was notoriously bad about, it was keeping anything to themselves.
To everyone’s credit, it took nearly five minutes of hellos and cheek kisses before the first word was uttered. They stood in a circle while Erin pulled on a scarf from the back seat of her car.
“What’s this I heard about a compromising position between you and a client in an abandoned house?” The question was from Matt.
The silence that followed gave Grace everything she needed to know. Everyone had already talked about it.
“Thanks, Colin,” she said.
He smiled as if he’d proudly accomplished a mighty task. “I’m pretty sure it was you who told each of us to step in if we ever saw you dating someone who wasn’t right.”
“Was I a part of that conversation?” Erin asked, closing the door of the car.
“No. It was in the hospital waiting room when you were in the ICU,” Parker told Erin.
Grace had said those exact words as she was deleting the dating apps on her phone. Her entire family, including her mom and dad, had been there, too.
“First of all, Dameon and I aren’t dating. And second—”
“I know what I saw,” Colin interrupted her.
“And second . . .” She paused to make sure everyone was listening. “There isn’t anything wrong with the man. But I want to swing around to the part about we aren’t dating again.”
“I saw how he was looking at you, Gracie. If you’re not dating . . . or whatever you’re doing, it isn’t for his lack of trying,” Colin pointed out.
“Even if he was, what’s wrong with that?”
Parker tucked her arm into the crook of Grace’s and started walking toward the Christmas lights. “Nothing’s wrong with that. We’re all just a little gun-shy.”
Considering the nightmare that had woken her up in the middle of the night, she couldn’t be too upset about her family’s reaction.
“If you have anything negative on the man, be sure and bring it to my attention. Right now, it seems like everyone is a worried ninny looking out for the fragile single woman in the group.”
Colin walked up beside Parker and dropped his arm over her shoulder. Matt and Erin came up behind them.
“My counselor said it was normal for everyone to be overly protective for a while and to try not to take it as a personal insult,” Erin told her. “It comes from a place of love.”
Parker squeezed Grace’s arm and leaned close. “We just love ya.”
“I’d feel better if we knew more about the man,” Colin said.
“How about you invite him to a family dinner?” Erin suggested.
“Guys, I’m telling you. We’re not dating. Yes, he asked me out. But I have enough trouble at the office with Richard and his backhanded slights and suggestions to add an actual anything with a client to fuel his fire.”
“I thought Richard had backed off,” Matt said.
“He stopped asking me to get his coffee a long time ago. Now he just piles on the work and insinuates that if I can’t handle it he will give it to Evan or one of the other men on the team.”
“That’s shitty,” Parker said.
They turned the corner, and the entry to the neighborhood lit up the street.
“I can say something to him on Friday at the Christmas party,” Colin offered.
“I only see that backfiring on me. But thanks. I can handle Richard.”
“Offer stands.”
Grace smiled at her brother, then turned to stare at the giant nutcrackers that framed the street. “This gets bigger every year.”
“It’s crazy!” Erin said.
And just like that, the conversation steered away from Grace and Dameon and onto power bills and electrical grids.
Dameon was in his office with spreadsheets and projections sitting in front of him. He’d be lying if he didn’t admit to himself that he was nervous. His company had experienced rapid growth over the past four years, equating to more employees, bigger office space, and an increase in overhead. Without Maxwell’s investment, they had very little wiggle room. During their growth, Dameon had the opportunity to step back and spread out his personal involvement on each individual jobsite and delegate the daily operations to people he trusted. Could he continue to work like that? One misstep and he’d have to downsize.
His phone rang from his secretary’s number. He put it on speaker. “Yes, Pauline?”
“There’s a Mr. Hudson on line one. I asked if he had a reason for the call. He insisted you’d take it.”
Dameon started to tap the pencil he was using against his desk. “I’ve got it. Thank you.”
His finger