Grant pointed his finger in the air. “That’s exactly what I told Rebekah.”
“And Rebekah is the very beautiful and very smart director of Furever Paws that you keep flying to North Carolina to visit?” His mom’s knowing smile lit up her face.
“I haven’t been flying up there just to visit her,” Grant said. He wanted to tell his mom about the babies. But he’d made a promise to wait a few more weeks. “How did you know about me and Rebekah, anyway?”
“Because there’re only two things that would keep my son from work.”
“Oh, yeah?” He lifted himself into a sitting position on the counter near the sink. “What are those?”
“Either a sweet set breaking off the south shore or a sweet someone needing him.”
Grant rolled his shoulders. “How do you know that it’s Rebekah that needs me?”
His mother studied him the way she used to when he’d been a kid and would promise to reapply his sunscreen, but then inevitably returned home with a sunburned face. “You’re so much like your father, always the first one in line to help out with no thought as to what it might cost you in the long run. It kept me up a lot of nights when you volunteered for the lifeguarding deep sea rescue team. But you can’t always save everyone, Grant.”
“Who am I trying to save?” he asked. Rebekah certainly wasn’t the kind of person who needed rescuing. She was far too strong, too controlled, to need anyone.
“Um, how about me, for one?” His mom gestured at the water stain on the ceiling. “You didn’t have to rush here to deal with this, you know.”
“You told me that there was a major leak at the surf shop.”
“Yeah, but only because I wanted to know if your sister and I could store some of the merchandise at that fancy condo you hardly ever seem to use anymore. Not because I needed you to fly home and help me dump out buckets. And do you really think that Bunny and Birdie need you swinging by North Carolina every week or so to oversee the pet shelter that they’ve been running on their own for how many years?”
Okay, so his mom had a good point. He would’ve told her as much; however, she continued talking.
“Rushing in to rescue people is your way of having a little adventure. First you wanted to be a lifeguard. But then you saw that the surf shop had been hit by the recession, so you decided that a better-paying job would provide you with more income to send our way. The next step was getting into the business of saving companies by rebranding their products. Now you’re this marketing genius who makes more money than you know what to do with, and yet you’re still restless. Have you ever thought that maybe you need to take a step back and figure out what’s missing in your own life that makes you want to become so involved in everyone else’s?”
“Geez, Mom.” Grant felt the weight of his mother’s knowing stare. “You make it sound like I’m a solution in search of a problem.”
“Kiddo, how easily could you cut a check to Bunny and Birdie to get them back on their feet after that tornado?”
“You know they won’t take money from me.”
“Exactly. So you found other ways to help them. Whether they want that help or not.”
“Of course they want my help. You should see how happy they are every time I come out.”
His mom lifted her brows and he recognized her playful smirk because it was the same one he made when he was holding back his own laughter. “It just so happens that by helping them, you also get to help yourself to more time with their director.”
There was a puddle of water on the counter next to him and he used his fingers to flick some her way. “Are you done teasing me now?”
His mom’s squeal of laughter brought one of Grant’s sisters to the doorway between the shop and the shaping room. “Some of us are trying to make phone calls to our vendors and order replacements for all the merchandise that got ruined last night. You think you guys could keep it down back here while you discuss Grant’s new girlfriend?”
Clearly, his family had already heard about her, which meant the news of their fake relationship had already made its way down here.
“You know, I was going to help you clean up this mess and then buy you guys lunch.” Grant said with a dismissive shrug. “But I wouldn’t want to make myself too helpful.”
His sister’s reply was to stick her tongue out at him, making his mom laugh even harder.
After his conversation with his mom and then a question-fueled lunch with his little sister, Grant’s head was swirling with thoughts of Rebekah. He found himself checking his phone for missed texts every fifteen minutes while he finished clearing wet debris and soggy cardboard boxes from the storage room of his family’s surf shop.
He wasn’t sure if he should give Rebekah space or if he should try to reach out and apologize for leaving so soon after promising to stick by her side.
They hadn’t exactly parted on the best of terms. She’d brought up all that stuff about Gator, and then she’d cried in his arms about her previous pregnancy. The woman had finally let down her guard in front of him and he’d taken off.
Although, in his defense, he’d thought his mom actually needed him.
But Rebekah had needed him, too.
Or maybe not.
The sex had been incredible and at first, that had been enough of a reason to fly up to see her. But soon, he found that he couldn’t stop thinking about her—and now that he had a chance at a real relationship and future with her, the fact that she might not want the same hurt more than he expected. There were too many emotions swirling around in his head and not a single clear thought. He stretched, and his eyes landed on his dad’s old longboard hanging on the wall in the rear of the store. Moose Whitaker used to always say that the ocean washed away the world’s problems.
Had there ever been a better time to hit the waves?
