Page 29 of Scarlett and the Big Bad Billionaire
I shook my head, confused. “Track me down? One last effort? What do you meanIdidn’t have any interest in keeping in touch? You’re the one who vanished from my life when my parents split up.”
Though her eyes were encased in wrinkles, they managed to pop wide open. “Not at all, sweetheart. I continued to write you and call.”
“I haven’t received any communication from you since I was ten.”
“That explains why I never got any replies. Then at some point my letters started coming back as undeliverable. ‘No forwarding address,’ they said. I went down to Florida to try to find out where you and your mother had moved. I even had an investigator do a nationwide search for a phone number or address in her name. He came up empty.”
“Well, mom and I moved in with her parents in Minnesota when I was about that age. The house and the phone were in their names, and then she married my stepdad, and her name changed. I don’t understand why the letters weren’t forwarded though.”
“I don’t either. It wasn’t until I met Gray that I was finally able to find you. He’ll explain everything when he gets here. There are several things I’d like for him to speak with you about.”
“He doesn’t live here?”
She gave me a funny look. “No. But he should be arriving any minute.”
“Well, I’m looking forward to meeting him.”
It would be nice to see what kind of man my grandmother was keeping company with, and maybe this old gentleman would be able to shed some light on the mystery behind our estrangement.
Popping a cookie into my mouth and chewing, I thought about what Vivi had said. It was so contrary to what my mom had told me about the two of us being rejected by Dad’s family.
“So… youdidn’tcut off Mom and me after the divorce?”
Vivi’s expression was wounded. “No, sweetheart. I felt like you might need me even more after your father left. I’m so sorry about that, by the way. It broke my heart to see the changes in Charles. Toward the end he was like a stranger. I guess there are some things human beings just weren’t meant to see. It must have been very scary for you as a little girl to watch your father become so different.”
“Honestly, I can hardly remember him. He was deployed so much when I was little, and when he was home, he was closed off in his room alone much of the time. I’m sure it was PTSD or maybe the effect of too many concussions from being near explosions? No, I didn’t understand why he seemed so distant when I was little. When I got older, I did—at least somewhat. I’m sorry for your loss, too. He was your only son, right?”
“My only child,” she confirmed, adding, “though I’ve come to think of Gray as a son—or a grandson.”
My head jerked back in surprise. “So Gray Lupine isn’t your boyfriend then.”
And apparently, he wasn’t the elderly gentleman I’d been picturing either.
“I’m a little old for a boyfriend, sweetheart, but thanks for the compliment. No, Gray is a dear friend, and I’ve come to think of him as family. We have so much in common and so much fun together.”
I tried to imagine what a man young enough to be her grandson might have in common with Vivi.
And what they could possibly do for fun together. I was starting to get a bad feeling about this young man who seemed to besoinvolved in her life.
“Vivi, how long have you known Gray?”
“Oh, let me see… about six months, I think. He’s so good to me. He comes by all the time to check on me. You’re going to love him.”
She glanced up and over my shoulder to the space behind me. “Speak of the devil and he appears… here he is.”
I stood and turned around then nearly choked on thin air when I saw the man standing in the doorway.
“You,” I nearly shouted.
A wide wolfish grin spread across his handsome face.
“You.”
CHAPTERNINE
I’LL BE WATCHING
Gray
