“What happened?”
“I saw an opportunity to take the company in a more profitable direction. Jack didn’t want to, so I went behind his back, and I just did it. I don’t think Jack ever forgave me. I made us rich, but he was still so angry. He sacrificed a lot to build the company and spent a lot of time away from home. His kids suffered. He scaled back after I convinced him to move into the foundation work, but by then, it was too late. I think I ended up spending more time with Carter than he did.” Walter studied his drink.
“Mark was level headed enough to sort of take it, or maybe he’s just more even tempered. He’s a lot like his father. Carter is more like me in that he goes out and does what he wants. An idea pops into his head, and he chases after it. He was great with my kids. I wonder who they would have grown up to be.”
He looked so sad. Grant felt guilty that he was there. He was clearly not anyone’s first choice.
Walter looked at Grant seriously. “I still sort of wonder who you are.”
Grant’s stomach dropped. Had his father found the letter from his birth mother?
Then his father smiled at him. “I was always the screw-up younger brother until, one day, I wasn’t. You can’t escape your past, though. Those skeletons won’t stay buried.”
Grant wanted to ask him about Danielle, his birth mother, but then it started to rain, and they hurriedly packed up everything and moved it inside.
Chapter 31
Kate
The next evening was Nancy’s dinner party. Kate was planning on dressing more conservatively. Nancy would never be so rude as to comment on someone’s appearance, but Kate knew she liked more traditional behaviors and architecture, just with a twist.
Her phone buzzed again. It was another message from Alan. Kate didn’t know what he wanted. His messages made it sound as if he simply wanted to reconnect and catch up. She knew he was too deceitful for that. She couldn’t believe she had had an affair with him. It made her sick to think about. She couldn’t let anyone find out what happened. Jean Claude knew, but thankfully, he hadn’t told anyone yet. He was European, though, so it was probably more normal for people over there to have affairs with their married professors.
“I can’t believe I did that,” she hissed to herself in the mirror.
She hadn’t known he was married. Not until several months into the secretive relationship when his teenaged daughter had contacted Kate and informed her. She had been devastated. But she had still been under Alan’s spell. He had lied to her, told her he was going to leave his wife, had already separated from her, and that Kate was the only thing worthwhile in his life. She had bought it hook, line, and sinker.
Jean Claude had been the one to snap her out of it.
He had been waiting for her at her apartment so they could finish up their capstone project when Alan had left. He had come in the door with a knowing smirk on his face.
“Having a torrid affair with the star professor, Kate? Is this why you didn’t have any time for me?” he had said.
“No, it’s not like that. We’re going to get married.”
He had looked her up and down and said with pity, “He’s not leaving his wife for you. They never do.”
That was a dash of cold reality. She hadn’t even started to cry. She had finished the project in a daze, told Jean Claude to turn it in, and then packed up her stuff and returned home to her grandmother’s house. She didn’t tell her the whole sordid tale, only that she had a bad breakup and wasn’t going to the graduation ceremony.
She had been so depressed. She felt so stupid—stillfelt so stupid. Then there was Grant, and she had let herself believe, if only for a moment, that she could have something real. But it wasn’t. She shook herself out of her thoughts and finished putting on her makeup.
Her grandmother came with her to Nancy’s. Kate was glad because she didn’t think she could face Grant alone.
“Is Walter actually coming?” her grandmother said loudly in the foyer of the Holbrook estate.
Grant came down the stairs. His bespoke suit fit him like a glove. Kate longed to slowly unbutton the crisp white shirt, breathe in his masculine scent, and kiss his strong jaw.
Stop it,she ordered herself.You are out of chances. We are making a wholesale change.Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She tried not to jump. Grant narrowed his eyes. She prayed he didn’t say anything. Thankfully, Grant’s father came out of the study at that moment.
“The gang’s all here!” he said.
“You’re actually coming?” Kate asked.
“Don’t look so surprised,” Walter replied as he reached out to pick a thread off of Grant’s suit. “Nancy called me personally to ask me to come.” If Kate knew Nancy, she had probably come as close to yelling at someone as she could with Walter.
They rode in a limousine over to Jack and Nancy’s house. As they drove up, Kate sighed with envy at the beautiful grounds. The landscaping was impeccable with small lights tastefully tucked into the plants. Kate wanted to stroll around the grounds; the night was warm enough. She imagined Grant escorting her through the garden.
That will never happen,she told herself.You work for his family. Besides, you gave it up too easily even if you had wanted to try to land him as your boyfriend. He doesn’t want someone like you. You ruin everything. He doesn’t deserve that.
