The Borrowed Boyfriend (14 page)

Chapter Eighteen

Allison tugged a ski vest over her sweater and headed for their private outside door. “You don’t have to come with me, Grady. Really you don’t.” Her head was still spinning from the conversation at breakfast. She should have thought the details through a little better. Getting off the hook by letting her friends think she had a boyfriend for one week was one thing. Arranging future vacations with them and Grady was something else entirely. Well, fine. Allison could fix this. She’d already decided to tell her friends later that her relationship with Grady hadn’t worked out. She just didn’t realize how instantly they’d bond with him.
I mean, really! He’s been here less than twenty-four hours, and already he’s included in future vacation planning?
Didn’t anyone think to ask her?

Grady quickly typed something into his cell, then left it charging on the dresser. “Wait up!” he said, grabbing his jacket and chasing after her. “I want to see the lighthouse too.”

Allison paused midstride and wheeled on him in utter disbelief. “You want to see the lighthouse?” she asked as if she were speaking to a child. Allison placed a hand on her hip, then added more coldly, “Well, bully for you.”

Grady scanned her with alarm. “Where’s all this anger coming from?”

“From you!” she said thumping his chest with her finger. “You, you,
you
!”

Grady reached down and grabbed her finger, pinning it to his chest. “Is that really the way to speak to the guy who’s taking you to Italy?”

“Argh!” Allison wanted to yell, then she considered his words. What had Grady just said? “Taking me?” she asked, confounded. “You must be joking.”

“Maybe the three of us could work it out. You, me and Kate. She could let you borrow me again?” His expression was totally impassive, but Allison understood he was teasing. She was starting to get the hang of Grady and his weird sense of humor. Unfortunately.

“Let go of my finger,” she snapped, her nostrils flaring.

“Why?”

What an insolent question! “Because I want it back, that’s why. It’s mine.”

“Not if you’re going to use it as a lethal weapon.”

“It’s not lethal, Grady. I don’t even have long fingernails, see?” She flashed him her other hand as evidence. “I’m an artist. I keep them short.”

“Well, it still hurt. All that poking.”

Allison sighed in disbelief. A big strong guy like him probably didn’t feel it. Hello! He tightened his grip until it pinched. “Ow!”

“Let’s make a deal.”

They already had one, and Allison was starting to regret it. “What kind?” she asked suspiciously.

“I’ll give you back your finger if you tell me what’s wrong.”

Why, oh why, did she have to spell it out for him? “Fine!” She set her chin. “Where do you want me to start?”

“From the top, I guess.”

“Hmm, well…” Allison thought fast. Her finger was going numb. “One,” she said, surveying his stubble, “I don’t appreciate that you lied to me about shaving.”

Grady’s brow shot up.

“Two, tonight I think that
you
should take the floor.”

She gulped in a breath as he stood there waiting. Grady apparently realized this was going to be a long list.

“Three, I don’t appreciate you talking to my friends and telling them things behind my back. Things like we’re all going to Italy!”

“But I didn’t say—”

“Please,” she said, assuming an air of dignity, “let me finish… Four, I don’t want you to come with me on my walk. I want to go solo.”

“And five?” he asked mildly.

Allison gritted her teeth and tried to pry free her finger, but Grady clamped down tight. “I want my hand back! I’ve told you time and time again, no—”

He stunned her by letting go so quickly, she nearly toppled backward into the door. “It’s all good, Allison. You go on…” He gestured grandly. “Take your little walk on the beach. Have a great time.”

“And what’s all this about Total Wines going global!” she shrieked, having just thought of it. “That’s six! You can’t stop taking, Grady, can you? Take, take, take. First it’s Voltaire Vineyards. Next, the world!”

To her astonishment, Grady’s lips pulled into a grin. “Now that you put it that way, it sounds kind of good, doesn’t it? Going global. I like that.”

Allison drew a deep breath and released it. “I’m going for a walk,” she said, laying her hand on the doorknob. “Please, stay here.”