* * *
Rebekah didn’t hear from Grant that entire Saturday. On Sunday evening, she got a text from him asking her how Angus was doing. But there was no reference to her pregnancy or her emotional breakdown in his rental car a couple of nights ago. In response, Rebekah sent a picture of Angus chomping away at his food bowl. Then asked, How are things going at your family’s surf shop?
Grant wrote, It was a mess, but my mom has it under control.
Rebekah frowned at her screen. So, now that the leak situation had been taken care of, was he planning to return to Spring Forest anytime soon? To pick up where they’d left off?
Angus hopped up onto the sofa beside her, that stupid T-shirt of Grant’s hanging from his little mouth. “I know you miss him, boy.” She stroked the spiky hair that made the dog look as though he had serious eyebrows. “But who knows when he’ll come back. He lives in Florida.”
She sighed and leaned her head against the white leather, watching the rain falling outside her window. This would probably be the same conversation she’d be having with her kids a couple of years from now. I know you miss Daddy, kids. But he has a life somewhere else. Who knows when we’ll see him again?
Just thinking about the hurt on her unborn children’s faces made Rebekah want to forget Grant’s phone number all over again.
On Monday, she threw herself back into her job. Not that Rebekah didn’t always fully commit to her work, but she’d made a promise to herself the previous night that she could only control what she did with her life. She couldn’t control Grant.
Angus had a little bed in the corner of her office, but if she got up to get something out of a filing cabinet or to head to the reception desk to scan the latest adoption report, the dog trotted along behind her.
“All that time alone on the streets and now the little guy won’t leave your side,” Bunny said, bending down in her work overalls to give Angus one of the small treats she always carried in her pockets for the animals.
“I know.” Rebekah’s shoulders droppe
d. “Hopefully, it’s a good family that eventually adopts him.”
“Families don’t always pick the animals they’re going to adopt.” Bunny rose to her feet and stared at her through clear blue eyes. “Sometimes, it’s the animals who pick the families.”
Grant had told her something similar, but she didn’t want to hear it any more now than she had last week. Rebekah pivoted toward the reception desk, looking for some papers or folders or anything else that needed her attention so that she wouldn’t have to face the older woman and pretend that she didn’t know exactly what Bunny meant.
“How about all that rain we got yesterday?” Bunny said, thankfully changing the subject. “The storm also hit Florida pretty badly before coming up here to us.”
Was the mention of Florida supposed to be an opening for bringing up Grant? If so, she wasn’t going to fall for it. Rebekah managed a murmur as she arranged the clipboards holding blank adoption applications.
“I called Grant last night to tell him that we’re having some drainage issues with the creek that runs through the farm.” Yep, Bunny had purposely steered the conversation in the direction of her perfect nephew, the Whitaker golden boy.
Rebekah’s spine straightened. “Let me guess. He’s on his way to save the day?”
“That’s the weird thing.” The woman’s head tilted so far to the side, the messy white bun on top was in danger of tumbling down. “Lately, he’s come running at the slightest mention of a problem on the farm or with the shelter. But this time all he did was offer to call an excavation company to come out and take a look.”
“Well, he might be pretty busy with his job in Jacksonville. He has been out of his office a lot lately.”
“But that’s because he has someone special now in Spring Forest.”
“No, he comes to see you and Birdie, too.”
Rebekah realized her slip as soon as the corner of Bunny’s mouth lifted slightly. Damn. The woman had gotten her to admit that not only had she observed Grant’s comings and goings, but also that she knew it had something to do with their relationship. The relationship that was supposed to only be pretend.
“Well, when you talk to him today, let him know that Megan Jennings is going to want to meet with all of us soon.” Bunny gave Angus another treat before walking away.
If Megan—the lawyer investigating the Whitakers’ financial problems—wanted to meet, that probably meant there had been a break in the case. Grant would want to know...but it wasn’t as if Rebekah was going to bring up the subject of his aunts’ missing money, let alone the findings of the attorney’s investigation. Let Megan be the one to tell Grant that his Uncle Gator was clearly behind the whole thing.
When she left work that afternoon, Rebekah saw the yellow backhoe chugging along the creek on the farm’s property. She half expected to see Grant in the driver’s seat, trying to dig the new drainage trench himself. The guy came to town to take pictures for brochures or to take forty-five minute tours of bird sanctuaries that he’d already researched online. But suddenly he couldn’t be bothered with a major problem like this?
It didn’t make any sense.
Unless he was avoiding something in Spring Forest.
Or someone.
Chapter Fourteen
This was the first time Grant had flown into Spring Forest and immediately hadn’t gone by Furever Paws to see Rebekah.
Well, at least the first time since they initially slept together.
He drove his rental car to the Main Street Grille, where he was meeting his aunts and Megan Jennings.
When they’d called him earlier this week about the drainage issue on their creek, it had taken every ounce of strength to stop himself from coming running. But unless his aunts or Rebekah specifically said that they needed his help, he’d vowed not to rush in and rescue anyone again.
Then, last night, Birdie had told him that they needed to talk to him about their financial situation, and that was all it had taken to get him to hop on a plane.
