“What the hell, kid? I told you that I would keep Knox from knowing about his sister, but that was if it was some bullshit like what you told me before! I didn’t know it was this.”
“I didn’t know either! What I told you last time is what I had been told! But now it’s changed to this, and I don’t know what to do. I found out just weeks after we caught LeAnn breaking into the warehouse, and this person is threatening to take off with the baby if I tell Jagger! I don’t know what to do.”
“Easy! You tell him because he deserves to know!”
“I’m trying to protect him, Graham,” I argued, and Graham laughed like what I was saying was ridiculous.
“Do you have any idea how pissed he’s going to be when he not only finds out that he has a kid, but that you knew?”
My chest tightened. Graham had just confirmed everything I’d been thinking since Mrs. Easton came to me the second time. “There’s so much more to all of this, but I swear I am trying to protect him from what’s going on. It would crush him if he found out about this person, and I can’t let her take Jagger’s son away!”
“You’re not f**king protecting him!” Graham shot back, and I stood up to yell at him.
“You have no clue what I have been going through over this! So don’t tell me what I’m not doing, Graham! I need to find a way for Jagger to get custody of his son before I tell him, because if I don’t have a plan, he will go to this woman, and she will leave! So will you please just listen to me and help me?”
Graham watched me for a few seconds with his mouth tightly shut then shook his head. “Fine. Talk.”
I sat back down on the couch and tried to calm my breathing. “At first, I thought the woman was lying to me. But then I started finding out things, like that LeAnn had actually disappeared for that year—which I found out right before we all went out to dinner at Bonfire and why I was so spacey that night—and when I tried to trip the woman up about something, she practically offered the whole story up to me on a gold platter without a second thought.”
“Kid, just tell me who—”
“I can’t. Just trust me; I can’t tell you that right now, but I need your help. I have no idea how to go about finding a way to make sure she either can’t take off with the kid, or find a way for Jagger to try to get custody immediately—which would also not allow her to leave with the kid.”
Graham shrugged and looked at me helplessly. “How am I supposed to know what to do about that?”
“Don’t you have any friends that would know? Or have you slept with a girl that would? Something, anything. Because I just keep hitting a wall.”
For a long time, Graham didn’t respond. He just sat there staring off into space with a frustrated look on his face. “I don’t know. Maybe. There’s one girl, but she might not help me—I’m pretty sure she hates me.”
“That’s fine, I just need you to try.”
“One condition. Whether we find out a way or not, you have until the New Year to tell Jagger, or I tell him for you. He deserves to know.”
“I can’t risk losing his son, Graham.”
“Grey. Tell him, or I will.”
My stomach churned, and the tightness around my chest increased. Looking Graham directly in the eye, I breathed, “I promise.”
Jagger
December 20, 2014
THE PAST TWO months with Grey had passed quickly. There’d been nothing distracting her or keeping her away from me; every day started with her in my arms and ended the same, and my time with her never seemed like enough—but somehow was always perfect.
We’d had Thanksgiving dinner with her family, and the next day she’d gone shopping, and when she came back she turned our home into something that belonged in Elf. But I hadn’t complained, and I’d helped her decorate everything because it was the first time since Ben had died that she’d even been excited about Christmas. I wasn’t about to do anything that made her constant smile leave her face, or dull the way her eyes lit up every time she walked into the warehouse.
I’d been about to send off another shipment of drawings to the gallery in Seattle, but Grey made me wait so we could bring them ourselves. She said she wanted to see everything on display again, and used it as an excuse to do some wedding stuff while we were there. Charlie had traveled to Seattle earlier and immediately met up with Janie so they could go with Grey to try on their bridesmaid dresses today.
We were going to the gallery in a few hours, and then heading back to Thatch the next day, and I was just waiting for Grey to get back so we could get ready and grab dinner before we took off.
My eyes had been slowly closing as I lay back on the bed, and barely cracked open at the sound of a key card opening the door. Grey walked in and came toward the bed slowly, a come-and-get-me grin on her face as her eyes locked with mine.
“Did you have fun?”
She nodded her head, but didn’t say anything as her hands moved to lift her shirt off her body. Once her pants and shoes were forgotten on the floor along with the shirt, she said, “I found my dress for the wedding.”
I dragged my eyes away from her almost na**d body, and my eyebrows rose. “You did? Where is it?”
Grey made a face. “Not with me. Besides, you can’t see it anyway.” She crawled onto the bed and slid one leg over my body so she was sitting on me, and ran her hands up my torso and across my chest until she was almost lying on me. “But you know what I was thinking on the drive back here?”