Grady leaned into the doorframe as she stormed away. “I’m surprised you could only think of six!”

Allison threw her hands up in the air and turned to glare at him. “That’s because I only started counting with today!” she hollered back.

Queenie and Brevard stared out the window from where they sat at the dining room table making up their shopping list. The other two couples, Deb and Patrick and Carla and Bruce, had already departed on their excursions.

“What do you suppose is going on?” Brevard asked quietly.

Queenie thumped her pen against its matching notepad. After a minute she spoke, her face falling. “Lovers’ quarrel. Has to be.”

“I hope they work it out.”

“Of course they will, sugar. Didn’t you hear? They’re already making plans for next year. That spells
long-term.
”

Brevard unexpectedly took her hand. “Laticia, about the future…?”

Her big dark eyes went round. “Yes, Brevard?”

He slightly adjusted his glasses. “I was thinking we should talk about it.”

“Of course, we’ll talk about it.” She sweetly squeezed his hand. “But not just yet, all right?” She shot him a confident wink. “You finish that book first.”

“I really am writing one. I know you suspect that maybe I’m not.”

“Phooey! What would make you think that?”

He grabbed his laptop from the far end of the table and turned the screen toward her, opening a collapsed window. “Were you Googling my agent and checking his client list?”

Queenie blinked like a kid who’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “What?” she asked, her voice rising. “Now, don’t be silly, baby.” She rolled her eyes toward the ocean, obviously thinking fast, then turned to him with an exaggerated grin. “I was only checking my e-mail.”

Chapter Nineteen

Allison walked briskly along the beach, a sharp breeze whistling off the ocean and whipping through her hair. It was nippy out, but still pleasant enough with a big, bright sun shining in the sky. It was hard to imagine a cold front was coming in tomorrow, possibly even bringing snow. Allison was glad she’d gotten away from Grady to take this walk alone. She needed time to clear her head.

It was true she’d snapped at him when she shouldn’t have. At the end of the day, Grady was doing her a favor, no matter how aggravating he tried to be. She didn’t know why, but she felt like he was doing it on purpose. It was like he was learning where all her buttons were and having fun pushing them. The one thing Grady didn’t know about was her parents. Their bookstore closing down had been a big blow. While very few people were aware of this, Allison had been forced to return from her semester abroad early. With her parents’ income suddenly reduced to almost nothing, they hadn’t been able to cover the extra bills and student visa restrictions had prevented Allison from finding a job in Cortona to help pay her own way.

Three months later, her mom’s cancer had returned. It came on with such a vengeance that, by the time it was discovered, there was nothing the doctors could do. Allison had always secretly believed that the stress of the bookstore’s closing had contributed to the illness’s resurgence and her mother’s subsequent demise. Her mom had been only fifty-six when she’d died, leaving her husband of thirty years behind, as well as Allison and her younger brother. Josh hadn’t even finished high school before her death. If Allison found the situation hard to deal with as a college junior, it had been even tougher on him. Their mom had died two weeks before Josh’s high school graduation. Allison liked to believe that her mom had been there in spirit. Though in person would have been much better.
 

Allison dragged a hand across her cheek, wiping back a tear. Now was not the time to be sentimental. But she couldn’t help it. This random talk of returning to Italy opened up those old wounds. Grady O’Brien wanted to take over the world. Ha! How many families would Total Wines destroy in the process? Did he really have any idea what he was doing? While he claimed his buyouts helped people, it was difficult to see how. Sure, Grady was full of glib stories about improved employee benefits and stability. But was that really the way things played out? It was impossible to believe his success rate was as high as he claimed, and much more reasonable to assume that when the people at Total Wines saw something they wanted, they took it, regardless of the collateral damage.

The path followed a steep incline among the dunes, then carried her higher to the grassy hills that she’d seen from the window. She could spy the lighthouse gleaming in the distance, with the lighthouse keeper’s cottage and another outbuilding beside it. Allison climbed toward them, and the sole of her boot slipped against the rocky slope.
 

