“Oh, good point.” Jenna nodded. “Alex will soften her. And maybe Oreo? My aunt likes animals.”
“Oreo?”
“My dog,” Simon said. “We’ll come up with some things and let you know.”
Taking that as his dismissal, Grant left the pair, impressed with their scheming, and texted Piper that he’d love to have dinner with her. Then he went in search of a decent gym.
He’d take some active rest, probably through the holiday. Then he’d start rebuilding.
He had one more year on his contract. What no one outside the teens and Cade knew, not even his agent, was that he planned to give up the sport. Family, always his primary goal to happiness, needed to take center stage, and professional baseball was too much a distraction.
But Grant had plans. Something he’d been playing with for years, an inspired line of work that never failed to please him as a hobby. Now, maybe more than that. Although he could easily retire on his earnings and never work again, he needed purpose. Being a husband and father had to be balanced with a less demanding, but satisfying, career. A woman like Piper wouldn’t be content with a house husband. And it just wasn’t in his nature to not do something creative with his time.
Excellent. He plugged in coordinates for a few private gyms and got to work. But his thoughts remained on how to convince Piper they were meant to be, and that not all boys were stupid.
Not an easy task thanks to the jerk who’d ditched her a day before her wedding.
Piper spent a good portion of her day taking her newest clients around town, showing them the different neighborhoods and schools. Hope’s Turn, a small mountain town nestled near the Cascade Mountains, had just shy of thirty-three thousand people. The main economy had been lumber before the mills had closed, and tourism grew. The mountains attracted skiers, cyclists, and outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds.
The cost of living wasn’t exorbitant, and in the past few years, they’d seen a lot of wealthy retirees settle in the higher-end homes on larger plots of land. But the pace of life remained slow, so those expecting concerts and a hopping nightlife stayed away. Families dominated the population, and the closest college town sat thirty miles to the north. Not far away, yet far enough to encourage folks wanting a more robust social life to head there.
For her part, Piper enjoyed touring her town with the lovely couple from Washington. They made small talk easily, enjoyed a lunch together with Piper downtown, and ended up showing interest in three properties in the low four-hundreds. She had a feeling they’d qualify, their finances set with both their jobs in the tech fields, allowing them to work anywhere. Yet another quirk to Hope’s Turn—not a lot of big paying jobs unless one worked for oneself.
Pulling into the parking lot to pick up dinner, she put the large box of food containers in the backseat, having ordered plenty, glad Grant would be joining her and Jenna.
She hated to admit it, but her nightmare about Grant had thrown her. On the one hand, she planned to never marry. Or at least, not anytime soon. Her near disaster with Sam had taught her a valuable lesson. The only problem with that concerned children. Piper wanted to have kids and a family and was old fashioned enough to want to marry first, then get pregnant.
And that meant speeding up her timeline. In two more years she’d be thirty five, the age when women started having increased health risks with pregnancy.
Something Sam’s fiancée wouldn’t know, the twenty-five-year-old due to give birth soon.
The familiar heartache gripped her but lessened quickly enough, the hurt she felt not as piercing as it had been. Piper had thought she’d finally found her future. A loving fiancé and plans for a baby. They’d even picked out a house in which they could grow their family.
Now someone else’s house. Someone else’s family.
That prick.
Hmm. Maybe she wasn’t as over Sam as she thought she was. Though to be honest, she didn’t miss him as much as she missed what he’d represented.
An image of a smiling Grant popped into her head. Oh, sure. The boy she’d once babysat had grown up into a charming, rich, handsome man who wanted nothing but to marry her and give her the life she desired. She snorted. The way her luck ran, she’d be lucky if Grant turned out to be even half as sweet as he’d once been. No doubt the pro ball player wined and dined the ladies, leaving a trail of broken hearts wherever he moved.
Now depressed, she inhaled the scents of orange chicken, fried rice, egg rolls, and Mongolian beef. A lot of food, enough to feed a small army. Or a family of four easily. A family—something she was only borrowing by watching her niece, since she had no chance of children or a husband anytime soon.
As she drove home, she didn’t know whether to be relieved or sad about the fact.
So many of her friends had married and continued to be happy. Going out anymore had become a chore, finding her friends too busy with husbands or wives to have time for girls’ night out. And then she had a few friends who’d suffered through horrible marriages, only to end in brutal divorces. A lot like her contentious ending with Sam.
The night before the wedding, he’d called it off. She had a feeling he’d expected thanks, that he hadn’t left her standing in her dress waiting for him in front of the altar.
She parked the car in her driveway and gripped the wheel, doing her best to stop thinking about that terrible time. But she couldn’t, and she hated when the memory would sweep over her, as it did now.
Everyone had known. Her flowers, cake, dress, and the reception hall had been nonrefundable. So she’d been stuck with those bills. And that stupid dress.
Her eyes burned but she smiled. She’d torched the dress, and what a satisfying feeling that had been. She could almost feel the heat and rage while she watched it smoke and smolder. After a moment, her anger started to melt away, leaving her able to function. I’m so much better off without Sam. I know that. But why am I thinking about him again? He’s nothing to me.
A knock on the car window jolted her.
“Hey, you coming in?” Grant asked and opened the door, letting the heat out.
