“She just fucking kissed you.”
Her stomach churned. “It meant nothing, Brent. I swear. She justneeded to know.” Grace needed to know too.
“To know what?”
“That she loves Emma.” Andshe doesn’t love me anymore. Grace felt like the tiniest person onthe smallest planet circling the earth right now. She’d made a mess of Dex’slife for her own selfish reasons.
“She had to kiss you to figure that out?”
“God, Brent. Sometimes you are so dense.” She hurried past himinto the house. “Dex has been in love with me since we were in seventh grade.”
He rushed inside after her. “Are you in love with her too?”
Grace tried to hold her tears, but they sprang out like a leakysoaker hose.
“Oh my God.” Brent raked a hand across his neck. “If she’s who youwant, you need to tell me right now.”
Grace’s mind swam as she threw herself into him and pressed herface to his chest. No,no, no. She is not at all who I want. She sucked in a deep breath asthe tears streamed down her face. “I don’t want her. I want you.”
He took her by the shoulders and created some distance betweenthem. “Anyone looking at this picture would never get that.”
“Brent, please. She’s my best friend. That’s all. I’ve neverwanted anyone but you.” She didn’t know how to explain the conflicting emotionsinside her head or her heart. That’s all Dex had ever been to her, but theywere connected in a way she was with no other.
“Then why are you trying to keep them apart? Emma told me you andshe had words before she broke up with Dex.”
“I don’t know why.” She shrugged. “I thought I was trying to makesure she didn’t get hurt.”
“But now they’ve both been hurt. You’re fucking with people’slives here. Don’t you want Dex to be happy?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then fix this clusterfuck you’ve created and let them be happy.”
“Okay, okay. I will.” She sobbed. “What did Emma tell you?”
“She said you were a bitch, as usual.”
“You think I’m a bitch?”
“You know I don’t think you’re a bitch.”
“Do I? We’ve been disagreeing on so many things lately.”
“Is that why you’ve been clinging to Dex?”
She nodded. “I needed some emotional support.” She paced thefloor. “I’m certainly not getting any from you. Ever since you moved in here,you started making rules without even discussing anything with me.”
“What are you talking about, Grace?”
“The money. The food. Everything. I should have a say in thisrelationship too.”
“You do.”
“No. I don’t. We used to talk. You actually used to listen to me,and you cared about what I had to say. You don’t do that anymore. Whathappened? Did I do something to change that?”
Brent seemed stunned. “I wasn’t trying to do that. I just want usto be smart about money. You know, for when we start a family.”
“A family?” Grace hadn’t thought that far ahead and wasn’t sureshe even wanted kids. With a series of nannies and parents that were rarelypresent in her life, her own childhood had been sketchy at best.
“Yeah. I know we haven’t really talked about it, but I thinkyou’ll be a great mom.”
“You do?”
“Yes.” He hauled her into his arms. “You’ve been taking great careof me for the past couple of months.”
She chuckled against his chest. “You are a big child, aren’t you?”
He squeezed her tighter. “I’m sorry, Grace. I’ll try to be abetter husband.”
Just those words made everything in Grace’s life seem better.She’d been able to say what she needed to Brent, and he hadn’t left. He wasstill right here holding her in his arms. Her future seemed clearer now.
* * *
It was clear now that what Dex thought she’d wanted for most ofher life wasn’t what she really wanted at all. In just a matter of weeks, Emmahad captured her heart, and she’d been too stupid to realize it until now.Until Grace had tried to blow it all to smithereens.
Her phone rang, and she jabbed at the button on the steering wheelto bring the call through the car stereo. “Emma?”
“No, it’s me, John. I’ve been trying to get ahold of you allmorning. Your voice mail’s full.”
“Sorry. What’s up?”
“We need more lights at the Lancaster place. Can you bring some?”
“How many are you short?”
“About ten strings.”
She glanced over her shoulder and took a rough count of what shehad loaded in the back seat of her SUV. “I think I’ve got enough with me. I’llbe there in about ten minutes.” She pushed the End button on her steering wheeland then picked up her phone to check her messages. There was only one messageshe hadn’t listened to. It was from Grace, and she’d left it a few days ago.Dex wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it after what had just happened. But sheneeded to clear it and free up her mailbox in case customers tried to call. Itcouldn’t have been that important, or Grace would’ve mentioned it. She’d beenwith her all day yesterday.
She touched the voice mail button on her phone, and it playedautomatically through the car speakers.
“Youare really fucked up. Why don’t I just go find Brent and tell him just howclose the two of you are?”
When Emma’s voice came through the speaker, Dex picked up thephone and checked the screen to confirm the call had been from Grace.
“No.I don’t love her like that. We were involved once, but that was over a longtime ago.”
That was Grace. What the hell? Wewere never involved, not everin any kind of sexual way. If they had been, she wouldn’t be in thestate she was in today.
“Soyou just flash those tail feathers of yours in front of her whenever you needto feel good about yourself.”
Emma was pissed and going hot at her.
“She’llnever love you like she loves me.”
Grace’s voice became faint, and Dex upped the volume.
“Youneed to either accept that or get out of her life.” She heard a doorslam and then Grace’s voice again. “Crazybitch.”
She pulled to the side of the road and listened to it again. Gracehad been the reason Emma had broken
