Page 72 of Deceiving Grier

I nodded, not trusting my voice. After they made their way past the rest of my family and slipped into the room where the service would be held, my mother leaned closer to me.

“Who were those people?” she asked, lowering her voice so only I could hear.

“Friends from school,” I said. “My roommates.” Though neither friends nor roommates really conveyed what they really meant to me. My family.

She nodded and didn’t ask more, and when the service was ready to start, we sat down in the row of chairs at the front, Sawyer next to me this time. I reached down and laced my fingers with his. I didn’t care if anyone saw. If people had questions. If my mother didn’t like it. The people who cared for me, accepted me as I was, and never needed me to be more were sitting behind me—and right next to me, holding my hand.

Over the past four years, while I’d been away at school, they had become family, and Saltwater Cove and Oceanwind Square had become home.

I loved my mother and sisters. I always would, but I didn’t belong here now—if I ever did.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Grier

Afterthefuneralandgravesite service, I asked Sawyer to drop me at my parents’ and then go back to the hotel. I didn’t know how long this would take, and there was no reason for him to have to wait around. Besides, once I spoke to my mother, I didn’t want Sawyer inadvertently caught in the crossfire. He’d protested, worried about how I’d get back with no car. I assured him I’d be fine. I’d call an Uber or something, and not to worry.

Now though, standing outside my parents’ house, the late afternoon sun dipping behind the houses and casting long shadows over the street, knots twisted my insides, nerves making my heart pound faster. There was no doubt about what I was going to do, no thoughts of changing my mind. As much as I was dreading the inevitable confrontation, now that I had made my decision, the smothering oppressive feeling that had been weighing me down from the moment we left Saltwater Cove had lifted.

I knew what I had to do. It would be hard, and I wasn’t looking forward to it, but it was the right thing to do. I just needed to get it done and over with—like ripping off a Band-Aid.

Inside, I found Fiona and Marty in the living room, huddled together on the couch, wrapped in a tense hushed conversation. I didn’t know where Paisley had gone. Her car wasn’t in the driveway, so I assumed she was with Ethan somewhere.

“Hey,” I said, from the doorway. They both stopped talking and turned to look at me. I had a fairly good idea of what they’d been talking about, and while Fiona and I had been getting along so far since my arrival, I knew what she really thought of me. That I was here to swoop in and take the company she’d devoted herself to for the last eight years. I completely understood. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair—for either of us.

“I didn’t know you were going to be here for this,” I said.

Her dark brown eyes narrowed. “I’mthe one who has been running things until now, andI’mthe one who will have to keep running the place until you finish college.”

She had no idea how things were about to change.

“Actually, it’s good you’re here,” I said. “I need to talk to Mom, and you should probably hear this too. Where is she?”

Fiona frowned, and she and Marty exchanged a look.

“Where’s Mom?” I asked again.

Fiona stood. “I think she’s in the kitchen making coffee.”

I nodded. “Okay, let’s get this done.”

Together we went to the kitchen, where we found our mother seated at the small round bistro table in the corner of the room. She had indeed made coffee and sat with a cup in front of her on the table.

The scent of fresh coffee hung heavy in the warm air, reminding me of the way the kitchen had always smelled in the mornings when I was a kid. My father was always up first, and he would sit at the same table where my mother was sitting now, reading the paper and drinking his coffee. I would sit in the chair opposite him, eating my cereal. He wouldn’t say much until he stood, ready to leave for work, then he’d ruffle my hair and tell me to have a good day before leaving. My eyes burned with the memory, and my throat tightened. I would miss him. In spite of everything, I loved him, and he loved me, in his own way.

My parents still used one of those old drip coffee makers. A few years back, Fiona, Paisley and I had all chipped in together to get them one of those expensive coffee makers, the kind that made lattes and cappuccinos, for Christmas. For months, it sat on their counter, gleaming and brand new. I’m still not convinced they ever used it. Eventually, they gave it to Fiona and Marty, and their old drip coffee maker was back on the counter in its place.

“Ben won’t be here for another twenty minutes,” Mom said when we entered the room. Ben Pine had been a friend of my father’s friend since high school and had handled all his legal dealings for as long as I could remember.

“That’s okay,” I said. “I wanted to talk to you both first, anyway.”

My mother’s eyes narrowed. “What is it?”

“I’m not going to take over the company,” I blurted. There. I’d said it. The Band-Aid was off. Now to stop the bleeding.

My mother’s frown deepened, as if she couldn’t make sense of my words. “What? What are you saying?”

I looked at Fiona, but she said nothing. She stood, arms folded over her chest, eyes wide, as if she’d been stunned into silence.

---