“I don’t know,” Kate said. “My life is complicated right now.”
“I can’t believe you,” Ginny said, wrinkling her nose. “Between us, I don’t want Brandy to sink her claws in Grant. You know how she is. She’ll chew him up and spit him out.”
“I think he has more sense than to become involved with her,” Kate said then took a big gulp of her drink. She really needed to slow down. She hadn’t even eaten that day.
“If you break his heart, he might be so bereft that he’ll fall into the first waiting bosom.”
Her grandmother cackled. “That the first time I’ve heard that word in a while!”
“I don’t know,” Kate said. She looked at Grant wistfully. Hehadtaken her on a date. Maybe she could give him a chance. Her phone buzzed, and her eye twitched. She finished her drink then made the rounds at the party, giving hugs and answering questions.
Kate tried to ignore her phone. She didn’t want to put it on silent in case one of the caterers was trying to contact her. It was starting to grow dark, and several fire pits were burning a sweet-smelling wood. The fairy lights in the garden came on, making the grounds look enchanted. Kate sipped on her cocktail, hoping for courage, and finally checked her messages. There were twenty from Alan, the last one being:
I’m outside the Holbrook estate.
Panicked, she half ran, half stumbled down the drive as Alan was walking up.
“What are you doing here?” she asked furiously. An underdressed couple walked past her. She thought it was odd, but she couldn’t spend any time thinking about them because Alan was here at the Holbrooks’.
“I told you I need that money.” He looked slightly disheveled, as if he hadn’t slept lately.
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
“It’s at my grandmother’s house.”
“Wonderful. I’ll drive you over there.”
She didn’t want to sit in his car, but she felt as if she had no choice.
“Don’t try anything,” she said when they got to her grandmother’s house. “The maid is still here. She’s paranoid and will call the police if she sees you.” She breathed a sigh of relief as Alan waited in the car. Sneaking past Maria, Kate tiptoed upstairs, grabbed the envelope with the ten thousand dollars in cash, and hurried outside.
Alan briefly looked in the envelope then drove her back to the Holbrook estate driveway.
“Don’t take me all the way up,” she ordered.
He leered at her, and she felt his hand go up under her dress. She slapped him, but he got on top of her, pushing her back into her seat.
“Stop it!” she yelled, trying to struggle. Why had she drunk so much?
“You owe me!” he hissed.
Headlights shone into the car, and he let her push him off. She flung herself out of the car while he made a kissy face after her.
“Until next time, Kate,” he called then sped away.
Shaken, she hobbled up the drive back to the party, trying not to cry and ruin her makeup.
Chapter 44
Grant
Grant was trying his best to be a gracious host. When the stream of arriving guests had slowed to a trickle then stopped, he grabbed a drink and joined his father in mingling with the well-wishers.
He talked with several senators, the governors of Connecticut and New York, and even the former vice president.
“Elections are next year,” his father told him under his breath. “They are here for a handout.”
