by Shirley Jump
“It’s not that I needed a few bucks for a vanilla cone,” Grady said. “It was the memory. I was a kid again when I peeked in that glove compartment, you know?”
“Some of the best memories of my life were at that house and in this car.”
“Mine, too.” Grady gestured toward the envelope, as he turned around in an empty driveway and headed back to town. As much as he was enjoying the ride and the time with his brother, there was a dinner waiting to be served at the inn, and Nick needed to get back. “Anyway, go ahead, read it.”
Nick rolled the window up again, then unfolded the letter and began to read aloud. “‘Dear Grady, I knew you’d go looking in here, because you thought your grandma might have left you a few bucks for a sundae. I already left you the house, for Pete’s sake. Go buy your own ice cream.’” Nick laughed. “That sure sounds like Grandma.”
“Keep reading. Because I think you’ll get something from the rest.”
Nick cleared his throat. “Okay. ‘I bet you’re wondering why I left you the house and gave your brothers cash. Ryder and Nick loved the place as much as you did, but they are already on the paths they need to take. Breaking away from your dad and becoming something else. You did that too, but you did it by leaving behind everything you knew.
“‘If Nick did what I hope he did, then he’s as happy as butter on toast. Ryder will get there, and I’m hoping the money gives him the heave-ho he needs to find what he truly wants.’” Nick grinned. “She knows us boys well.”
“She always did. Better than Mom and Dad.”
“For sure.” Nick made a big deal out of clearing his throat again and flapping the letter. “‘Grady, you always needed something different. You might think it’s the excitement of risk, but I think it’s something more. The thing that scares you most.’” Nick glanced over at him. “I take it this is where it gets interesting.”
Grady scowled. “I didn’t ask for commentary.”
Nick grinned, then dipped his head and started reading again. “‘Of all the boys, you were the one who craved a home the most. I’d see you crying, looking out the back window of your father’s car every time he pulled away from my house, and it near broke my heart. I know that this house was home for you when you were here. I wish that could have happened more often. So I’m giving you this house, so you can have that home you wanted so badly, and have a place to build a life in. Because all the success in the world matters not if you don’t have a family to share it with. So live in my house, find yourself a smart and funny wife who can make cookies like your grandma did, and fill that house with children and laughter. Because, my dear Grady, jumping off the platform into a lake of love (I know, I know, but I really liked the metaphor) is the greatest risk of all.’”
Silence filled the car for a moment, then his brother murmured, “I gotta agree. That’s how I ended up taking that leap with Vivian. Best choice I ever made.” He folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. “So, what are you going to do?”
Grady gestured toward the scene ahead of them. Stone Gap lay at the bottom of the hill, a constellation of streetlights and porch lights. “I’m gonna leap.”
* * *
Beth left her father’s house and had started to head home when she saw a familiar dog attached to a leash, and two people she didn’t know in the downtown area. She pulled over and got out of the car, looking down at the dog, then up at the couple. “Monster? What are you doing here?”
“We adopted him,” the man said. “We saw an ad some guy hung up at the supermarket, on the bulletin board. We’ve been looking for a dog like this.”
Beth knew that Grady had been looking for a home for Monster from the start, but she’d always assumed...
Well, that she would have taken Monster and given Grady an excuse to visit. The fact that he had given Monster away cemented what Beth had secretly hoped wasn’t true. Grady was gone. For good.
“We have been looking for a dog, but not like this one.” His wife’s face pinched. “I’ve never seen a dog who misbehaves like him. He’s in our house for twenty minutes and he chews all my shoes, then tries to eat the meat loaf I made for dinner!”
Beth knelt down to the puppy’s level and cupped his face in her hands. His fur was soft, his eyes bright and eager. “Monster. What are you doing? I taught you better than that.” The dog’s tail wagged at a furious pace.
“Anyway, I think we’re going to have to bring him to the shelter,” the husband went on. “He’s clearly not the right dog for us.”
“A shelter?” Beth looked up, keeping a protective hand on Monster’s collar. No way in hell was she going to let these people put Monster down or send him off to parts unknown. “I’ll take him home. I know this dog, and he’s not as badly behaved as you think.”
“You can have him.” The husband dropped the leash into Beth’s hands. “Next time, we’re going for a nice, quiet, elderly golden retriever.”
Some people, Beth decided, shouldn’t own dogs at all. She thanked them, took the leash, then helped Monster into her car. The puppy bounded into the seat, sat as primly as a schoolmarm and, panting, sent a happy smile in Beth’s direction. “You did all that on purpose, didn’t you?”
Monster just kept on panting. But his tail wagged a slow yes against the vinyl seat cover.
She should take Monster back to Grady, and tell him what had happened. But just as she went to put her car in gear, Beth’s heart dropped. She couldn’t. If Monster had been adopted out, that must mean Grady had left for New York. And they were over. She supposed he’d send her some annulment paperwork or something, and put the whole thing in his past.
Any last bit of hope she’d had died right then.
She drove home, grateful she knew the way by heart because she could barely see. She swiped away her tears, but they kept on coming. By the time she pulled into her driveway, the tears had become full-on sobs.
