thrown her whole world
upside down. The one who made her question every single solitary interaction she’d ever had with him. The one who had humiliated her and still made it difficult for her to check in with friends and family.
Poof.
Like he never existed.
Grace swallowed awkwardly at the thought of it and finished up talking to Mirna before wandering to her cubicle. She sat down at her desk and looked at the flood of sticky notes Turkish had left on her desk about the weekend wedding coming up. There was a large pink sticky note stamped on her computer screen.
She plucked the paper off and
“I knew it!” came Turkish’s accusatory tone as she marched up to Grace’s cubicle.
Grace jumped at the sudden commotion and then laughed to herself in fright.
“Hi,” she greeted firmly. “Knew what?”
“That you don’t read my notes!”
Grace rolled her eyes. “I don’t read them at seven in the morning, no. But I get to them eventually.”
Turkish nudged her and then knelt down, out of view of Cooper’s office. Seeing the obvious show of secrecy, Grace needled her brows together and hunched over. She leaned in toward Turkish and whispered, “What?”
“You married Cooper?” she whispered.
“Yeah,” Grace said.
“Oh, girl,” Turkish said with a sigh. “Come. Now.”
With that, Turkish grabbed Grace’s arm and dragged her into the ladies’ room. As soon as they were inside, her co-worker slid the lock closed and leaned back against the double sink.
Grace fixed a stray curl in the mirror and then looked back at Turkish, who stood with her arms crossed and a ‘poor thing’ expression on her face.
“What?” Grace asked with a laugh.
“Honey,” she said quietly. “Is this a rebound?”
Grace didn’t know how to answer that. She knew she couldn’t reveal the truth to the woman, but she didn’t want to seem like the air-head who married the boss after a whirlwind romance, either.
“The truth is,” Grace began, but trailed off and started checking underneath the stall doors. She pushed each one open until she saw that they were alone and then continued, “This had been going on for a couple months already.”
“Shut up,” Turkish said, pushing Grace backward. The woman placed a shocked hand over her red lips and continued staring at Grace with no small amount of shock. “What about Shane?” she whispered.
“He found out,” she lied, “That’s why the wedding didn’t work out.”
She didn’t know why she said it, but it made her feel like she was floating.
It was like with that one solitary statement, she had taken her wedding back. She’d taken the power. As incorrect as it was, within Turkish Ainsley’s social circle everyone would know that it wasn’t Grace who had been left—it was Grace who ended things with her action.
In this new retelling of her life, it had been Grace’s love affair with her new prince charming that caused Shane to leave.
Her heart fluttered at the thought.
“Holy sh—” Turkish began to whisper, only to be interrupted as someone tried to enter the bathroom. “Occupied!” Turkish yelled and eventually the woman at the door left them alone.
“And things with Brielle? Like? Is this why he turned her down when she was trying to get back together?” Turkish said, blinking her long lashes rapidly. “Holy moly, girl. This is crazy.”
“Yeah, she’s been an absolute nightmare,” Grace said tersely.
“So,” Turkish said slowly and then fetched Grace’s left hand, obviously looking for a ring. “Where’s the ring?”
“Still getting sized,” Grace said quickly.
“Wow,” Turkish said, nodding. “So, I guess this is why Cooper’s firing you?”
There was a catch in Grace’s throat as she yelped, “What?”
Turkish went on to tell her that Cooper had approached her the day before and asked her to find a replacement for Grace. Someone trustworthy and capable. He even had the gall to suggest Grace help pick the person out.
She bit her lip and stared down at the contrasting beige and white floor tiles and then back up at Turkish curiously.
Was he firing her as a wedding planner? As a jack of all trades in the office? Or as his wife? She couldn’t rightly tell.
“I hadn’t heard about that,” Grace said, feeling like a complete fool.
Another woman came knocking at the door, and when Turkish tried to brush her off once more the woman yelled, “I have to go!”
Turkish rolled her brown eyes and opened the door and looped her arm through Grace’s as they made their way out of the restroom and back toward the cubicles.
With a whimsical shrug, Turkish concluded, “Grace? What’s the number one thing they say you need to have a healthy marriage?”
Grace set her jaw. “Good communication?”
