Chapter 28 Grant
Even for a Monday, this one was busy as hell. It had been back-to-back meetings until now. I’d memorized the schedule for the rest of the day, so I was shell-shocked when the door opened a few minutes before noon, and Roger walked in.
I frowned. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Wow. Always such a warm and jolly welcome. I promise I won’t take much of your time,” he said.
“About last night. The police took over, but the perp is already out.”
“My lawyer is already on it. But I’m not here about that. Well, I am, but not in the way you think.”
He sat down in one of the two chairs in front of my desk.
“My brothers are dropping by in a few minutes for a meeting.” I thought he should know before he got too comfortable.
Roger ignored me. “I had an interesting call with Daphne this morning.”
“I bet she’s unhappy with how the event turned out.”
“It’s not about that.” He was looking at me very seriously. “She talked to Ruby, and they’re both under the impression that you’re getting cold feet about the whole relationship. ”
I just stared at him.
“I told them, ‘It’s not possible. I know Grant. He’s serious about Ruby.’ But my woman wanted me to talk to you, so here I am.”
“I don’t like people discussing my life.”
“Grant! Can you be a little more cooperative?” Roger asked.
“No. This is no one’s business except mine and Ruby’s.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you think Ruby bringing this up to Daphne means something?”
“Roger, you’re my best friend. I know you’re looking out for me. But I’m not going to discuss something so personal with you.”
“Damn, I told Daphne this would be like trying to squeeze water from stones.” He ran a hand over his head. “Man, whatever you did, can you undo it so I can have some peace with my fiancée?”
“I didn’t do anything!” I was pissed. Why was he wasting my time?
He narrowed his eyes again. “This is even worse than I thought.”
“What is?” I asked, but he didn’t get to reply because the door opened, and my brothers walked in.
“Hey, Roger,” Cameron said. “What’s up? Come to give us an earful about last night?”
“No,” I cut in. “He came for something else, but he’s leaving now.”
Roger glared at me. “No, I’m not. I am your best friend, so you don’t get to kick me out.”
“Someone tell us what’s going on,” Heath said, obviously noting the tension in my office.
I stood up from my chair. “Roger, my brothers and I have an important meeting.”
“You said it starts at twelve. Still gives me five minutes. Bro, you give me no choice.” He turned to Cameron. “Apparently, this one is getting cold feet about his relationship with Ruby. ”
“Why would you repeat that nonsense?” I asked.
Heath groaned. “I figured this would happen sooner rather than later.”
“What the hell?” I exclaimed.
“I want to sit down for this,” Cameron said. He sat in the chair next to Roger. Heath leaned against the wall.
“He told Ruby that worrying about family is too much,” Roger said theatrically, looking at Cameron first, then over his shoulder at Heath. Then he focused on me. “Did you or did you not say that?”
“Maybe.” It sounded like something I’d say. And it totally made sense. In my mind, Ruby was family. So what was the issue?
“‘Maybe’? Dude, this is important,” Heath said in an uncharacteristically serious voice. “Focus.”
“Do you remember everything you say?” I couldn’t keep the exasperation out of my tone.
“No, but you do. You remember every fucking thing,” Heath retorted.
“Look, last night was a bit of a blur. Besides, it’s between Ruby and me.”
“And Daphne, apparently,” Cameron pointed out.
“What do you all expect me to say?” I asked, throwing my hands up in the air.
Roger cleared his throat. “That you were irrational and didn’t mean it. Because I have to say, that sentence does sound a lot like you’re getting cold feet.”
I didn’t reply, just looked out the window. Last night had been insane—when I heard Ruby’s voice, sounding vulnerable and shocked, I’d been terrified. I still hadn’t processed it. But whatever went on, one thing was for sure: Ruby was my responsibility now.
Since I couldn’t even comprehend everything myself, I certainly couldn’t explain it to these bozos. I needed to talk to my woman .
“I’ll talk to Ruby about this.”
“Why don’t you tell us what you plan to say to her?” Cameron suggested. “You might need input.”
“Yeah. Coaching,” Heath added.
“From you?” I scoffed.
“Yes. You see, unlike you, we all have more practice communicating things. You mostly just grunt and throw people out of your office,” Cameron explained.
“Cameron, what the hell?” I asked my annoying brother.
Roger nodded. “He’s right.”
“Walk us through what happened last night,” Heath said.
“No,” I replied.
“This is going well,” Roger said. “Good thing you two came in to help.”
“This is not why they came in. We need to get to work,” I reminded him, though I was glaring at my brothers.
“This is more important,” Heath replied matter-of-factly. “Why would you tell her that worrying about family is too much?” His tone had changed. He wasn’t giving me shit any longer. He was genuinely curious.
“Because it’s true,” I admitted.
To my astonishment, no one reacted.
Roger finally spoke first. “I feel like I’m out of my depth here.”
Heath nodded at him. “It’s better if you leave this to us.”
“You’re probably right,” Roger said, standing up.
“This requires... professionals,” Heath went on.
“Just call me with the outcome because Daphne will want an update for sure.”
