Page 137 of Just Let Go

“Jacie was a proud woman. But I always thought she’d come back.” Gus looked away. “I got divorce papers six months later and found out she was pregnant with some other guy’s kid. So, in a lot of ways, she was right—the girls were better off. But in some ways, they weren’t. They never had a mother, and that’s my fault.”

Grady wasn’t used to playing the role of comforter, and he wasn’t sure what to say to ease the man’s guilt or pain. He didn’t have wisdom beyond his years, and his life had been one poor decision after another. “You did what you thought was best for your daughters.”

Gus steeled his gaze out on the cherry-red lighthouse in the distance. “But maybe it was the wrong choice.”

“No sense living there, though, right? What’s done is done. We only have what’s in front of us now.”

Maybe those were words he was supposed to absorb for himself. After all, he’d also been living with the heavy weight of past regret—and he, like Gus, couldn’t find a way out from under it.

“Listen, I know Quinn is upset, but she’ll come around,” Gus said. “And you can’t tell her about this.”

Grady straightened. “We have to tell her, Gus. She deserves to know.”

He shook his head. “It’ll crush her. She’ll lose her faith in the only parent she has left, and it won’t change anything between the two of you. Only time will do that.”

Grady looked away. “You can’t ask me to keep anything else from her.”

“It’s still what’s best for her, son.”

Then why did it feel so wrong?

“So what am I supposed to do? She won’t even speak to me.”

“You go win your race and forget about this place for a while. And then you reach out to her once your mind is clear of everything else.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.” In fact, he was pretty sure he couldn’t. “I want to make things right with her, Gus. She means everything to me.”

“I know my daughter. What she needs right now is time and a little perspective.”

“What she needs right now is the truth.”

Gus gave a dismissive wave, handed the mug back to Grady, and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll be pulling for you at your race. Nothing we’d all like more than to see one of our own at the Olympics.”

“Appreciate it, sir.” And he did. Grady hadn’t been one of anyone’s own for as long as he could remember. Still, an uneasiness had worked its way into his belly.

“I’ll show myself out.”

The wind whipped through the bare trees, sending a chill straight through Grady’s jacket and worn gray hoodie. Nothing about Gus’s confession made him feel any better. If anything, he felt worse. How could he hold on to a secret like that?

But maybe Gus was right. Maybe time would help her heal, make her see he hadn’t intended to hurt her.

Or maybe it would put just enough distance between them to make him forget he ever loved her in the first place.

CHAPTER

35

QUINN WASN’T SURE WHAT WAS WORSE—knowing Grady was gone or knowing she was the reason why.

She’d struggled to get through the days following his departure from Harbor Pointe, aware that her conversation with Judge sent a message:I want you to leave.At the time it had seemed like the wise thing to do, but now, in the aftermath of it all, she wondered if it had hurt him. And causing him pain had never been her goal.

She walked through her days zombielike and detached, going through the motions and wondering if she’d made a terrible mistake.

In the evenings, she watched the sports channel, hoping for a glimpse of the man who had stolen her heart. Just a clue as to how he was doing. After several days, with only one more week before the big race, one of the reporters granted her request. The woman was spunky and fit. Probably a former athlete and the kind of woman who would make a much more suitable match for Grady.

Quinn watched as the image of the man she’d once held in herarms flashed across the screen. She knew literally nothing about skiing, but from what she could tell, he was flying down those slopes.

“The real surprise out here in Colorado is Grady Benson,” the reporter said. “This is a man the skiing world had practically written off, but what we’re seeing is a new and improved version of the skier we all know and love. What’s more, his constant work and the time he’s put into his training have garnered the attention of the Olympic coaches, who had this to say about America’s favorite rebel skier.”

---