Allison stared down in horror as bits of gravel mixed with crushed shells catapulted toward the churning sea below. This path cut precariously close to the ocean at certain points, and the higher she climbed, the more daunting the cliffs with sheer drop-offs became. Things were still slick from the heavy rains yesterday. She’d have to watch her step.

Grady plunked down on the bed and dropped his head in his hands, not knowing what to think. If the idea had been to have Allison get to know—and like—him, the plan obviously wasn’t succeeding. Just because he was a bear before his coffee didn’t mean he needed to add that bit about Allison being a party pooper. He never expected for her to get so bent out of shape about it, which had only inspired him to tease her more. That had been wrong of him, as had the hand-holding fake-out attempt at the breakfast table. What on earth was his problem?
 

Grady was a polished professional at the top of his game, yet his interactions with Allison left him feeling like a clumsy oaf having trouble putting one foot in front of the other. Everywhere Grady turned, he made a misstep. And
this
was supposed to win favor with the woman?

At least his tactics seemed to be working with Allison’s friends, but they weren’t Grady’s main target. He’d meant to slowly introduce the topic of Total Wines’ global expansion to Allison. But when her friends had pressed him for details about his business, his chest had swelled with pride and he’d been all too interested in discussing his exciting endeavors. Perhaps he’d been trying to impress them, by making them think he was good enough for Allison. In return, he’d apparently turned the object of his pretend affections off by making her super angry.

But why
was
Allison so angry? Although she’d given him six reasons, they somehow didn’t seem enough. Her distaste for Grady appeared to run deeper than that. He didn’t know how things had changed so suddenly, because last night when they’d been talking over wine, everything had been going beautifully. Even this morning she’d seemed all right, until they got into that exchange over the coffee.

Grady ran both hands through his hair and stared out the window, considering his options. He could see Allison in the distance, making her way through the hills overlooking the sea. She’d definitely been eager to get away and put some space between them. Grady hoped the walk would do her good, and that she’d return refreshed, maybe ready to discuss things like a rational person.

That would mean Grady would have to be a grown-up too, and quit all this nonsense about trying to get Allison’s goat. He’d been a real ass, when he could have played the perfect gentleman. Grady questioned his own motives in this regard, and wondered if he’d perhaps been acting that way because, way down deep, he’d sensed Allison’s genuine dislike of him. It was like his inner child was urging him to make trouble in retaliation. Grady heaved a sigh, thinking maybe he should have taken another social psychology course in school. Perhaps he would have learned more about himself, and developed a better clue as to how to handle this situation.

Not that book learning could ever prepare anyone for a setup like this. His first instinct about the idea had been the right one. This was ludicrous!

Just then, Grady’s cell phone buzzed. He got up to check it, seeing Kate had finally answered. She’d gotten there fine and asked how things were going in Maine. At this precise moment, Grady decided he’d better not tell her.

Grady walked to the kitchen for some water, weighing his next move. Allison was bound to have calmed down by the time she returned, and perhaps she’d be in better spirits. Grady glanced around the great room, where sunlight streaked across the floor, pouring in from the oceanside windows. There was an empty notepad sitting on the table along with a closed laptop computer. “Hello?” he called out, but he got no reply. It was evident the others had gone. He fixed himself some iced water, thinking maybe that was what he and Allison needed too. A little excursion to bring them closer together. Perhaps he could offer to take her to lunch.

Grady surveyed the contents of the refrigerator, finding deli meats, cheeses, bread and condiments. If push came to shove, they could make lunch here, but it might be fun to go out. They didn’t need to go into Portland; he and Allison could explore the quaint seaside village nearby. Grady had researched it ahead of time and found it had a fish market, a small supermarket, a coffee shop and two restaurants, as well as a few knickknack stores selling beach supplies and offering bike and equipment rentals. There weren’t a whole lot of choices, but he and Allison should be able to rustle up a midday meal.