Page 135 of Moonlit Colorado

“Speaking of the wedding.” Her teeth tugged on her lower lip. “I’ve been meaning to ask, but you were in New York, and then things were so crazy.”

“Ask what?”

“If you’d be my maid of honor.”

“Me?”

“You’re like a sister to me, and you’ve become one of my closest friends. You’ve done so much for Ashford and Maisie. It feels right. Plus, I hear Dane will be best man. Would you be up for joining the fun?”

“Oh my gosh,yes.” I hugged her, tears stinging my eyes.

My life wasn’t boring anymore. But it was so incredibly rich. And I wasn’t referring to money. I was in a relationship with an amazing guy—who also happened to be smoking hot—and we had our families around us. It sounded like Dane’s father was on board with Izzy coming to visit, which would be huge for Dane and his mom both.

It could really be like this, I thought to myself.I could feel this happy every day.

We still had to deal with unwanted media attention related to the scandal and the legal cases against Ainsley and Bristol. And things were still tense between Dane and his brother. But I could see the light at the end of it.

There was only one thing still occupying the back of my mind. Well, two things. The first was that I still hadn’t told Dane I loved him. Every time I thought about it, the words got stuck.

The second thing was even more complicated. I had to make a decision. But I had to tell my brothers first, and they werenotgoing to be thrilled when they heard.

After Maisie’s bedtime, things quieted down. Callum’s roommates headed off to a bar, and Piper took Ollie home. Dane was in the living room talking to his father. So I went looking for my brothers.

I found Callum, Ashford, and Emma up on the roof, bundled up against the cold. They had several lawn chairs up here, so I took an empty one.

“There’s something I wanted to talk to you guys about.”

“What’s wrong, Grace?” Ashford asked. Going to worst-case scenarios the way he tended to do, though less often since Emma came into his life.

Callum frowned, crossing his thick arms over his Silver Ridge FD sweatshirt.

“Nothing’s wrong. Not exactly.” I pulled the folded piece of paper from my back pocket. I’d been carrying it around for over a week, ever since Dane had given it to me. I figured it was better to just spit this out, rather than trying to build up to it. “I know where Grayden is.”

Callum cursed and grabbed the paper, while Ashford went completely still.

“He lives in Seattle,” Callum read. “What the fuck? How did you find this out?”

“Dane hired a private investigator to track Grayden down.”

Ashford’s eyes flashed. “Hewhat?”

“Don’t you dare be mad at him. Dane did it for me because I wanted to find Grayden. I haven’t contacted him yet. He doesn’t even know I was looking for him.”

“Are you going to contact him?” Callum asked.

“I haven’t decided for sure. I wanted to discuss it with you.Allof you,” I said, nodding at Emma, because she was part of this family too. “I’d like to, though. I’d…” Tears burned at my eyes, itched in my nose. “I want him to know I miss him. That no matter what, we’re still family.”

“I don’t miss him.” Ashford stood. “Do what you feel is right, Grace, but I can’t be a part of this.”

Emma reached for him. “Ashford?—”

He took her hand and kissed it. “Let’s go back inside. It’s getting cold.”

It was clear that Ashford wouldn’t discuss the subject any further, so I didn’t try to argue. After he and Emma had gone, I turned to Callum. He was still looking at the print-out with Grayden’s info on it.

“Do you feel the same as Ashford?” I asked.

“I dunno, G. This is tough. The soldier in me wants nothing to do with Grayden. He dishonored himself. Dishonoredus.”

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