Page 47 of The One You Want

“Bradford had already told her about what happened at Cora’s that night, so she thought we were dating anyhow. And I…I didn’t tell her thetruth.”

He didn’t say anything, just continued to stare at me with an unreadable expression on hisface.

“I know I should have told her,” I forced myself to continue. “But then I got to thinking…if she thought I was dating you, maybe she’d ease up on the Bradford thing for long enough for me to figure out my life. And at that point, I wouldn’t have to go along with her plansanymore.”

“Jenny.”

I realized I was starting to babble but couldn’t seem to shut off my mouth. “It wouldn’t matter if they cut me off if I had a job, right? I mean, if I’m supporting myself, what can theydo?”

“Jenny.”

I still couldn’t seem to stop talking. He was looking at me like he didn’t even know me and somehow the part of my brain responsible for shutting up seemed to think that if I just kept going, I could make him understand. “The Libbies are working on this self-improvement project and I thought my goal could be finding a job. I figured if they’re all helping me it shouldn’t take too longto—”

“Jenny.” This time his voice was sharp enough that I gave a little jolt, my mouth finally snapping closed. I swallowed as he stared at me with that same unreadableexpression.

But all of a sudden, it wasn’t so unreadable after all. All of a sudden, I was pretty sure he might bepissed.

“Are you telling me,” he began in a low voice, “that you want us to keep up this ruse Libby started at the bar thatnight?”

“Um,yes?”

His eyes narrowed. “You want me to pretend to be your boyfriend so your grandmother won’t nagyou.”

Oh, God. When he put it like that it soundedridiculous.

“Just for a little while,” I hurried to explain. “Maybe like, the next six weeks or so while the Libbies do this self-improvement thing?” At his glowering expression, I wilted. “Or, you know, not that long? I could probably figure things out faster thanthat.”

He just stared at me, expression stony, for a long moment. “Why would I do that?” he finally asked in that same low voice. It was starting to ring some alarm bells in myhead.

“I could convince my grandparents to order your flowers for the hotel,” I blurted out, the idea coming to me out of nowhere. “They keep fresh flowers in all the public spaces. Lobby, dining room, solarium. It would be a huge order andthey—”

He held up a hand, his eyes no longer flat and hard. Now they were flashing, and I was starting to realize this was all a really,reallybadidea.

“You’re offering to bribeme.”

“No, not abribe—”

“Jenny, you’re saying you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend in exchange for more business for myshop.”

He sounded so offended. I found I couldn’t even argue with that. I just opened and shut my mouth, several times, trying to figure out a way to make him look a little lessangry.

But it wasn’t just anger I could see shining in his eyes. There was hurt there, too. I had hurt him.Shit.

“I think you should go,” he said, his voice colder than I’d ever heardit.

“Grant,” I half-gasped. I couldn’t believe I had actually done that. He was one of my only true friends on this island and I just threw it all away, just because I was too chicken to stand up to my grandmother. “I’m sosorry.”

He shook his head, turning away and grabbing his pot of mums. “I have a lot of work todo.”

I felt like I was going to cry. I needed to fixthis.

“I shouldn’t have…I’m so sorry, Grant. I wasn’t thinkingand—”

But he didn’t stop to hear my apologies. He strode to the door, offering a flat, “see you around,” then stomped out into the yard. I sat there, alone in his magical workshop, frozen, filled with more shame than I could ever remember feeling. A moment later, I heard a screen door slamming—he’d gone into his house. He was so offended and pissed at me that he couldn’t evenwork.

I got up slowly and headed back out to the road, wishing more than anything I could go back in time a half hour and keep my big stupid mouthclosed.