Page 58 of Spring Showers

“What are you doing?” Leo yelled as he bolted inside the barn doors and caught the papers in his outstretched palms. “Is this the report? Is it that bad?”

“That’s just what I was wondering,” Davis said and looked at Grant. “You’re fired! Get out of my face.”

“Is that what you said to Thandie before you discarded her?” Grant turned to the man, who was no longer his boss, with an urge igniting inside of him to take Davis behind the barn and kick the snot out of him, just like Thandie had accused him of wanting to do earlier.

“Excuse me? You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Davis was correct, Grant didn’t know any of the details, only that this man had walked out on Thandie. Blustering, he added, “You heard me!”

“First of all, she is none of your concern, and secondly, I apologized for leaving her the night before our wedding, and she forgave me.”

Grant recalled his first meeting with Davis, when he had casually asked if Grant had ever left someone at the altar,She forgave him anyway?He felt terrible. No wonder Thandie had wanted to take things slower with him. She was still in love with another man. It was no wonder she was timid in opening up to him. It was no wonder that she refused help at almost every turn. She had only herself to rely on. Grant felt like a fool for not putting the pieces together earlier when it could have made a difference in how he had spoken to Thandie.

“The lesson here is about realizing that you’ve made a mistake and apologizing for it.” Davis stood in front of Grant and patronized him like a parent scolding a child. “Would Grant like to apologize and get his job back?”

“No! Grant would not like his job back,” Grant said in a mocking tone.

“You’ll never get another job again if I have?—”

Grant stopped him short. “This has nothing to do with me apologizing for telling the truth. It has to do with someone that has so much love in her heart that she can even forgive the unforgivable. Neither one of us deserves her.”

Davis spun around on his heels and poked a finger into Grant’s chest. “Wait a minute. You’re in love with my fiancée?”

“Of course not! What an absurd thing to say. Like you said, she’s your fiancée, and she has forgiven you. I’m nobody.” Grant knew the words coming from his mouth weren’t the whole truth, but not lies either. “I hope you will do right by her. And whatever you decide about The Foundry, don’t hold my actions against Leo. He is a good person, and this place is amazing.” Grant turned to walk out and saw America standing by the door, wiping tears from her cheek.

He walked past her and through the doors, and she followed him out.

“What the hell are you doing?” America said and stomped down the drive after him. “Hey! I’m talking to you.”

“What do you want?” he snapped.

Her hands went up in a show of peace. “Whoa. You need to take it down a bit. I’m not the enemy here.”

She wasn’t, but the overwhelming urge to punch that man, Davis, in the face was taking every last ounce of self-control that Grant had left. He just wanted to get out of there and put this whole thing behind him.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“My job is done. You probably heard that I’m fired, so I’m leaving.”

“From what I heard back there, you fired yourself.” America closed the distance between them, and he could see the softness in her eyes. Her genuine concern for him relaxed the tension in his shoulders. “What did you end up telling Mr. Mothan?”

“I told him not to invest.”

“Are you serious! How could you? This week was perfect. Except the rain and?—”

Grant interrupted her rambling. “This week was perfect.”

His words shut her up as she processed what he said. “Then why?—”

“If you get his money, everything special about this place, and it is very special, will change. So, I told him not to invest.” Grant kicked the gravel in his path. “It wasn’t an easy thing for me to do. But you don’t want a guy like that anywhere around here.”

“I suspect not,” America said and kicked the gravel too. “And that’s why he fired you?”

“I wouldn’t give him my report, because I knew if he read it that he would jump on the opportunity to be a part of this in a heartbeat. So, I tore it up and threw it away.”

“And that’s when Leo picked it out of the trash,” she finished his thought. “I don’t understand one thing, though.”

“What’s that?” he said.

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