Page 67 of Forbidden Kisses
I would like to speak you regarding purchasing a boat that you own—theBeatrice. Please contact me at your earliest convenience.
Grace’s phone number followed.
Jack swallowed, trying to make sense of what he was reading. TheBeatricewas a boat named after his mother. The one that Tammy Donner had sold. She’d claimed that she didn’t remember to whom she’d sold it. How did Grace know who the owner was? And why was she trying to buy his family’s boat?
The realization hit him like a Mack truck plowing straight through his chest. This was why she wanted to enter the East Coast fishing tournament. This was why she wanted the prize money so badly. She wanted to buy back a boat that her mother had stolen and sold off.
Anger built inside him, but he wasn’t sure why. The boat was supposed to represent his mother, but instead it represented Tammy Donner’s betrayal. And somehow Grace’s, too.
The front door to the office opened and Grace walked in. “Hey.”
Jack swiveled the chair to face her.
She hooked a thumb behind her. “I just stepped out for some fresh air. I didn’t realize you’d be stopping by today.” A smile swept across her face. “Not that I mind. What’re you doing?” Her gaze moved to her open laptop.
Jack felt a jab of guilt, but his agitation right now was stronger. “Why are you trying to buy back theBeatrice?”
“You’re looking through my personal emails? Is that how you treat people who work for you?”
“You don’t work for me,” he said, remembering how he’d treated the one employee who actually did work for him right now.Calling CPS had been justified, though. And reading Grace’s email had been innocent. He hadn’t meant to stumble across her exchange with Garrison Tomlin.
She crossed the room and shut the company laptop. “All right, then. Is that how you treat the women you date? Because that’s not okay with me.”
“I’m sorry, but now I need to know.” He stood and moved away from her desk to pace the room. “If you knew where my mother’s boat was, why didn’t you tell us?” He worked hard to keep the edge out of his voice. She hadn’t done anything wrong.Had she?
“Because I didn’t know. Not until recently when my mother—” She paused and plopped into the desk chair he’d been seated in a moment earlier.
“Until your mother what?” Jack asked. He stopped pacing to stand right in front of her.
Grace shook her head. “She came to me a few weeks ago and asked me to fix things.”
“Fix things?” he repeated. “What things?”
Grace met his gaze. “Things she regrets. She asked me to fix things before she died, which is just crazy, because the doctor says she’s in great health aside from the Parkinson’s. She’s not dying anytime soon.”
“What things were you supposed to fix for her, Grace?” Jack asked again, trying not to get upset, but wherever Tammy Donner was concerned, he couldn’t seem to help himself.
Grace’s eyes widened at his harsh tone. “What she did to your family. She asked me to make things right. This seemed like the only way you would ever forgive her.”
Jack’s jaw clenched. Whether it was reasonable or not, he was pissed all of a sudden. “That’s why you’re doing this tournament? Because your mother asked you to?”
Grace shook her head quickly. “No. This wasn’t her idea. It was mine.”
Jack nodded. “Well, it was a bad idea. I agreed to get back on a boat again to help you, not your mom. Because I thought you needed the money. I never would’ve done it if I thought this was about relieving Tammy’s guilty conscience.”
Grace’s eyes were wet with tears.
He fought the feeling that he was being a total jerk in this moment. Tammy was the jerk here.
“I never said what I needed the money for,” Grace said.
“No, but you sure did let me take a few wild guesses. You were out of work and needed this job because you couldn’t afford your mom’s medication. For all I knew, your mom racked up a mountain of debt that you needed to take care of, too.”
Tears slid down Grace’s cheeks. “Whatever conclusion you jumped to is not my fault, Jack. I never lied to you.”
He knew he was probably overreacting, but he couldn’t calm himself. Between Tristan earlier and now this, he felt like he was going to explode.
Grace stood and took a few steps toward him. “This is for us as much as it is for my mother. Don’t you see? We can never be anything until this feud between our families is put to rest.”
