Page 93 of Trusting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 2)

“Didn’t you hear Oliver?” she mouthed as the AD counted them back in.

“No.” He hadn’t been paying attention. He’d been too worried about Grace.

“Okay we’re back and the time is now. We are finally going to find out which team will walk away with the one hundred thousand dollar grand prize. Will it be Michael and Michelle flipping veterans who managed to stay business partners even after their ten-year marriage ended?”

The audience applauded.

“Or will it be Easton and Grace flipping virgins who took a chance going on a reality show at the start of a very new relationship?”

Easton put his hand around Grace’s hip and he saw that his mom was literally on the edge of her seat as she waited for Oliver Knight to announce the winners.

“Well folks, I will tell you this much, this race could not have been more neck and neck. The winning couple only squeaked by with a two percent lead. And it looks like it came down to the appraisal value and your votes for favorite couple.” A drumroll sounded as Oliver took the paper out of the envelope. “The winners of Home Sweet Flipping Home Vets versus Virgins are… Easton and Grace!”

The crowd exploded with cheers and Easton pulled Grace into a bear hug. They’d been through so much together and he couldn’t care less if they won or not but he knew how much she wanted it. At first she melted against him and he felt her body shudder, like she was crying. But just as he started running his hand up and down her back, she stiffened and stepped out of his arms.

People flooded the stage, everyone was congratulating them, including the other teams. As person after person approached them Grace was smiling and holding herself as she always did with class and grace. But she wouldn’t even look at him. Every time he put his hand on her back, she moved away from him. Not to where anyone else would notice but he did.

It was like in the blink of any eye all of her walls were back up. Easton might have won the show, he just hoped it hadn’t been at the cost of losing the only thing that was actually important to him.

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