“Hey, Whitaker,” a voice said when Grant exited his car. He turned and saw one of his old buddies from his summer visits to his aunts.
“Zeke Harper.” Grant smiled as he met the man halfway across the parking lot. They shared a handshake. “I’d heard you’d come back to town after getting out of the Army.”
“I keep thinking I’ll run into you over at the shelter one of these days.” Zeke studied him with avid interest. The psychologist was involved with local veterans’ groups and he and his fiancé had even started a therapy dog training program matching pets to soldiers with PTSD. “Mollie says you’ve been flying into Spring Forest quite a bit lately.”
“I bet she says a lot of things to you now that you guys are finally engaged.” Mollie McFadden and her brother had grown up with Zeke and, while Grant had usually only hung out with the older guys, he now saw Mollie holding training classes over at Furever Paws pretty regularly. “Took you two long enough, huh?”
“All good things are worth the wait,” Zeke said, then lifted a single brow. “How’s your own wait going?”
“Since you’re a head doctor, should I even bother pretending that I don’t know exactly who you’re talking about?”
“Doesn’t take a psychology degree to know that you’ve got a thing for Rebekah Taylor.”
“Can I take that to mean that people are already talking?” Grant asked, wondering how much everyone knew. Did they realize she was pregnant?
“Spring Forest has grown a lot since we were kids, but it’s still a small town at heart. However, if you ever want to swing by my office in Raleigh for some relationship advice, I can invoke doctor/patient privilege, so you don’t have to worry about the gossip.”
“I just might take you up on that,” Grant said as he spotted his aunts walking along the sidewalk with their attorney. “I’ve gotta go, but I’m sure we’ll run into each other soon.”
He and Zeke exchanged another handshake and Grant had just enough time to make it to the restaurant’s entrance to hold the door open for the trio of women.
“Grant, you remember Megan Jennings,” Aunt Birdie said. “She lives out at Battle Lands Farms with her boyfriend, Cade. I’m sure Rebekah’s already told you how Megan and Cade have the best luck placing all the animals they foster.”
“Of course.” Grant shook the young woman’s hand, not revealing that Rebekah hadn’t told him anything of the sort. They’d barely been willing to discuss their own relationship, let alone anyone else’s. “I hear you might have some news for us.”
Megan exchanged a look with his aunts and Grant’s stomach dropped. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear.
“Let’s get a table and we can talk about everything,” Aunt Bunny suggested. “I’ve been craving a tuna melt and a chocolate shake all week.”
They were seated at a booth in the corner, away from the other customers, and Grant realized that someone had called ahead to reserve this particular table. That meant his aunts wanted privacy, but they also planned to tell him something in a public place. Did they think he was going to get upset?
“Just lay it on me,” he finally said when the server left with their order.
Birdie looked across the table to Bunny, who nodded. The older sister took a deep breath. “Megan came to us a while ago with some information and we’ve been going back and forth on what we should do with it.”
Grant pinched the bridge of his nose, already knowing what they were going to say. “It was Gator, wasn’t it?”
Megan began speaking. Apparently, his uncle had gotten himself into some serious financial trouble and dipped into his sisters’ financial interests to cover his own bad debts.
“When Gator pocketed those insurance premiums, his embezzlement affected Furever Paws, which operates as a nonprofit organization. Bunny and Birdie have a fiduciary duty
to protect their nonprofit’s assets and provide their promised services. Grant, if your aunts don’t file charges to get that money back, not only do they breach that duty, they also risk losing the trust of their donors. They could pretty much kiss all future grants and zoning approvals goodbye, as well. If they want to keep Furever Paws open, they have to bring a case against your uncle and at least attempt to recoup their losses.”
Grant felt all the air leave his lungs as his whole childhood deflated. “Have you talked to Gator?”
“That’s the thing,” Birdie said. “Nobody’s seen him since the investigation started.”
“Before we formally file the charges, we wanted to talk to you and your cousins first,” Bunny explained. “Wanted y’all to see why we have no choice.”
“What do Gator’s kids say about this?” Grant asked.
“Well, they aren’t very happy with their father, obviously. They think he should turn himself in.”
Grant stared at Megan. “Is there any way to prosecute my uncle without my aunts having to be the ones who point the finger? I just don’t want Gator to think his family betrayed him.”
Birdie shared the bench seat with Grant and he could feel her sit up straighter. “Gator betrayed us first by taking our money. We trusted him to manage our affairs and instead of making insurance payments, he covered his own behind, leaving us with no resources when the tornado struck. His deception got us into a mountain of debt that we’ll probably never get out of as far as our personal finances. As far as the animal shelter goes, we’re left with a shoestring budget based on charitable donations. But how long will those keep coming in? Especially if folks find out that we aren’t doing right by their donations?”
Grant was the source of several large donations—anonymously, of course—but the shelter needed the support of the whole community.
It Started with a Pregnancy Page 15