Page 72 of Grant’s Blaze

“Whose stupid idea was this again?” I called out to him.

“I guess Abbi wanted everyone to come over. I have to say, it’s not a bad notion. I think if we go into the day with a good attitude, it will be a good one.”

“What? You’re fucking Deepak Chopra now?” I rolled my eyes and leaned closer to the mirror. Robert was waiting to see if I’d turn the water on for him for the seventh time, so I groused to him, “Shit, send the guy to two therapy sessions, and he’s crashing little cymbals on his fingers.” The cat just rubbed his face on the faucet, so I gave him a quick pet. “The answer is no, big boy. Daddy is being a meanie and says I have to hurry up and get ready to go to some stupid pool party.”

Grant, on his way back out of the bedroom, whipped his head around the corner again. “Did you just call me Daddy to that cat?”

“No,” I said too quickly, but the jig was up. We both knew I had, and I burst out laughing. “So what! Aren’t you kind of his adoptive pet Daddy-O? Plus, you like him! I see you pet him and hear you talk to him.”

“What choice do I have when he’s waving his ass around in my face when I’m trying to shave at the sink?”

“See? You do love him. Just like I knew.” I grinned and turned on my heel, going into the closet to find something to put on over the hideous bathing suit.

It would probably be too warm for my usual black band T-shirt, so I roughly swiped from item to item in the closet. A little yellow-and-white-striped trapeze dress from one of the boutiques in Hawaii was the perfect answer. I grabbed my denim jacket for later, in case it got cold, and my daisy Chucks, and I was a done deal.

We made our way out of downtown and up into the rolling hills where Bas and Abbi lived with their new baby. I was anxious and nervous to see Abbigail and meet the baby, especially since the last time I’d seen them had been when she’d walked in on me trying to set the yacht on fire.

I wasn’t sure if she’d ever told anyone about that incident, but no one had ever said anything to me about it, including the boat rental company. Hopefully—please God, please—Abbi wouldn’t bring it up today in front of the others. Oh my God, I’d be mortified.

No. What came after mortified? Okay, yes, that awful day was firmly parked in my past, but the last thing I needed was something like that coming between Grant and me—especially after I’d damn near read him the riot act about being open and honest with me.

There was yet another reason I didn’t want to be going to this stupid pool party. Of course, the one time in my life that I wouldn’t have minded a gigantic traffic jam on the freeway, it was smooth sailing. Grant insisted we have a driver come pick us up and take us so we could both drink if we wanted to. So we sat in the back of the car, snuggling like teenagers on our way to the prom. A prom with a beach theme, given my bikini and Grant’s sexy shorts, but it was a fleeting thought anyway.

“What time are we meeting your Realtor tomorrow?” I asked my favorite tree.

With my head tucked under his chin, Grant stroked the exposed skin on my arm. “She’s meeting us at your place in Seal Beach at ten. Is everything squared away there? The way you want it when she sees it? We could sleep there tonight if you have things you need to do still.”

“Well, that won’t work because now Robert is downtown and we didn’t leave him enough food and water to be on his own for that long. I’m sure the bungalow is fine. There may be a few things out of place, but if we scoot down there an hour before you expect her, I can have it straightened up. You’ve seen the place. It’s very small.”

“But I think you’ll get top dollar for it. The market is really hot right now, though it’s never really tame that closed to the water. People love that little community.”

“It’s a great town,” I said wistfully. I would miss living there.

“Hey. Don’t sound sad.” He bussed the top of my head. “You don’t have to get rid of it, you know. You could rent it out on a long- or short-term basis.”

“Nah. I don’t want to deal with that. I don’t want to watch a home I once loved go through that kind of abuse. Spring breakers and what have you. Plus the constant cleaning and repairs.”

In no time at all, we were giving our name at the guard shack at Sebastian and Abbigail’s exclusive neighborhood. I took a deep, calming breath and blew it out.

“You doing okay?” Grant asked for about the fifth time, which made me want to throat punch him.

“If I say no, will you take me home?”

“Probably not, but I can have the driver circle the neighborhood until you calm down a little bit.”

I blew out a long sigh. “You know it’s not going to get better until I just go inside and get this over with.”

He shot over a tender glance. “Is this about Abbi or Bas?”

“Yes!” I said with mock enthusiasm, inspiring him to a new chuckle. I was so happy that he and Bas had patched up their friendship. I’d hated seeing them out of sorts after being brother-close for most of their lives.

“Have you and Abbi ever been at odds before?” he asked, but we were nearly there, so I tried to keep my reply at general fly-over level.

“Not at odds, necessarily,” I said. “Sean and I did a lot of parenting of that woman when their mother died. Even though we were young too, Sean was the oldest sibling of the family, and he already was out of the house. We followed the plentitude of work he found out here and quickly fell in love with California. Abbi came to visit us as a graduation gift from their dad, and she didn’t want to go back home either. Mr. Gibson wasn’t happy that he was losing his little girl then too, but he couldn’t hold her back. So, we promised to look after her. Sean took that very seriously. A promise to his dad was everything.”

Grant listened very attentively, and I felt terrible for going on about the Gibson clan. But there really was no reason I shouldn’t. For one thing, he’d asked. And additionally, I wasn’t pining for my late husband anymore. There was part of me that would still mourn Sean a little until the day I died. It just wasn’t every day now. He understood that. I felt him telling me that. We were at peace about it.

Still, I felt compelled to apologize and didn’t know why. “I’m sorry.”