Page 55 of Worth the Risk

“I didn’t snag him. It really was just a picture taken at the right time, and—”

“Oh, honey, you don’t have to make excuses to me. This whole town is abuzz with the news.” She pats my arm. “How did you think I knew you were out here? Ol’ Patsy from the soap shop said something to Kira as she was walking by, and then Kira came into the nail salon. It’s like the grown-up game of telephone in these parts.”

“It’s comforting to know my whereabouts are being tracked so diligently,” I say teasingly as we both step back out of the middle of the sidewalk so people can pass. “I can assure you that everything was taken out of context. The hero thing. The party. The kiss.”

“At least Grayson is having some fun for a change,” she says, talking right over my explanation as if I didn’t utter a word. “He had a rough go of it when Claire left town.”

“Claire?” Wait. What? “As in Claire Hoskin, Claire?”

“Mm-hmm. Didn’t you know she’s Luke’s mother?”

“No. I didn’t.” My mind stumbles over the information. The beauty queen of Sunnyville and one of my closest friends back in high school. Claire is Luke’s mom? Claire was with Grayson? She’s the one who walked out on them?

I try to hide my shock as I look over at a group of teenagers who are sitting outside of the convenience store at the end of the street. They screech playfully, and I can almost picture us there, doing the same thing, when we were that age.

Claire. Gorgeous. Conceited . . . but couldn’t the same things have been said about me?

Realization strikes. The kind that makes your jaw fall lax and forces you to blink to make sure you’re right.

Grayson sees me as Claire. A “walks like a duck and talks like a duck” type of thing. No wonder he hates me.

When the thoughts settle, I’m left with Cathy staring at me with her brow furrowed and her smile frozen as if she just said something she shouldn’t but can’t wait to say more.

“I had no idea he was with Claire. I left Sunnyville after graduation and never looked back.”

“Yeah, it’s a long story, which the majority of us around here don’t know the half of, I’m sure. You know how money can keep lips from getting loose, don’t you?” She waves a hand my way as if the story is inconsequential. “Anyhoo, I’m sure he’ll tell you when the time’s right in your relationship.”

“I told you, we aren’t—”

“Like I said, if any man deserves a break and something more than a little mindless twisting of his sheets, it would be Grayson “Make Me Moan” Malone. First his suspension from flying at work, when we all know he’s a hero and then everything with Luke yesterday . . . The guy can sure use a little Sidney sunshine in his life.”

“What do you mean? What happened with Luke yesterday?”

“Oh my, you don’t know?”

“Don’t go clutching your pearls on me, Cathy,” I say when she lifts a hand to her chest. “What happened?”

“He was in a fight at school.”

“About?”

She looks around as if she’s about to get in trouble for talking, and the simple action has dread dropping into my stomach. “Well, someone teased him about that picture in the paper—the one of you two—and one thing led to another about his mom not wanting him, and boom, he threw the first punch.”

“Regardless of what you might think, not everything is about you, Princess.”

Grayson had been trying to tell me he wasn’t canceling because of something I had done or said. I was just too wrapped up in myself to listen.

God, maybe I am every bit as selfish as everyone keeps implying. As Grayson keeps saying without coming right out and throwing it in my face.

“Little boy is just like his father. Willing to fight for love. How does it feel having two men—Grayson and Luke—love you at the same time?”

Her words snap me from my thoughts, and I mumble some kind of generic response. Even if I refute her, she will argue with me. I take a step backward. “It was good seeing you again, Cathy, but I have to run. Drinks next time?”

“You know I’m definitely in.”

I head toward my car, my mind a confused mess.

That damn picture.