“I know they spend a lot of time together and they talk all thetime, but…” He hesitated, seeming to be lost in thought, and then he appearedto absorb what she was saying. “You don’t think they’re…”
Emma rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know. Anything’s possible.” Sheshrugged. “All I know is that Grace is in the middle of my relationship withDex.” She went behind her desk and dropped into her chair. “Grace keeps Dex ona leash. Whenever she gets a little distance, Grace injects her with herpathetic neediness, hits the recoil button, and snaps her back.”
Brent launched out of the chair. “I take exception to that. She’snot needy at all with me.”
“Becauseshe has Dex to take care of everything for her!” The sentence came out louderthan Emma had intended, but Brent really needed to answer this wake-up call.
Brent raked a hand across the back of his neck. “Do you reallythink something’s going on between them?”
“I hope not, but I honestly don’t know.”
Brent left her office in a rush, and Emma knew where he was going.She shouldn’t have said the things she had to him. But Emma genuinely didn’t knowwhy Grace had such control over Dex, why she needed to have such an influencein Dex’s life, which Emma was now a part of whether she wanted to be or not.All she knew was that she couldn’t be happy the way things were, and she stillhad a glimmer of hope that Brent could fix it from his end.
* * *
Dex retrieved the lights from the shelf in Grace’s garage whereshe’d placed them after she’d taken them down last year. She wasn’t lookingforward to going back out into the frigidly cold temperature. Her feet had justbegun to thaw from trudging through the snow on the previous job she’dcompleted. This was her last house of the day, and she would be inside eating anice warm dinner soon. Grace’s usual payment. She wiped the sweat from herforehead, a remnant of the sauna she’d created in her SUV on the way over, shethought. She shook off the chill that ran down her spine and plodded to thefront yard. She was definitely clammy. It wasn’t a huge job, but she needed toget moving. The sun would be down soon, and once it was gone the temperaturewould plummet.
She and Grace had engaged in minimal conversation when she’darrived. Grace had actually seemed surprised to see her. But she’d already hadGrace on her schedule for today and wasn’t about to cancel, especially afterwhat had happened last week.
Grace had sent her a text apologizing for the whole weirded-outconversation, said she’d been having issues with Brent. But Dex still wasn’thappy with the way they’d left things. She hadn’t actually had a chance to talkto her about Emma. Considering last week and after mulling it over the past fewdays, Dex was unsure as to whether she should discuss any of her privatefeelings for Emma with Grace.
All the lights were laid out in the snow below each area where Dexplanned to hang them. She’d just taken the ladder off the SUV and propped itagainst the house at her starting point when Grace hurried out the front doorcarrying a travel mug. She raised the mug and stood at the end of the walkway,waiting for Dex to come to her. She’d managed to put on her jacket, but herfeet were covered only in fluffy pink slippers. Dex did as expected and sloggedthrough the snow to see her.
“It’s hot chocolate.” She handed it to her. “I thought you mightneed something warm.” She smiled like everything was normal between them. Maybeit was, in hermind. “You’re staying for dinner, right? I have a chicken in the oven roasting.I’m getting pretty good at this cooking thing.”
“I’m not sure. It’s been a long day, and I’m not feeling so hot.”
“All the more reason why you should stay.”
“I’ll see. When I’m done here, I may just go home and crash.” Dexcoughed.
“Then I’ll fix you a plate to go.”
“Sure. That’d be nice.” She glanced at Grace’s feet. “Now get backinside before your feet freeze.”
Dex had turned to go back to the ladder when she heard Grace callher name. She turned around to catch a solemn smile on Grace’s face. “You’rethe best,” she said before disappearing into the house.
Business as usual.
* * *
Grace had already put the chicken in the oven to roast, and thepotatoes were cooking on the stove. She really wasn’t all that bad at thisdomestic stuff. When she heard the door open, she rushed into the living roomto see Brent and tell him all about it, but he didn’t give her the chance.
“What the hell is Dex doing out there putting up our lights?” Hetook off his wool coat. “I told you I’d do it this weekend.” His voice wasfirm.
Grace’s heart pounded, and she came to a complete stop. “Sheoffered, so I thought it would help you out.”
“It’s twenty degrees outside.” He slid his coat on a hanger andslammed the closet door. “Fucking freezing.”
“It doesn’t look that cold. The sun’s shining.”
“You take way too much advantage of her.”
“She just showed up like she does every year.” She didn’t want totell him about their last awkward conversation.
“She just showed up?”
“Yeah. She comes by all the time and helps me out with thingsaround the house.”
“Things you should be asking me to do?” He headed into the hallwaytoward the bedroom.
“I like spending time with her.”
He stopped and turned around. “If I didn’t know better, I’d thinkyou were in love with her, not me.”
Grace was stunned. Why would he even think that? Had Dex saidsomething to Emma?
“Are you?” He tilted his head. “In love? With Dex?” He said thewords individually, making them sound all the worse.
Grace hesitated, not knowing quite how to explain what she hadwith Dex. It was definitely love, but a different kind of love than she had forBrent.
“Oh, shit. You are?”
“No. I’m not in love with her.” She shook her head. “Well, maybe Iam in a way.” The expression on Brent’s face told