“Bingo,” Turkish said with a tap of her nose. “You guys better figure this out. Hear?”
Grace nodded and watched as Turkish made her way to her large office in the corner of the building. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do now. Go storm his office and complain? Start yet another disagreement with him? Apologize?
She kept wondering if he was trying to put her in her place—remind her that he may have befriended her, but he was also her boss.
With a single knock on his glass door, she walked in and closed the door quickly behind her.
“Wife,” he said cordially, face buried in his computer screen.
Grace cleared her throat and tried to decide which tone she should take with him. Two seconds ago, she had decided on dry tone with a hint of sarcastic irritation. But now, seeing how handsome he looked with his light brown curls slicked back and feeling his magnetic presence, she couldn’t help but smile.
“Uh, hi,” she said and took a seat across from him. The silence hung in the air until she took a sharp inhale and began rummaging through her folder. “Here are your appointments for the day,” she said stupidly, handing him a slip of paper.
“Thanks,” he said absent-mindedly. “Sorry, I’m just finishing up an e-mail here.”
Grace waited patiently until he finished and felt her chest get hot as he finally locked eyes with her.
“Grace,” he said with a smile. “Just who I wanted to see.”
If he wanted to see her, Grace thought, he would have waited for her to wake up this morning before he rushed off.
“Look, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for the other night. I was being… I guess after everything that’s happened in my life the last little while I’ve really been struggling with feeling not good enough. And you, and your life, it’s just so big. And I guess it made me feel, well, unworthy.”
“Well then you’re just in time,” he said with his charming smile. “Because we are going to a gala tonight.”
Grace’s heart sank and then fluttered back up. She wasn’t sure how to feel. She had just told him something deeply, embarrassingly personal, and he had brushed it off to move onto the next subject.
Plus, he didn’t even give her an apology back.
“A gala?” she said curiously. “For what?”
“Fundraiser for the Croft Bridge on the mainland, something like that,” he said, batting his hand away. Then he took hold of her fingers and guided her around the desk, pulling her into his lap.
He held her by the waist, and she could feel the warmth of him. The contact made her face go bright red.
“But there are big investors there,” he said, “And they’re interested in sponsoring the regatta. We still need two more big investors to make this thing happen without the whole event turning into a failure. And I need my girl with me.”
She blushed brighter then.
“And I’m your girl,” she said, trying not to sound too swept away.
“That you are,” he said, looking up at her with bright brown eyes.
The fundraiser was absolutely stunning. The room was bigger than an
y Grace had ever been in before and seated eight-thousand guests. The tables were done with coral and gold. A large bouquet of coral and white flowers decorated the center of each table. At the far end of the room was a stage with two large screens on either side of it.
A Hispanic woman in a red suit gave a speech, and within no time at all, the bridge was paid for.
Grace was surprised at the number of photographers who captured their photo during the event. She was sure, as one of the richest families in the country, photos of Cooper and her would end up plastered on various papers and websites in the area.
For the occasion, Cooper gave Grace a vintage wedding ring to wear. It had been his grandmothers. It was re-dipped in white gold. The art deco ring had a European cut diamond that was two carats. It was flanked by four sapphire accents and was made in the thirties.
Grace never would have picked it for herself, and it was a far cry from the ring Shane had given her. But she was enamored with it nonetheless. She wondered if she got to keep it even after their one-month was over, but was too embarrassed to ask such as question.
The highlight of the night came when Grace sat down with Cooper and an investor named Mr. Darley. She told the investor about her love for the island, coming to Crystal Beach with her father as a young girl, and the wonderful watersports events that made the island such an attraction to rich tourists and hobbyists alike.
What she thought had been a casual conversation with a nice man had turned out to earn the regatta its final investor. "I've never seen someone so in love with their home," Mr. Darley had told Cooper, "It makes you want to be a part of it immediately." The man had said it was her testimony that convinced him to invest.
Cooper came up to her brimming with excitement. He swept her onto the dancefloor as a slow, romantic jazz song began to play.
He set his hands on her waist and pulled her close.
"You are something else," he said, leaning in so close to her ear she could feel his hot breath ghost over her.
She blushed. "I'm not used to people saying that as a positive quality."
"I'm serious," he said. "I can't believe how you handled Darley."
