Once Sebastian placed Hunter back in his playpen and found the other pudding pack that his little cousin had somehow managed to hide in his blankie, he went back into the kitchen and got to work. Two chapters on European history, an essay, and a quiz later, Sebastian realized how late it was. If he didn’t move his ass, he was going to be–
Once again wondering why Mrs. Blaine was glaring at him. With an impatient sigh, she gestured with her cane for him to hurry up. “We’re going to be late.”
“Late for what?” Sebastian asked, unable to help but frown as he reached for his bag.
“Your friend has tryouts today, doesn’t she?” Mrs. Blaine said, once again gesturing for him to hurry up as he stood there, wondering where her helper was.
“Yes, she does, Mrs. Blaine,” Sebastian said, pulling his bag on only to bite back a smile when she narrowed her eyes on him and said, “I thought I told you to call me Grandma,” with a look that dared him to refuse.
Knowing better than to argue with the woman, Sebastian said, “Yes, she does, Grandma,” somewhat appeasing her.
Grandma, Sebastian thought, testing the foreign word in his mind as he carefully rolled Mrs. Blaine outside and headed toward the sidewalk. He’d never had use for the word before now. His father’s mother had passed away before he was born and his mother grew up in foster care and had absolutely no idea who her parents were. His dad’s father was still alive, but as far as Sebastian was concerned that piece of garbage wasn’t his grandfather.
Not after what he’d put his father through.
He’d abandoned Sebastian’s father before he was born and when he was in his life, which wasn’t very often, he’d treated him like crap. When he found out that Sebastian’s father was dyslexic, he’d stopped pretending that he was anything more than a disappointment. His father had been fifteen years old when his dad decided to slap him around. Uncle Jason had stepped in, taking the older man to the ground before the rest of the men in their family had stepped in and taken over.
Sebastian saw him from time to time around the library, but he’d never said a word to him
. He wasn’t worth his time.
The closest thing that he’d ever had to a grandfather was Uncle Jared. All of the men in his family had stepped up for them, but Uncle Jared had always treated Sebastian’s father like a son. He’d always been there for them, from the day that they were born, their birthdays, and everything in between. He always went out of his way to make them feel special.
“What do you know about me, Sebastian?” Mrs. Blaine asked as they made their way to the baseball fields next to the middle school.
“Besides the fact that you’re insanely rich, stubborn, and for some reason, you’re always glaring at me? Not much,” he drawled, earning a surprised chuckle from her.
“My Harold would have liked you,” she said with a firm nod, sounding pleased.
“Aunt Haley’s grandfather?” Sebastian asked as they took the paved path that led to the baseball fields.
“Yes. Has Haley told you anything about him?” Mrs. Blaine asked as he carefully navigated the path to the benches that ran along the chain-link fence.
“Only that he was by far the greatest man that ever lived,” Sebastian said, chuckling as he parked her wheelchair next to a bench before he sat down next to her.
“He was a very good man,” Mrs. Blaine said with a warm smile as they watched the baseball tryouts start.
Sebastian was looking for Mikey when Mrs. Blaine took him by surprise.
“You remind me of him,” she said quietly.
“Your husband?” Sebastian asked, glancing at her to find her watching him.
Mrs. Blaine nodded absently as she returned her attention to watching the tryouts.
“Tell me about him,” Sebastian found himself saying.
“He would be so disappointed with me,” Mrs. Blaine said with a sad smile that had Sebastian frowning.
“Why?” Sebastian asked, because he couldn’t imagine anyone being disappointed in her after everything she’d managed to accomplish.
“When we started Blaine Industries, our hope was that our children would never know what it was like to go without. We wanted to give them everything that we never had and make sure that they had choices in life. We wanted to give them the world, but the problem was that they came to expect it. Believe it or not, Sebastian, we didn’t raise them that way. We taught our boys the value of hard work, made them earn their way, but somewhere along the line, we failed them.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because we didn’t raise them to behave this way,” Mrs. Blaine said with a sad smile only to add, “They’re using my great-grandson to try to soften me toward them and ensure their place in my will,” at his questioning look.
“Braxton?” Sebastian asked, wishing that he’d been wrong about that. He couldn’t imagine what it felt like to know that your family was just using you and he hated that she knew that it was happening.