Royal Recruit - Susan Grant Page 0,31

but weren’t home. Inside, the house was as full of memories as it was empty of life.

He dropped the bags on the counter and checked outside. The backyard was deserted. Jared turned to walk inside when the sight of his grandfather’s vegetable garden stopped him. The dirt still held the tracks from where the old man would wheel his chair back and forth from the house. Jared stood there, unable to move. Weeds poked out from the vegetable beds no one had touched since his grandfather had last tended them.

Jared crouched down and pulled out the weeds. “Kind of sucks, doesn’t it, Grandpa? Once you’re gone, no one looks after your pet projects quite the way you did.” He plucked out dandelions and threw them aside. “My employees approached me today. They were worried about what would happen to them if I left. I told them they’d be fine. But I think I get it now.”

They knew once he was gone, D-Squared would change. It would lose the energy he brought to the company. The direction. Weeds would grow.

He crushed a dandelion in his fist. “I’m going to sell the company. It’s better for everyone that way. A clean break. I’ll make sure everyone’s compensated.”

Jared glanced around to make sure no one was listening to his imaginary conversation with his dead grandfather. “I’m sorry I didn’t follow in your footsteps. Or Dad’s. I probably fought it a little harder than I had to. Sorry about that too.”

He could almost hear his grandfather praising his choice to go through with the marriage to the queen. “Our duty to others comes before our own interests and ambition,” he’d say, but Jared didn’t want to hear it.

“My back was to the wall, Grandpa. I had to say yes. There’s nothing about my decision to go through with this marriage that makes me proud. I agreed because I had no choice.”

Jared left the garden to escape the conversation he was having in his head with his dead grandfather. “They’re at Evie’s.”

Jared froze. The information had come in his grandfather’s voice. This time it was almost as if the man had actually spoken. First he found out he was married to a queen. Now he could talk to dead people. What was next?

An avalanche of unchecked messages on his phone confirmed it—his entire family was gathering at Evie’s house.

“Go to them, my boy. They need you as much as you need them.” The words were a figment of his imagination, yet he suspected it was what his grandfather would have told him if he could.

A corner of Jared’s mouth edged up. “Thanks, Grandpa,” he said in a quiet voice. “I do need them.”

Jared knocked on Evie’s front door. His niece, Ellen, threw it open. “Uncle Jared’s here!” Before he could open his mouth to say hi, she’d catapulted herself into his arms.

He closed his eyes briefly, holding her close, his hand cupping the back of her head. I’ll miss you, kiddo, he thought. God, I’ll miss you.

Ellen bounced along next to him as they walked toward the kitchen. “Mom made your favorite.”

“Crab enchiladas?”

“Yes!”

“How’d she know I was coming?”

“Aunt Jana told her.”

“How did she…?” Jared caught himself and smiled. Of course, she’d predict he’d end up here.

They followed a trail of smells so good they didn’t seem of this Earth. Bad choice of words, he thought, trying to stay positive. He had too few of these gatherings left to let thoughts of his future spoil them.

In seconds, he was surrounded by his niece and nephew, his sister, and then his parents arrived. Evie jammed an icy bottle of beer into one hand, kissing him on the cheek. With a silent, shuddering sigh, he loosened the vise gripping his gut, just a little, and let himself be swallowed by the warmth that was his family. He had one, maybe two more months’ time left on Earth, and he was damn well going to savor every last second.

It was late. Everyone had gone home. Jared, of course, was staying over. Evie wouldn’t have it any other way. They sat in the family room together. Sweet-smelling candles were the only light. The table was littered with wineglasses and empty bottles of beer. Her Chihuahua Sadie was sound asleep in Jared’s lap.

“I wanted you to know something,” Evie began. “You’ve always been after me to take my ability to cook and turn it into profit.”

“Your talent to cook.”

Eyes shining, she smiled. “Thanks.”

“At least you have a talent. The rest of