“I didn’t know either! What I told you last time is what I had been told! But now it’s changed to this, and I don’t know what to do. I found out just weeks after we caught LeAnn breaking into the warehouse, and this person is threatening to take off with the baby if I tell Jagger! I don’t know what to do.”
“Easy! You tell him because he deserves to know!”
“I’m trying to protect him, Graham,” I argued, and Graham laughed like what I was saying was ridiculous.
“Do you have any idea how pissed he’s going to be when he not only finds out that he has a kid, but that you knew?”
My chest tightened. Graham had just confirmed everything I’d been thinking since Mrs. Easton came to me the second time. “There’s so much more to all of this, but I swear I am trying to protect him from what’s going on. It would crush him if he found out about this person, and I can’t let her take Jagger’s son away!”
“You’re not f**king protecting him!” Graham shot back, and I stood up to yell at him.
“You have no clue what I have been going through over this! So don’t tell me what I’m not doing, Graham! I need to find a way for Jagger to get custody of his son before I tell him, because if I don’t have a plan, he will go to this woman, and she will leave! So will you please just listen to me and help me?”
Graham watched me for a few seconds with his mouth tightly shut then shook his head. “Fine. Talk.”
I sat back down on the couch and tried to calm my breathing. “At first, I thought the woman was lying to me. But then I started finding out things, like that LeAnn had actually disappeared for that year—which I found out right before we all went out to dinner at Bonfire and why I was so spacey that night—and when I tried to trip the woman up about something, she practically offered the whole story up to me on a gold platter without a second thought.”
“Kid, just tell me who—”
“I can’t. Just trust me; I can’t tell you that right now, but I need your help. I have no idea how to go about finding a way to make sure she either can’t take off with the kid, or find a way for Jagger to try to get custody immediately—which would also not allow her to leave with the kid.”
Graham shrugged and looked at me helplessly. “How am I supposed to know what to do about that?”
“Don’t you have any friends that would know? Or have you slept with a girl that would? Something, anything. Because I just keep hitting a wall.”
For a long time, Graham didn’t respond. He just sat there staring off into space with a frustrated look on his face. “I don’t know. Maybe. There’s one girl, but she might not help me—I’m pretty sure she hates me.”
“That’s fine, I just need you to try.”
“One condition. Whether we find out a way or not, you have until the New Year to tell Jagger, or I tell him for you. He deserves to know.”
“I can’t risk losing his son, Graham.”
“Grey. Tell him, or I will.”
My stomach churned, and the tightness around my chest increased. Looking Graham directly in the eye, I breathed, “I promise.”
Jagger
December 20, 2014
THE PAST TWO months with Grey had passed quickly. There’d been nothing distracting her or keeping her away from me; every day started with her in my arms and ended the same, and my time with her never seemed like enough—but somehow was always perfect.
We’d had Thanksgiving dinner with her family, and the next day she’d gone shopping, and when she came back she turned our home into something that belonged in Elf. But I hadn’t complained, and I’d helped her decorate everything because it was the first time since Ben had died that she’d even been excited about Christmas. I wasn’t about to do anything that made her constant smile leave her face, or dull the way her eyes lit up every time she walked into the warehouse.
I’d been about to send off another shipment of drawings to the gallery in Seattle, but Grey made me wait so we could bring them ourselves. She said she wanted to see everything on display again, and used it as an excuse to do some wedding stuff while we were there. Charlie had traveled to Seattle earlier and immediately met up with Janie so they could go with Grey to try on their bridesmaid dresses today.
We were going to the gallery in a few hours, and then heading back to Thatch the next day, and I was just waiting for Grey to get back so we could get ready and grab dinner before we took off.
My eyes had been slowly closing as I lay back on the bed, and barely cracked open at the sound of a key card opening the door. Grey walked in and came toward the bed slowly, a come-and-get-me grin on her face as her eyes locked with mine.
“Did you have fun?”
She nodded her head, but didn’t say anything as her hands moved to lift her shirt off her body. Once her pants and shoes were forgotten on the floor along with the shirt, she said, “I found my dress for the wedding.”
I dragged my eyes away from her almost na**d body, and my eyebrows rose. “You did? Where is it?”
Grey made a face. “Not with me. Besides, you can’t see it anyway.” She crawled onto the bed and slid one leg over my body so she was sitting on me, and ran her hands up my torso and across my chest until she was almost lying on me. “But you know what I was thinking on the drive back here?”
