Chapter 7
GRANT
G rant’s jaw clenched as they climbed back aboard the boat for the return trip. At least it was nearly over. He couldn’t wait to get away from the situation.
His unease had only grown since they’d boarded. What he’d suspected when he’d first witnessed Luke and Julia together had become obvious. Her admission that they’d been engaged was like a punch to his gut.
But nothing sliced at his heart more than that laugh she’d given as they reminisced over the past. Simple and genuine, the rawness of her emotion in that moment scared him. Had she ever been that easy and effortless with him?
He eased into the seat next to Julia, leaping up again as the dog bared her teeth at him.
“Duchess, that’s enough, stop it,” Julia said.
The dog whined at her but allowed him to sit down. Thank goodness for small miracles. As they pulled away from the dock, he frowned at it. Luke’s words echoed in his mind. I built it for her. It was one of our favorite places .
Could the man make it any more obvious that they’d been together? It felt like a less-than-subtle attack on her current relationship.
A cool breeze whipped across the sea, sending the waves swelling higher as they skirted the island. Julia shivered, tugging her cardigan closer.
“Cold?” he asked as he slid a protective arm around her.
Two could play this game, and it was his ring on her finger. His very large ring.
His mind turned to another ring, still encased inside its velvet box. He longed to give it to her, but as he’d stood on that island, his mind flooded with a sea of unwanted images of Julia in another man’s arms, he wondered if she’d accept it.
She’d accepted a ring from another man once. And she’d walked away from him. Why? Were they truly finished?
“Who’s ready for dinner?” Luke asked as they continued toward the docks of Harbor Cove. “Wow, don’t all speak up at once.”
“Well, I’m starving,” Sierra said as she scrolled through her photos. “And I hope this place has Wi-fi because I haven’t had a signal for like this entire time. How am I supposed to let people know I’m having fun if I can’t post to Insta?”
Luke side-eyed her as he steered. “You could just…have fun in the moment instead of worrying about letting other people know.”
“That’s stupid. What’s the point?”
Luke furrowed his brow. “Having fun. That’s the point.”
“Who cares if no one can see you having it?” Sierra offered him an incredulous glance. “Just tell me there’s Wi-fi.”
“Yep, there’s Wi-fi,” he answered.
“Thank goodness ,” Sierra said as the boat slowed.
Grant practically leapt from his seat as Luke secured the boat, ready to leave him behind.
“Which way to this place?” Sierra asked as the dog trotted next to Julia. “Why is the dog with you?”
Julia glanced down at the animal before she wrinkled her nose. “Maybe we should skip the dinner–”
“Skip dinner?” Sierra said with an incredulous tone. “Uh, no. We did that once already yesterday. Today is about guaranteed fun, remember?”
“And I would like to have some guaranteed fun at the…” She tapped on her phone. “Hungry Pelican.”
“There are lots of other rest–”
“Julia, we’re going to this one. That’s what my itinerary says as part of this tour.” Sierra said as she pushed past her and pointed. “There it is.”
“Julia, if you don’t want to go–” Grant began, sensing her reluctance again. The last time she was reluctant, they’d spent five hours with her ex. A man who could tear their lives apart.
“It’s fine,” she said. “It’s important to Sierra.”
They stepped off the docks and crossed to the restaurant, pushing inside the quaint old space. As Grant’s eyes adjusted from the bright, sunny day to the dimmer light of the bar-slash-restaurant, Sierra’s shriek ripped through the din of the mostly empty restaurant.
He snapped his gaze to his daughter’s face, finding a horrified expression on it. “Sierra, what’s wrong?”
A pointed finger shot out. He followed its direction as she explained further. “Why is there a half-naked picture of my step-mommy on the wall?”
Grant’s eyes widened as he studied the large picture of a swimsuit-clad Julia clutching a ship’s wheel and offering the camera a coy smile as Luke kissed her cheek, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist.
“Ohhhh,” Julia murmured as she blew out a long sigh, her eyes transfixed on the picture as heat rose in her cheeks. She wanted to melt into the floor. “I think I’ll go to the ladies’ room.”
She strode away from the group, disappearing into a back hallway.
“This just keeps getting better and better,” Kyle said as they settled at a table. “There’s no mistaking what was going on between them now. Though I’m pretty certain you could tell from all the looks he kept giving her on the island.”
“Well, you’d know, they’re pretty similar to the creepy looks you’re always giving her,” Sierra said.
“I do not give her creepy looks.”
“Can we please stop talking about this? This is the world’s most uncomfortable vacation,” Grant growled.