Before she could get out of the car, Monster bounded across the console and into her lap, barking and prancing. She tried to pull the dog back, but he wouldn’t listen. “What are you doing? You need to sit, Monster. Sit and—”
And then she saw what Monster was so excited about.
Grady, leaning against Ida Mae’s bright blue Camaro, looking so damned handsome under that streetlight she wanted to hit him. For being there. For looking so good and for setting alight her own foolish heart, which kept falling for him, over and over.
Beth opened the door and tumbled out of the car, with the puppy leading the way. Monster yanked his leash out of Beth’s hand and bounded forward, barking with joy until he reached Grady. Then he leaped up, placed his paws on Grady’s chest and licked his face. Grady laughed and gave the rambunctious puppy a hug. “Okay, okay, I’ve got you now. You can calm down.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
He laughed again. “If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that question today, I’d be a rich man.”
He hadn’t answered the question. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what he had to say. Chances were good he was here with the annulment papers. A man like Grady wouldn’t want to leave in place a tie to a town he couldn’t stand. “I’ve got to take Monster home,” she said. “I took him from those people who adopted him. They said he was too rambunctious.”
“I know. They just texted me.” Grady kept on leaning against the car, a devilish grin on his face. “So you’re taking Monster home. Meaning...back to our house?”
Our house? What did he mean by that? “You sold that house, Grady. There’s no ‘our’ anything anymore.” She picked up the leash and gave Monster a tug. “Come on, buddy, let’s go.”
The dog refused to move. He plopped his butt on the concrete and looked up at Grady with utter adoration. “Monster...” She tugged again.
“He doesn’t want to go,” Grady said. “Because he knows I don’t want t
o, either.”
Beth stopped midstep. What had he just said? She turned around. “What do you mean, you don’t want to, either?”
“I’m selling my company,” Grady said, pushing off from the Camaro and coming to stand before her. “Jim upped his offer, and it’s enough to pay off my debts and send some severance to the people I had to lay off.”
She blinked. “But...what will you do in New York?”
“Nothing.” He grinned. “Because I’m not going to New York. I took Mac Barlow up on his offer.”
Grady was buying Hillstrand Solar? To sell it? Or to run it? “But...I thought you turned him down.”
“I did. Then I changed my mind. I changed my mind about a lot of things tonight. Spent the last twenty minutes on the phone, working out a partnership with Mac, undoing the deal to sell the house, and texting with the people who adopted my dog. They told me some crazy woman took him home with her, and I knew that had to be you. Because you’re the only one crazy enough to take in a wild mutt and a man who’s been stupid for far too long.” He placed a hand on her cheek, his gaze locking on hers. Her breath caught and she dared to allow hope to rise inside her once again. “I didn’t realize what a coward I was being until I almost got on a plane and left. Which would have meant losing you.”
“You weren’t losing me.” She had been here all along, and despite her brave speech to her father, she knew deep down she would have waited for Grady.
“I would have if I’d run away to New York.” Monster nudged at his leg and Grady gave him an ear rub. “Logically, going back to the city made sense. I had an existing company there, an existing home, an existing life. But here’s the thing...” He paused a moment. “When I was a kid, what made me happiest was going with my gut instinct. Jumping off the edge of something and knowing I could make it without getting hurt. I stopped doing that when my gut failed me.”
“When that business deal with the government fell through.”
He nodded. “It was a mistake, and it cost me everything. But it also taught me something none of my previous successes ever did. That sometimes, mistakes bring you exactly where you need to be.”
“And where is that?” she asked, almost afraid to hear his reply. Even Monster was sitting still, as if waiting on the answer.
“To the biggest risk of all.” He smiled at her. “Marrying a woman I barely knew. Pretending to fall in love, in front of an entire town.”
Pretend he was in love? All this time, she’d thought maybe there was a chance that his words in the kitchen that night were real. She shook her head. “I should go home, Grady.”
“Wait,” he said. “Please.”
She turned the leash over and over in her hands. “Grady—”
“You are the only thing in my life that makes sense. That...grounds me.” He brushed a tendril of hair off her cheek. “When I’m around you, Beth, I get this sense of peace. Calm. Joy. I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. I’ve been all over the world, and achieved things most men my age never do. But when I got in my grandmother’s car today and started driving, I realized something. I’ve only been truly happy in two places.”
“Where is that?” If he said Timbuktu or Paris, she was going to slug him. Her heart had begun to drop, and she didn’t want it to break again.
“Here in Stone Gap and...” He closed the distance between them, then wrapped his arms around her waist. He was warm against her, solid, strong. “...anytime and anywhere with you.”
Here. With her. Did he really mean that?
She put her head against his chest and listened to the soft thud of his heart. It was steady and dependable, and something she had come to treasure. “I’ve been so afraid to trust a man, so afraid to fall in love,” she whispered. “Every man I’ve ever known has let me down. But then you came along and you did more than I asked for.”
