was at risk.” Grams adjusted her suit coat and evaluated me, her face more drawn than I’d ever witnessed. “Fine. Go. But listen to me, kiddo. You go ahead and tell her. Test this relationship of yours. If she’s anything like the rest of her family was, she’ll ditch you in two seconds. You make one mistake and a Cartwright doesn’t forget. They’ll trash your name all over town.”
“I’m not you and DB. She’s not Danny and she’s not her grandparents.”
“Fine. Then tell her.” My mouth tightened and she nodded. She rose and crossed to me. She gripped both of my shoulders. “That money can change lives and I’m going to make damn sure it doesn’t change hers for the better.”
The threat in her voice gave me shivers. Bristol was younger than me, and Grams wanted to see her suffer? Was Grams taking her anger at Mama out on Bristol?
It didn’t make sense. None of this did. I couldn’t be around Grams for one more minute. “Have a safe drive back to Billings.” I spun on my heel and started for the door.
“If you don’t tell her, I will.”
I stopped. My hands clenched. Why did everyone assume that after the trust was revealed, Bristol would break up with me? Was it so hard to believe that we’d be strong enough to get through it? “I want you to stay away from her. She doesn’t deserve the way you treat her.”
“She already cost me my daughter. She’s not getting the money that was meant for you.”
I shook my head. My opinion of Grams before this had been that she was Grams. She was who she was. But this was a new low. “Grow up, Grams.” And I walked out.
I passed Skylar by the front door. I must’ve looked like a funnel cloud on the loose. She hugged a menu to her chest and didn’t speak to me as I passed. But her slight nod spoke volumes.
I slammed out the door and jumped in my pickup. I wasn’t thinking about where to go. There were only two places on this earth I would want to go. To my place, or Bristol’s. Since Bristol was probably still working, my place wasn’t the answer.
The large door to her shop was open. Since Tucker had helped me fix it, she’d been in the shop a lot. The haying tractor was inside. She must be working on it.
I parked by her pickup. She poked her head out of the open shop doors. Her quick smile died as she saw my expression.
I hopped out. The wind ruffled my neatly combed hair.
Bristol wiped her hands off on a rag she’d shoved in her back pocket. “Please tell me that your shitty mood after meeting with your grandma isn’t about me.”
“It’s her problem,” I said. I went straight for her. Like I had to wipe off the taint of an almost blind date by touching the person I wanted to be with. I wrapped my hands around her waist and buried my nose in her hair.
Faint scents of horse, sunshine, and tractor exhaust mingled together with her fruity shampoo. It was perfect.
“She tried setting me up. She even brought another woman along.”
Bristol jerked back, her gaze raking my expression. “Seriously? She hates me that much?”
I’d told her most of it. Why couldn’t I tell her the rest?
I couldn’t tell her that my old-enough-to-know-better-than-all-of-us grams blamed her for Mama’s death. We’d all been hurting for so long, I wasn’t going to let Grams drag me and my brothers backward. And she wasn’t fucking with Bristol’s feelings.
“I don’t know what she’s thinking. I only know that I told her off and came straight to you.”
“You told Emilia Boyd off?”
“Yeah.” The feeling inside me wasn’t righteousness, or pride, or satisfaction. I’d feel better if I could just tell Grams that I wasn’t taking that money. I doubt Dad and my brothers would bat more than an eye after the talk we’d had. Grams was a different story. She wasn’t one to let it go and walk away. She’d screwed over her best friends, Bristol’s grandparents. She’d almost run the oil company into the ground, but she’d held on to enough shares to keep Dad and Aiden toiling away. She’d thrown money at a woman to get her to marry me, and she’d done the same with Beck before he’d met Eva. She would’ve done the same to Xander, but he’d made himself unreachable. Aside from that, Bristol would feel betrayed—by me, not