know if I care what he thinks. The worst he can do is pull the project away from me. Which is fine.”
“You’re not worried about getting fired?”
“He’d have to find some kind of foul play, and that isn’t happening. I’m an honest employee and I do my job well. Dameon’s project is barely off the ground. And I certainly haven’t used city time or money to see him privately.”
Parker lifted a piece of cheese to her mouth. “You might consider telling your boss before he finds out. Tell him if he doesn’t approve, he needs to pull you now.”
Grace saw the wisdom in Parker’s words. “Maybe.”
“So, when are you going to bring him around? Matt is dying to meet him.”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you met any of his friends?” Parker asked.
“No. We’re going out for New Year’s Eve. Something fancy downtown. My guess is he knows someone we’re going to see.”
“Friends always shed light on a man’s personality that he doesn’t always want to share when you’re first going out,” Erin said. “At least that’s what my therapist says. Everyone loves Matt, and most of the people who knew Desmond only tolerated him.”
Grace sighed. “How is therapy going?”
Erin lost her smile briefly. “I have good days and bad. I still see him when I close my eyes. Have nightmares. Matt is so patient with me. Careful.”
Grace placed a hand on Erin’s knee. “Matt loves you.”
“I know.”
“Have you guys talked about marriage?” Parker asked.
She nodded. “A little here and there. It’s what we both want, but we don’t want any clouds of this last year anywhere around us.”
“Take your time getting married, but that shouldn’t stop him from putting a ring on your finger,” Grace said.
Erin smiled. “I don’t need a ring to be committed to your brother. He has my heart and he knows that.”
Yeah, but Grace didn’t see Matt waiting too long to stake his claim. Her brothers were territorial like that.
“I already consider you my sister-in-law. Matt just needs to make it official.”
“Yes, please. And get your aunt off my empty uterus,” Parker said.
“Isn’t it crazy how life is constantly changing?” Grace asked. “I didn’t even know you guys two years ago and now we’re all family.”
“Everything changes,” Erin said. “And then you meet the right guy who changes everything.”
Grace smiled into the thought. Dameon was doing exactly that for her.
She unfolded from the sofa. “Time for a fashion show. I need help picking out what to wear for New Year’s.”
Dameon walked into his condo for the first time in five days.
The place felt cold, partially because the heater had been turned down, but more because it was starting to lose its appeal.
When had that happened? He liked living in the city. Enjoyed the closeness of restaurants and bars, nightlife, and energy the city afforded him.
But there weren’t as many stars in the sky and certainly a lack of yipping coyotes and rabbits avoiding his truck as he drove away.
He’d always looked at his home in the city as temporary. Having grown up in the suburbs in a traditional home with a yard and neighbors who shared a fence instead of a wall and hallway, he knew he’d one day return to a more rural lifestyle.
Granted, the house he was in now was pretty far off his spectrum. His closest neighbor was half a mile away, and he could throw a small Woodstock and not bother anyone. But that, too, would change once his development went in and the homes started going up.
He had spent quite a bit of time reflecting on the neighborhood, just as he intended. But he found himself thinking about it like a man with a family. Not a single developer turning raw land into a moneymaking machine.
And that was entirely Grace’s fault. Or caused by her entering Dameon’s life. He told his head to slow down, but his heart wasn’t listening.
He liked her . . . a lot.
He cranked his heater up and turned on his sound system. The simple comforts of his home that he was living without when he was in Santa Clarita. He opened his refrigerator and cracked open a beer. He tossed several items in the trash that had spoiled or otherwise wouldn’t be eaten. He moved a bottle of good champagne from a storage rack to the fridge so he had some on hand when he brought Grace back after the New Year’s Eve party. Here, she couldn’t giggle about an outdated couch or lack of a coffee table.