Page 109 of Eight Years Gone

Jagger nodded. “It’s good to be home here with Grace.”

Colonel Hinders gave his attention to Grace. “I’m sorry for your loss. Sue extends her sympathies. She wanted to be here today, but a little touch of the flu is keeping her away.”

Grace nodded. “Thank you.”

“I talked to Steve the day before his accident. I wish I had known it was for the last time… A damn good friend he was. I’m going to miss him.”

Grace nodded again because she had no idea what to say to the man she’d loathed since Logan’s passing. The colonel was one of her dad’s oldest and closest friends. But he’d also jumped at the opportunity to whisk Jagger away all those years ago.

“I hope you’ll give Sue my best,” she said, then stepped away to give her attention to Paul and his family as they walked over to share their deepest sympathies.

Luckily, most everyone else had headed home.

Twenty-Six

Grace kept pace with the Saturday afternoon traffic on Route 22 West as she drove closer to Wakeview—a journey she’d been certain she would never take again.

When she’d sped away from the mansion eight long years ago, she had no plans to ever return. But then she’d been blindsided when her father’s attorney listed off the assets Doctor Steven Evans had left for his daughter in a trust.

“Good ol’ exit 3-A,” Jagger said in the passenger seat, his hands locked behind the headrest as she moved over a lane to take the off-ramp. “We’ve been down this road a few times.”

“Today makes it one too many,” she said as she picked up her speed again after taking a right, bringing them closer to a place she didn’t want to be.

“We can turn around—go home.”

She took her eyes off the road long enough to meet his gaze. “We’re less than ten minutes away.”

He shrugged. “We can do this today or never. The place is yours, Grace.”

And she hated it. It had been a week and two days since Paul had called in the middle of the night with the news of her dad’s passing. Shortly after the funeral, she’d heard from her father’s attorney. Nothing had felt the same since.

She’d grown up with abundance and privilege. Her parents—mostly her mother—had raised her and her brother to respect their numerous advantages. Yet she’d been shocked by the degree of her father’s wealth.

There were bank accounts, stocks and bonds, real estate investments, her dad’s shares of the orthopedic center, and the two new ventures he’d been financing with a group of doctors—a charitable hospital in the Central African Republic and another in Honduras.

Long ago, she’d been forced to create something new for herself. When she’d told her father to go to hell, her lifestyle had changed.

Independence and simplicity had served her well—had made her happy. Now she had millions, and everything was different again.

In her attempt to find some semblance of normalcy, she’d spent the last three days buried in her work at the shop, playing catch-up, avoiding the worst parts of her life until Jagger wandered over from the dojang with their dinner and a nightly reminder that she needed to eat. “I don’t understand why he kept it.”

Jagger shrugged. “It’s the last place where you and Logan both lived. Maybe he couldn’t let that go.”

She sighed as she stopped at the red light, flipping on her blinker to take a left at the Sheraton Heights entrance.

“Hey,” Jagger said as he sat up, nudging her chin until she looked at him. “You can flip a U-ey right here. Preston Valley’s three hours away.”

She swallowed because the idea was so tempting. “I want to get this over with.” She still wasn’t sure why she’d needed to come, but here they were.

“Whenever you’re ready to go, just say the word, and we’re gone.”

She nodded, sending him a small smile as she touched his cheek. He’d been everything she’d needed over the last several days—sweet, patient, and supportive. “I’m sorry I’ve been grumpy this afternoon.”

“You’re entitled to a couple of bad days. Things have pretty much sucked for the last week.”

How was this gorgeous, wonderful man hers? “Thank you for coming with me.”

He snagged her hand, pressing a quick kiss to her knuckles. “We’re in this together, remember?”

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