The waiter brought them their drinks, and Kate raised her glass and said, “Here’s to you. Done with the military but still kicking butt.”
“No, to you. I wouldn’t have been able to survive this long without you.”
After a few drinks, the car dropped Kate off at her grandmother’s house. Grant opened the door for her, and Kate looked at him seriously and said, “This was just a friendly evening.”
He ignored her and leaned down and kissed her.
“Goodnight, Kate.”
He felt elated. The evening had gone really well. He gave Stefan a thumbs-up when he got back. “Do not tell my father,” he warned.
Stefan mimed zipping his lips.
Grant saw Kate sporadically the next few days. She was constantly on the phone or yelling at her grandmother or talking to the party planners.
The yard was filled with people tacking up lights and setting up tables. They were installing several custom wood bars that were brought out of storage.
Grant flew out to his base the day before the party. Just as he had thought, the military was cutting it close to the wire on his paperwork. He spent the night in a hotel then arrived on base for processing very early in the morning. After Grant had spent the entire day trying to have his final paperwork processed, the staff sergeant handling it handed him the final stamped and signed papers.
“You’re sure you don’t want to reenlist?” she asked jokingly.
Grant shook his head.
She laughed. “I can’t blame you. I heard you are inheriting a fortune.”
“I’m not counting on it,” Grant said.
“Well, you can always come back to the Marine Corps if it doesn’t work out,” she quipped.
After shaking her hand, Grant left the building, sat down in his rental car, and numbly drove off the base. He’d been in the Marines for eight years, and what did he have to show for it? Nothing.
The Gulfstream jet was waiting for him on the runway when he arrived.
“All good?” the captain asked.
“I think so,” Grant replied.
“Cheer up!” the captain said, clasping him on the shoulder. “You’re out! It’s a bright new sunshiny day outside of the military.”
The setup for the party was well underway when Grant returned. Kate was directing the musicians and caterers on where to set up.
“Can I help with anything?” he asked her.
“Go shower and change,” she said brusquely. He had hoped that the near-death experience at the clubhouse would have warmed whatever chill she harbored toward him, but she wasn’t melt-in-his-arms happy to see him.
“You’re all mine now,” his father said when he ran into him in the foyer. “I have the lawyers drawing up paperwork so you can change your name.”
“Excuse me?” Grant said, stopping short.
“You’re a Holbrook,” his father explained. “You can’t be Jones. It’s confusing to people.”
Changing his name—Grant wasn’t sure about that.
“I’ll have to think about it,” he said cautiously.
“It would be a few months before you would have to go in front of a judge,” his father said, checking his phone. “There’s a process. The paperwork has to pass through the various departments. You know, bureaucracy.”
“I need to go shower and change for the party,” Grant said, and his father waved him away. He walked up to his room, set down his things, and stripped off his clothes.
