Page 101 of The One You Want

“Maybe I could come by your office this week,” I added. “And you could help me with my business plan? I’m probably going to need a bank loanand—”

“I’ll loan you the money,” he said quickly. Then he narrowed his eyes. “Scratch that. I’ll look over your plan and if I think it’s a worthwhile investment, we can discussterms.”

I felt a swell of pride, pride that I could see reflected back in his face. My grandfather looked proud of me—maybe he could treat me as someone worthy of respect afterall.

“Sounds good,” I told him, then nodded at Grant. “We were on our way todinner.”

He slipped his hands into the pockets of his very expensive suit pants. “I hope, someday soon, you’ll both come up and eat with me at the hotel again.” He held Grant’s gaze. “I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on running a business on this island.” He swallowed and I knew it was difficult for him to eat crow like this. “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of good advice for mygranddaughter.”

Grant nodded, but the movement wasn’t so stiff now. He put a hand protectively at my back and led me around my grandfather. With the exception of our fight the day before, it was the only time I could remember saying goodbye without kissing his cheek. But that was okay. Maybe we could get back to that place somedaysoon.

Cora’s was packed, not at all surprising for a Saturday night. I saw the flyer as soon as we walked in, an ad for her Halloween party the following weekend. I pointed at it. “Youin?”

“Oh, hell yes,” Grant said, pulling me closer. “I’m already planning our couple’s costume.” I was still laughing when we found an empty booth and sat down. A waitress hurried over almost as soon as we were seated to drop off menus and take our drink order before rushing off to her nexttable.

“I need to do something real quick,” Grant said, his eyes on the bar behind me. “You okay here for asecond?”

There was a time not so long ago when I would have been uncomfortable to be left alone in a crowd like this, sure that people would be watching me, judging me even. But I was feeling a lot more comfortable in my skin these days so I smiled as I waved himoff.

I couldn’t see where he went, but he returned only a few minutes later holding a familiar glossy book in hishands.

“Where did you get that?” I asked, pullingFind Your Pridefromhim.

“I hoped Cora might have it at the bar and she didn’tdisappoint.”

I looked from the book to his face. “Is this a symbolic thing? Are we going to burn it or something, to represent my graduation from scaredy-cat tolioness?”

In response, he pulled a crumpled piece of notebook paper from his back pocket and smacked it down on the table. The page looked worn, as if it had been folded and unfolded numerous times. “What’sthat?”

“My quizscores.”

I gaped at him. “From that day at my apartment?” I asked, my face automatically flushing as I remembered the way we’d fought over the paper when he tried to hide it from me, the heat that nearly came to a head between the two of us in my livingroom.

“Yup. I was too shy to show you that day, but I wanted you to see it now.” He nodded at the book. “Page twenty, Ithink.”

Shooting him a speculative look, I thumbed through the pages until I found the section containing the quiz results. I ran my finger through the possible answers until I reached the digit he circled on his notebook paper. His result was 4-c.

“Read it out loud,” he murmured, so softly I barely heard him over the noise of thebar.

“You’re well established in your business life but you can’t help but feel that something is missing,” I read. “As confident as you are when it comes to your passions, you lack purpose in the world of relationships. Your challenge is to open yourself up to true love,” my voice caught on the word and I had to swallow a few times before I could continue, “with all of its ups and downs. You might find it difficult to be vulnerable, to be truly open with someone, but if you can learn how to do that, a wonderful lifeawaits.”

I stared at the page for a long moment, before I looked up at him, his image a little hazy in my wet eyes. “Why didn’t you show me this thatnight?”

“I guess I wasn’t ready to be—what did it say? Open and vulnerable?” he shook his head, a rueful smile playing on his lips. “I’m really grateful for that stupid book, you know. Without it, I’m not sure I ever would have had the courage to go after thegirl.”

“Grant, are you saying you feel like a lioness?” I asked,grinning.

But his expression was completely serious as he slid his hand over mine. “I’m saying I feel like the luckiest guy in theworld.”