The Night That Changed Everything by Helen Lacey

Author:Helen Lacey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-04-11T22:54:56+00:00

* * *

Grant pulled the car into a spot outside the Realtor’s office. He didn’t say a word as they headed inside and met with the owner, Leola Jurgens, who quickly detailed to them all the available rental listings. Grant was more interested in buying property, but he wasn’t about to get into an argument with Winnie about it. She had her mind set firmly on renting a place. It seemed like she had her mind firmly set on a lot of things. Like not sharing a bed. Sure, he hadn’t committed to this arrangement specifically with sex on the brain—but he hadn’t bargained on not sleeping with his wife, either.

They made appointments to look at two homes the following day, after Winnie finished her morning shift at work. As they were leaving the Realtor’s, she said she wanted to stop by the supermarket. They lingered in the store for a while and Grant added things to the shopping cart he knew she’d turn her nose up at—like alfalfa sprouts and avocado. Winnie was more a meat-and-potatoes kind of girl.

They were climbing the stairs to her apartment, his arms loaded with grocery bags, when his cell rang. He shuffled the bags into one hand and pulled his phone from his pocket. It was a number he now recognized.

Billie-Jack.

His gut rolled and he fought the urge to pick up. Now wasn’t the time or place to have his first conversation with his father in eighteen years.

“Something wrong?” Winnie asked, clearly picking up on his expression.

“Billie-Jack. Again.”

“Oh,” she said and sighed. “You haven’t called him back yet?”

“No. Although I did speak to Joss about it.”

“What did he say?” she asked.

“To keep the information to myself,” he replied and offered a wry smile. “Joss hates Billie-Jack.”

“Do you?”

“I’m not sure how I feel,” he said and placed the bags on the kitchen counter.

“If you want to see him, then you should.”

“It’s complicated,” he said and watched as she began unpacking the groceries.

“Most relationships are,” she said and waved a hand between them. “But you know him, you remember him. You know what he’s like and who he is. And yes, perhaps he has changed. Or maybe not. Either way, at least you can go into it without risking being disappointed.”

“It would be easier if he hasn’t changed,” Grant admitted. “Then I could just tell him to go to hell and to leave the family alone.”

“And what if he has?” she asked. “Then what do you do?”

“Then I have to make a decision that’s not only mine to make—because I was younger than my brothers, I didn’t see the worst of him. I think I saw what I wanted to see.”

“You were, what, six or seven when your mom died? It’s natural that you would want to look to your father for stability and strength.”

“Strength?” he echoed and gave a shallow laugh. “Yeah, I guess I did. Not that he showed any. He used to beat up on Joss and Hank and I remember how Jake would put himself in the middle of the fights to take the worst of it.

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