“Sorry about that.” He grimaced.
“It wasn’t you. It was more from…” She gestured to her arm and noticed Grant watching her sadly from across the room.
The funeral service the next morning was short. The priest said a prayer, then Nancy got up and said a few words that were a lot kinder than anything Kate ever would have said about Danielle. Then they all followed the hearse to the cemetery. Danielle was buried next to her parents and the children she killed.
Back at Nancy’s house for the repast, Grant looked ill.
“He hasn’t been sleeping,” Nancy told her quietly. “Maybe you can talk to him.”
Kate didn’t have a chance. Nancy’s house was packed after the burial service, and people would give their condolences to Grant then approach her for the full story.
She stayed at Nancy’s house until the last of the well-wishers gave their condolences. While tidying up, Kate looked for Grant and found him huddled on the couch in one of the sitting rooms.
“Grant,” Kate said as he sat up.
“What do you want?”
She stroked his face then kissed him. “I’ve been thinking about everything,” she said, cupping his jaw and looking into his eyes. “I don’t ever want to lose you. I’ll quit my job. Anything. I want to be with you.” She kissed him again, but he didn’t respond, just turned his head away.
“I can’t,” he said, wrapping his arms around himself. “This is a mistake. You were right—we can never be together.”
Chapter 64
Grant
Grant pulled on his uniform and was packing his duffel bag. He took his lucky watch from the box and flipped it over. There were still specks of blood on it. So much for that meticulous eight-month clean. It was a metaphor for his life. No matter how much he tried, he was who he was, and that person did not have any business in Kate’s world. Just like the watch, he brought nothing but strife and violence to the people near him.
There was a knock on the door, and his father stepped into the room.
“Where are you going?” Walter asked.
“I can’t be here,” Grant said. “I have to leave.”
“I don’t understand,” his father said, sitting down on the bed next to the half-packed bag. “You’re doing so well at the company. You won us contracts in Norway and Ethiopia, and the clients are expecting you to manage those projects.”
Grant looked at his father sorrowfully. He needed to come clean. “It was Danielle,” he admitted. “She helped me win the Ethiopian contract. This whole disaster is my fault. I can’t be trusted. I thought I could control her. I just… and now Kate got hurt.”
His father sagged. “I should have warned you she was after you. I should have…” He let his face drop in his hands. “Danielle was an incredibly manipulative person. She had a cunning way of finding your deepest desires and sharpening your need into a weapon that can be used against you.”
Walter reached out and grabbed Grant by the wrist and held on tightly. “It’s not your fault. I should have protected you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Grant said, trying to pull away. “I can’t protect the people I care about. I’m going to reenlist. I don’t belong here.”
“But Danielle is dead now, thankfully. This is the beginning of a new chapter in the Holbrook family!”
“It’s too late,” Grant spat. “Brendan, Kate, Gus—people I care about are hurt and killed because of me. I’m exactly like her.”
“You’re nothing like her. Please, Grant, stay. We can work it out,” Walter pleaded, then he pulled out the set of pamphlets about veterans’ mental health that the fire department had given them. “There’s no shame in talking to someone. I’ve started going. You don’t have to deal with this all on your own.”
Grant didn’t take the papers, so his father set them down on the desk.
“At least promise me you’ll sleep on it. You can always leave tomorrow.”
Grant nodded, and Walter moved his duffel bag to the closet. Grant gave Walter a hug before he left him, but he knew he had no intention of keeping his promise.
He waited in his room until it was dark, threw his bag over the side of the balcony, and then climbed down, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. He left and walked down the road toward the New Cardiff train station. He was going to take the last southbound train. Maybe he would wait a bit before reenlisting and find a job as a security guard or go work on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana.
He bought his ticket from the kiosk then waited for the train to show up. It started to drizzle, and he pulled up his collar, shuddering as the freezing rain dripped down his shirt.