“Because I love you, Beth.” He tipped her chin until she was looking at him. “I really do. You remind me so much of my grandmother, because you are strong and determined and the kind of woman the right person should see as his partner. But only if he steps up to the plate and becomes the kind of man you deserve.”
“You were that person, Grady. You still are.” Was he saying what she thought he was saying? That he wanted to stay married? “So...you aren’t here with annulment papers?”
He laughed. “No, honey, not at all. I thought this was more appropriate for the occasion of me admitting I was almost the stupidest man alive.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a velvet box with the logo of a local jeweler. An almost perfect replica of the ring he’d given her was nestled in the dark blue interior. “This diamond is real. Because this marriage will be real. If...”
“If what?”
He took a breath, then held her gaze. “If you still want to marry me, Beth.”
The question hung in the air between them. So much had happened in the last few weeks, so many twists and turns to a life that Beth once thought was as predictable as rain on a hot summer night. Then Grady came along and disrupted the quiet, scheduled world Beth had lived in, and asked her to be more, to dare more.
“I can’t do that, Grady.” She shook her head, and a shadow dropped over his features. “Because...I’m already married to the man I love.”
A wide grin spread across Grady’s face and joy lit his eyes. “That is one hell of a lucky man.” He leaned down and kissed her, sweet and long, while Monster barked and twined his leash around their legs. The lost puppy had found a home, and now, Beth realized, so had she.
Epilogue
Beth had started to waddle. She put a hand on her aching back and gave Grady a grimace. “I look like a penguin.”
He chuckled and pulled out a cushioned chair for her at the table on the deck. “No, you look like a beautiful woman who is about to have our first child.”
Beth grinned. “There is that.” She sighed as she sank into the comfortable chair and looked out over the lake. Grady had bought a small pontoon boat that was docked at Ida Mae’s pier and ready to go for a sunset cruise later, although clouds had been moving in all day and threatening rain.
Grady had already put a swing set on the lawn, even though it would be a long time until their child was ready to use it. Monster snoozed in the sunny corner of the deck, his paws moving in a puppy dream of chasing rabbits.
The grill was sizzling with burgers and hot dogs, and there was cold lemonade in the pitcher on the table. They had just come home from the dedication ceremony for the Ida Mae Jackson Gazebo in the center of Stone Gap Park. The roof of the gazebo had been painted a bright blue, the same as Ida Mae’s Camaro. Grady had hired the ice cream shop to hand out free cones for the occasion, and Cutler Shay had insisted on being the one to dish up the scoops.
The back door opened and Mac and Savannah emerged, their two-year-old daughter perched on Mac’s hip. She had the same bright blond hair as her mother, and an infectious grin that clearly had Mac infatuated.
Nick and Vivian and their daughter strolled across the lawn. Nick had told Grady, and sworn him to secrecy until they had a chance to make it public, that Vivian was pregnant. Nick’s restaurant was doing well, a busy and cozy place just outside of town that was gaining a reputation all along the East Coast for locals and tourists alike. “Hi, Nick,” Beth said.
He leaned down and kissed her cheek, then deposited a brightly colored gift bag on the table beside her. “Bought my soon-to-be-nephew a noisy toy. Be sure to only let him play with it when Grady’s in charge.”
Beth laughed. “It might be a niece, and will you quit buying things? We’re going to need to purchase a bigger house for all the toys and things you and Grady are bringing home. The baby hasn’t even been born yet.”
Grady chuckled and put a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “You can’t blame us. We’re just excited. And you know me and my brother. We don’t do anything halfway.”
/>
“You both are going to have to learn some restraint or our baby will be spoiled.” She covered Grady’s hand with her own and leaned her cheek against the warmth of his face. How she loved her husband, who made her life so much richer and better. She had no doubt he was going to be a fabulous, hands-on father, given how involved and present he’d been throughout the pregnancy.
“I have something for the baby, too,” Grady said. He handed Beth a small bag and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “This is from someone special who couldn’t be here today.”
Beth picked up the bag, reached past the piles of bright blue tissue paper and pulled out a teeny tiny pair of boxing gloves. Her eyes misted and she looked up at her husband. “That is so sweet.”
“I know your dad would want our baby to have a pair. And to tell him or her that it’s never too early to learn how to fight for yourself.” Grady gave a mock one-two jab, and grinned. “Okay, maybe a little early. Use them as a mobile for now, and then our baby can dream about his grandpa.”
She brushed away her tears and drew her husband into a long, tight hug. The baby kicked between them as if he was just as ready to be here as everyone was to meet him—or her.
A minute later, Grady and Mac went to the grill, turning burgers and talking business. Monster woke up, grabbed his ball and crossed to Savannah and her daughter, begging for a game of fetch.
Just then, the clouds opened up and rain began to pelt the deck. The guests hurried into the house, shooing the kids in ahead of them. Grady helped his wife out of the chair. “Come on, honey, we need to get out of the rain,” he said. “Monster, you, too.”
The irrepressible Lab bounded past them, down the deck steps and out into the storm. Beth sighed. “That dog’s going to track in mud later.”
“No, he won’t. Watch this.” Grady whistled and called Monster’s name. “Come!”