Page 56 of Break My Fall

FIFTEEN

At 8:30 on Monday morning, Gray’s phone rang. He took a look at the incoming caller and almost dropped the phone. Why was Meredith’s grandfather calling him?

He’d seen Papa Quinn on Sunday at church, but they hadn’t spoken. Not that he typically spoke to him at church. Gray preferred to sit in the balcony so he could slip out if he got a call, and the Quinns sat on the main level. Which meant he’d had a lovely view of Meredith sitting in between Mo and Cal. And he didn’t miss the way Mo draped his arm around his sister in what, to Gray’s mind, looked like an attempt to comfort her. And maybe protect her.

Gray hadn’t paid as much attention to the sermon as he should have because he’d spent part of it wondering if something had happened that he didn’t know about. He trusted Donovan to tell him anything that related to the situation in Neeson. But what else was bothering her?

Was it possible she was still upset about him? About the kiss?

Would she hold a grudge forever? He deserved it, but he didn’t think she had it in her.

He dragged his mind back to the phone call. He’d never knowwhat the man wanted if he didn’t answer the call. He cleared his throat and answered the way he always did. “Chief Ward here.”

“Chief, this is John Quinn.” A pause. “Senior.”

“Yes, sir. How are you today?”

“Fine. Fine. I know you’re a busy man, but I was hoping you could come over to the house around lunchtime.”

Gray glanced at his calendar even though he already knew there was nothing on it. “I could do that.”

“Excellent. Let’s say eleven thirty.”

“Sounds good.”

“See you then.”

The phone disconnected, and before he did anything else, Gray put the lunch appointment on the calendar. He had no idea how long it would take, so he blocked out three hours to be safe. He tackled the reports left in his inbox overnight and, at 9:30, made a phone call.

The woman he was calling answered on the third ring. “Hello.”

“I have an invite to the wedding.”

“How’d you manage that?”

“Meredith is doing all the flowers for the wedding. I’m her plus-one.”

A long silence. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

“She’s going no matter what. I might as well be there to help keep her out of trouble.”

Another pause. “I don’t like it.”

“Honestly, I don’t either. But it’s the best I can do.”

“Does she know you have other motives than keeping her safe?”

“It’s complicated, but yes. We had a huge fight last week and I wasn’t sure she would be okay with me going. I haven’t even spoken to her since the fight. But she told her cousin to be sure I understood that I could be her plus-one but not her date. She made that very clear.”

“You had a fight?” Was that amusement in her question? Or concern? Gray didn’t know her well enough to tell. “How did you convince her to let you go anyway?”

“She’s doing it for the people of Neeson. She wants to see the situation resolved, and she’s treating it as her civic duty.” Cal had rolled his eyes when he told Gray that, but it was on-brand for Meredith. The woman had no self-protective instincts at all.

Or he hadn’t thought she had. She’d developed some fast when it came to him.

“Okay. We have about four weeks until the wedding.” Faith groaned. “I don’t like this. I want our guy out of there and I want Neeson back on the straight and narrow. And I do not like knowing a civilian is going to be in the middle of it.”

“I don’t disagree, but she’s already in the middle of it. And while she didn’t do it on purpose, she did put herself there. No one else is responsible. Short of sending her off to Europe for a few months, I don’t see how we have any options but to work with the situation we have.”

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