“You can tell Daphne to call me,” I told Roger. I knew he wasn’t kidding. Daphne was going to grill him. It was who she was.
He looked so relieved that my brothers burst out laughing. “Perfect. I’ll tell her that. I’m off the hook. Thank God. ”
He shook my brothers’ hands before heading to the door—but not mine.
“What about me?” I pressed.
“You annoyed me today, Grant.”
“Fair enough.”
After he left, Heath narrowed his eyes at me. “You don’t have to worry about us.”
Cameron’s eyes widened. His grin faded. “Damn.”
“You two are taking this too seriously,” I said.
“And I think you’re just brushing us off,” Heath replied.
“We don’t do that in this family. You keep trying, obviously, but it’s time you realize it’s not working, dude,” Cameron added.
“I feel like a broken record at this point, but I will talk to Ruby about this. Not you two,” I insisted.
“What do you plan on telling her?” Cameron pressed.
I didn’t reply.
“See? You have no idea what you want to tell her.” He sounded victorious.
“You’re not helping,” I continued. “With all the prodding and giving me shit and putting me on the spot. I can’t think with the two of you in here.”
“You couldn’t think without the two of us last night, either, huh?” Heath replied. “Tell her to forget what you said last night and explicitly tell her you’re not getting cold feet and that you care about her.”
“She knows I care about her. Maybe that’s the issue and why I need to talk to her and not you two bozos.” I wanted to hear from Ruby what was bothering her. She knew I loved her; we were soul mates. Hell, we just talked about that!
“No. That’s just you going down a rabbit hole,” Heath said, sitting in the chair Roger had vacated. He turned to Cameron. “Would you mind leaving me alone with him for a bit?”
Cameron’s eyes bulged. “Why would I do that? ”
“Because I need to talk seriously with him, and you’re not prone to anything serious.”
“What if I promise to stay really quiet and not give anyone shit? Unless it’s really necessary.”
Heath sat back in the chair and crossed his arms. “That just proves my point.”
“You’re right.” Cameron held up his hands. “All right, then I’m going to grab a coffee.” He rose to his feet, then paused. “Huh. Guess I just got thrown out of the office, too, and almost didn’t realize it.” He patted Heath’s back. “Damn, you’re good, man.”
He went to the door and then turned, looking at us. “But hearing this conversation might make me more useful in the future when either of you behaves like a moron.”
Heath shook his head. “No, Cameron, it won’t.”
“All right. I tried. Let me know whenever you’re done and if you still want a business meeting.”
After he left, Heath was suspiciously silent.
“Out with it,” I urged.
“On one condition. You listen to me without interrupting.”
“I’ll try.”
Heath cleared his throat. “For the longest time, I’ve had this theory that you don’t like to have a big circle of people because you think you might lose them for one reason or another.”
“You thought that as a kid? You were psychoanalyzing me?”
“You said you’d let me speak.”
“Doesn’t seem realistic for a kid,” I mumbled.
“Sybil helped.”
“I see.”
“And she always thought that was a pity. I figured that’s just the way you are, and there was nothing wrong with that.”
“Thank you.”
“Except...” He grinned.
I groaned. “Yeah?”
“Things between you and Ruby got serious very fast. ”
“So? Where are you going with this?”
“My point is that you had absolutely no problems getting close with her. It reminded me of the way things went for me. I met Gabby, and within a few months, I knew I wanted her to be my wife.”
“Heath, the situations are different.”
He shook his head. “I disagree. I think our situations are very similar. Our fears are similar. And my worst fear actually did come true. I did lose her.”
His words felt like a punch to the gut. “Fuck, sorry. We shouldn’t have started this conversation at all.”
“I wanted to, so just listen for a second and let me tell you this. It was worth it. Loving Gabby and having Evie is the best thing that ever happened to me. Even with Gabby gone, the memories are what keep me going. So my advice to you is don’t let fear hold you back.
You never allowed that to happen before. Don’t you dare let it now.”
“Thanks for the wisdom.”
“You’re welcome. And another piece of advice: If you don’t know what to say, take your time before you talk to Ruby.”
“Will do,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure that would be my plan. I needed to know what my woman was thinking.
“But if you take too much time, she might get the wrong idea.” He tilted, then shook his head. “Sorry, I’m out of practice when it comes to relationships.”
I started to laugh. A second later, the door burst open. Cameron strolled inside, holding a cup of coffee.
“Sounds like whatever it is you needed me gone for is over.”
Heath’s eyes bulged. “You were eavesdropping?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I was just out here drinking my coffee and chatting with the assistants.”
“Right. Now that this conversation is over, how about we get back to business?”
“Did you even listen to anything I just said?” Heath asked me, sounding exasperated .
“I did. And I’m taking it all in. Thanks.” I loved my brothers and our relationship, but I was pretty sure what Heath was saying was more beneficial to himself than me. But that was okay.
“Fine. Let’s get started,” Cameron said. “But don’t think that you two are off the hook. I’ll find out what you talked about one way or another.”