Page 59 of She's a Big Deal

Grace almost dropped her coffee mug.

“Father?” Her voice was dry.

“Yeah. He flew into a right rage when I shared your initial assessment of the situation with him, what with Reece’s antics and all the rest.” Chloe winced in dismay but, to her credit, went on with the truth. “He said he hadn’t worked his butt off all hislife for his idiot children to let the business sink into the ground. He asked to review your proposal. Next thing you know, Jeremy makes a big U-Turn and signs off on it. So…”

So, her father agreed with her plan of action. It was a first, Grace reflected. And assumed from the way her sister spoke of him that she did not know of his illness.

“What about Reece?” she asked.

“At home. Sulking. I don’t know what’s going on with him but it’s concerning.”

It was, and Grace was determined to get to the bottom of it. She drove to his house, only to find he was not there. So much for Chloe’s crap intel.

“Goddammit.” She stood on the front porch, debating what to do. It was getting late, and freezing cold once again. She was tired. Surprisingly, he called her right at this moment. “Reece!”

“Hey, sister. Heard you were back in town.”

“I’m at your house. Where the hell are you?”

“In a ditch.”

“What?”

“I crashed my car.”

“Fuck.” Her blood went cold. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Fine. Just… Can you come get me?”

“Tell me where you are,” she snapped.As if I have nothing else to do but rescue everybody!“Alright. I’m on my way.”

As it was, he had described the situation accurately. His car had slipped into the ditch but, fortunately, did not hit anyone else or a tree on the way down.

“Hi.” He greeted her with reddened eyes, and that look on his face she remembered from when he was still a young kid and needed her to fix something stupid he’d done before it came to the attention of their father. “Thanks for coming.”

“What happened? Were you drunk?”

“No.”

“High on something?”

“No, no. A deer shot out in front of me. I over-corrected to avoid it, lost traction on a patch of ice, and fell in.”

She sorted out a tow truck, since apparently it never crossed his mind to get one, and told the guy to take the car to his house. She said they’d be there. Then she drove her brother home, sat him down in front of the fire, and made him a stiff cup of coffee. She sat on the low table in front of him. Getting in his face, pretty much.

“So. Talk to me,” she instructed.

Surprisingly, he did not need too much prompting. “I feel like shit. I’m ashamed. I—”

“Did you hurt these women, Reece? Did you assault them?”

She cut him off, thinking if he said yes, she wasn’t sure she could handle the horrific truth of it. He sighed, deep and heavy, and shook his head.

“Absolutely not.”

“Are you lying to me?”

“No, Grace, I am not.” Firm now. Sure. He looked her in the eye. “I came on to them hard. I suppose, psychologically, it was hurtful…”

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