“Okay, folks,” Luke said as he greeted them at the table, “let me grab you some drinks.”
“Bourbon, double,” Grant said with an unimpressed sigh.
“White wine, and please take that picture down,” Sierra said, as she waved a finger toward the image of Julia.
“White wine, got it, and no. That happens to be one of my favorite pictures and since this is my restaurant, I’ll keep it up.” Luke poked a finger at Kyle, prompting him for his drink order.
“ That is Mrs. Grant Harrington, and I demand you take that picture down or you’ll be hearing from our legal team.”
Luke stared at her with a furrowed brow for a second. “ That is actually Julia Stanton, so I’ll keep it and move on to your drink.” He tipped a finger toward Kyle again.
“Scotch, neat.”
Grant motioned to the empty chair at their table. “Julia will have–”
“Ha, thanks, but I don’t need her order.”
Grant narrowed his eyes at the man as he strode away after the biting remark. “And it just keeps getting better.”
Sierra studied the man as he skirted the bar to retrieve their drinks. “Daddy,” she hissed. “Daddy!”
“What, Sierra?” he asked as he slumped in the chair, his voice strained.
“He’s nothing like you.”
The words hit him like a slap in the face, though he’d already noted that when he’d sized the man up.
“Like nothing like you,” Sierra said as she narrowed her eyes at him. “He’s all…rugged.”
Grant slid his eyes closed.
“With that dark hair and those dark eyes. That unkempt look that’s scruffy yet also sexy. That body that says I built a dock with my bare hands because my woman liked that island, and we danced under the stars there. And probably did some other stuff, too.”
Grant scrubbed his face. “Sierra, please stop talking.”
“Can’t handle the truth, Dad?” Kyle asked.
Grant flicked him a glare as Luke buzzed by with their drinks, then disappeared into the back. “I’m just saying that it has been a very trying day.”
“And I’m saying you may want to start facing the facts.”
“What facts?” Grant asked after a sip of his bourbon.
“The very real possibility that Julia may not be coming home to New Orleans with us. Her complicated past just reared its ugly head.”
The words stung him as Kyle articulated the possibility he’d spent the entire afternoon worrying about. Their conversation ended when Julia skirted around him and sank into the chair next to him as she cleared her throat.
“I tried to order you a drink, but…Luke,” he said, the name sticking in his throat, “said he didn’t need your order.”
“Oh, okay,” she said with a shrug. “Maybe he’ll come back for it.”
Grant’s eyes flicked over her shoulder as he spotted Luke crossing back toward them with an odd-looking drink on his tray.
He sneaked behind Julia, his features twisting into an excited grin. “For the lady.” He set the drink down in front of her.
Grant eyed her as she studied the drink, her features melting into a broad, genuine smile that spread across her face.
She glanced back at him. “You remembered!”
“I think so. You’ve got to taste it first.” He arched an eyebrow as she brought it to her lips.
The smile spread further as she bobbed her head up and down. “That’s it! Yes! You remembered.”
“Brought back some good memories, I hope.”
She took another sip, the smile stuck on her face. “Yes.”
Grant shot him an unimpressed stare as he sipped his bourbon, and they placed their order. He couldn’t wait to escape this restaurant. Maybe once she got away from him, it wouldn’t seem as daunting as it did right now.
At this moment, it felt like Luke was making a play for his wife. And he worried the man may win. Julia obviously had fond memories of him. Memories that may be unresolved.
His fingers tightened into fists as he realized how little he knew of her past. He assumed she’d had a past, but he hadn’t expected to have it thrown in his face.
His mind turned to his own past. Is this how Julia felt when his past actions had been thrown at them? Guilt coursed through him. She lived with his first ex-wife. He didn’t have any room to be upset over this man’s actions or her response to them.
Of course, maybe she had an easier time because she didn’t love him like he loved her.
He couldn’t help but wonder if he was paying for his past transgressions as he watched Julia with Luke.
A loud voice called him from his rumination.
“Well, if I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
The smile spread across Julia’s face again as she rose. An older man crossed to them and pulled Julia into an embrace. Grant wondered if it was her father.
“Hi, Chief,” Julia said.
“Aww, not anymore, Juju.”
She clicked her tongue before she kissed his cheek. “You’ll always be my chief.”
“Did I hear right from Ethan that you got married?”
“Yes,” she said, her smile slipping a little. “This is my husband, Grant, and my stepson, Kyle, and stepdaughter, Sierra. This is Charles Whitmore, Ethan’s dad.”