Page 26 of The One You Want

I shrugged. I honestly didn’t even remember what it had been like when they were together. Even back then, we rarely spent much time together, all three of us. “They got married too young,” I explained. “My mom…” I finally tore my gaze from the stars but I still couldn’t make myself look at Grant. I focused on the choppy waves of the dark bay instead. “My mom came from a pretty crappy background. My dad had money. I think she saw him as a way out.” I winced. It sounded so awful saying it like that. “I don’t think she realized just how much he had to work for that money. She was bored with her life.” I shrugged. “So sheleft.”

Grant spoke carefully, like he was trying to choose the right words. “She justleft?”

I nodded into the darkness. “She met another guy. Some European diplomat or something. He took her to Italy. She was there for a while. I think it was Hong Kong after that. I know she was in Paris for a few years.” My mother basically went wherever the next exciting relationship took her. “She’s on husband number four, now. I haven’t met this one. He has a villa in the south ofFrance.”

“Is shehappy?”

I stilled at that question. I didn’t think anyone ever asked me that. The few times I confessed all of this, the response was usually sympathy—and thinly veiledjudgment.

“I think she is,” I finally answered. “She likes to travel. She likes new things, likes being excited.” Liked men who worshiped her. “She never fit in on this island. We mostly lived in New York when I was little—that’s where my dad works—but that wasn’t much better forher.”

She didn’t like being a mom, that was for damnsure.

“So you came back here?” heasked.

This part was easier to talk about. “Yeah. My dad was so busy in New York. He’s some big deal at the corporate headquarters of the EastStar Group—they own a bunch of hotels and part of the Ottawa, but my grandfather keeps a controlling interest.” I cleared my throat. “So, yeah. He sent me back here with my grandparents, thought it would be better than boarding school orwhatever.”

“You were five.” He didn’t phrase it like aquestion.

“Like I said, they pretty much raised me.” Them and a team of twenty-four sevennannies.

“But you don’t getalong.”

I shrugged. “We get along okay. We don’t always agree on everything, but I know they love me. They gave me a great life, a great education, everything I could have ever wanted. I have nothing to complainabout.”

He was quiet again and the force of his gaze on my cheek burned like getting too close to thefire.

“It was a little hard,” I blurted out. “Living here with, um. Them. As my guardians.” Shit. Why couldn’t I shut my mouth? “I mean. People around here don’t really like them? So it, uh, makes it difficult for me, sometimes. Especially when I wasyounger.”

“People don’t likethem?”

I couldn’t help the derisive laugh that burst through. “Not somuch.”

“Why?”

“How much time do you have?” I askeddrily.

Grant shocked me by squeezing my knee, just a quick movement before letting go. “I’ve got all the time in the world,Hillman.”

I wasn’t sure what it was about those words—or maybe it was the encouraging way he’d squeezed my knee—but I suddenly found my throat too thick to speak. I took a minute to breathe in through my nose, swallowing hard until I could speakagain.

“People think they’re snobs,” I muttered. “And they aren’t even wrong. My grandparents absolutely think they’re better than the people who live here. They have money and education and a townhouse in Manhattan and they don’t have to stay here in the winter when everyone else is struggling to get through theseason.”

“It sounds like they can’t really relate to most of the people on the island,” he offered and I shook my head. That was a much kinder and more compassionate assessment than theydeserved.

“I think some people are resentful of their money. But it’s a lot more than that. My grandparents just refuse to act like full members of the community. They own the largest business on the island but they turn down any request to take part in the commerce committee, to actually give back or support other businesses. They only go to town council meetings when they want the town to give them something. Every time there’s an event—which is like, all summer long—they think they should get special treatment. Free advertising, prime vendor spots at the festivals. Whatever theywant.”

Grant was quiet, letting me get it allout.

“Maybe I’m crazy, but I’m pretty sure even all of that could have been overlooked. People around here are really nice, you know? But there’s something they’ll never getover.”

“What’sthat?”

“They do most of their hiring off island. According to my grandfather, they can find a ‘better caliber’ of employee off the island, whatever that means. It’s like they think everyone who lives here is a hick who doesn’t deserve to set foot in theirhotel.”

I finally turned to face him. “You know they charge people to go on the porch at thehotel?”

He frowned. “Seriously?”