Page 128 of Just Let Go

“Mr. Benson, I have a new family now. They’re my priority.”

“But what about Quinn? What about Carly? Did you know you have a grandson?”

The woman stiffened, looking suddenly uncomfortable. “This was a mistake. I have to go.” She pulled her arm away and started for the door moments before Quinn walked up beside him.

“I knew you’d never find me,” she said. “I swear you looked at me twice and didn’t even know it was me.”

“Wow,” Grady said, admiring the way the deep-teal dress fit her curves. “You look amazing.” Her honey-colored hair was mostly pulled up, a few purposeful curls decorating her face on either side.

She smiled. “Thanks. You clean up pretty nice yourself. I was saving you that dance.”

He drank her in for a long moment, this beautiful woman with so much buried pain. Would telling her about her mother only make that pain worse?

He slipped his hand into Quinn’s and led her to the dance floor, pulling her close as they swayed to the music.

Near the exit, he spotted the regal woman in the red dress watching, mask at her side. Eyes fixed on the two of them, Jacie stared longingly, the way a person looks when her mistakes become so immense they’re unable to be tamed.

He should go to her, force her to come back and at least give Quinn the closure she so desperately wanted.

But as he held her gaze, the older woman crumpled, covered her face again, and turned away.

And then she was gone.

CHAPTER

31

QUINN STOOD UNDER THE SPOTLIGHTS,trying not to overthink the scenario playing out around her. She tried to tell herself it was just the twinkling lights and not the way he looked in that tuxedo. It was the dreamy, magical snow garden she’d created and not the way he’d sat by her nephew’s side every day since they returned from up north. It was the fact that they were standing in a sea of couples and certainly not the way his hands rested on the small of her back, as if he were protecting her from things she didn’t even know existed.

She drew in a deep breath as he pulled her closer.

Could she give herself one minute without the barrage of internal questions?

“You did an amazing job,” he whispered. “Everything is beautiful.”

She relaxed into him ever so slightly. “You know, I can’t believe I’m going to say this out loud, but I have you to thank for it.”

He inched back so he could see her face, not hiding the incredulous look on his own. “Is that right?”

She pulled her gaze from his. “When you first got here I was so blocked. I had no idea what I was going to do for this design, and it was important. My first time doing this without Mimi. My first time entering the Expo design contest. My only shot at reconnecting with my mother. And it’s not in my nature to relax—”

“I never would’ve guessed that about you.”

She smiled at his interruption. “I was pretty worked up.”

“I remember.”

“Do you remember what you said to me?”

“Something profound, I’m sure.”

“You said when you think of a secret garden, you think of something wild and untamed.”

“I said that?”

She met his eyes and nodded. “It was a simple thing, really, but it shook something loose in the right side of my brain. I could hardly keep up with the ideas. I sketched and colored and looked up flowers I’d only ever heard of, and this—” her arm whirled around them—“is the end result.”

His grin turned lazy. “So, you could say I’m your muse.”

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