“Yeah you are, by proxy,” Grant said, coming closer. “You’re avoiding me. But she’s my fiancée, and I’m not going anywhere. You can’t just cut her out of your life because you don’t want to accept that you’re my brother.”
“Half brother,” Logan clarified. That “half” made all the difference in his book.
“The shitty half,” Grant pointed out.
He was right. He didn’t know a thing about Helen Chamberlain, but none of his beef had ever been with her. He actually felt bad for her, knowing that she had to put up with such a philandering husband. “I’m glad we’re finally able to agree on something.”
“I’m sure that’s not the only thing we agree on. I don’t know if Pepper has told you, but I’m well aware that my father isn’t a saint,” Grant began. “Long before I found out about you, I knew what kind of stuff my dad was up to when he worked those late hours and took those out-of-town business trips. I don’t know that he’s drawn a monogamous breath during his entire marriage to my mother. It pisses me off, but I can’t change him and I won’t be the one to tell my mother and hurt her. So I know what it’s like to live a life where you’re stuck with a burden you don’t want. But here’s the thing . . . Blake, Mitchell, Maddie, Simon, Hazel, and I . . . we’ve got nothing to do with it, and neither do you. For whatever reason, you don’t like us, but I wish you’d reconsider and give us a chance.”
“Well, I’ll just invite myself over to the next Sunday supper and sit down right next to Pops,” Logan said with mocking enthusiasm. He couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice as he tried to imagine the Chamberlains welcoming him with open arms. Wouldn’t happen. At best, he’d be tolerated.
“We’re good people. I like my siblings, and I think if you got to know us, you’d like us, too. You don’t have to set yourself aside. When the truth comes out, there might be a rough patch as people come to terms with what my father did, but in the end, they’re going to accept you as part of the family. Because you are a part of the family. The only thing that will keep you an outsider is your attitude.”
“My attitude?” Logan scoffed.
“Yeah, it sucks,” Grant noted. “You’ve got your vendetta against Dad, fine. I don’t blame you. But avoiding me at your sister’s expense, representing Emmett in court against Maddie . . . it seems like you’re going out of your way to be rude to people who haven’t done anything to you. I wish you’d drop this wall you’ve put up and let us try. Let me try to be a brother to you. It might not be as terrible as you imagine.”
“Why do you care?” Logan asked. “I’m your father’s bastard. Why would you want anything to do with me, or want me involved with your family at all? Is this all just to make Pepper happy?”
“In part,” Grant admitted. “I know these last few months have been hard on both of you. When you moved back to Rosewood, she’d hoped to spend more time with you, but you’ll hardly have anything to do with her. You might as well still be living in Huntsville. I hate watching it take its toll on her, yes. So for her sake, I’m trying, and I wish you would, too. But that’s not all of it.”
Grant took another step forward, getting close enough to put a hand on Logan’s shoulder. “Circumstances be damned, you’re my brother. I want to have a relationship with you. We’re family, and family is important to me. I’m not going to make you sit through dinners you don’t want to come to or put you in situations that’ll make you and everyone else there miserable. But I want you to keep an open mind.”
Logan took a deep breath and nodded. He knew he was letting his emotions get the best of him and he shouldn’t. Rationally, he knew that by staying angry and focusing so much on getting back at Norman Chamberlain, he was giving his father po
wer over him. He knew it, and yet it was hard for him to stop.
“Okay,” Logan agreed. “You’re right. I know you’re right. It’s just hard for me. I’m sorry that my drama has spilled into your life.”
“Don’t be sorry, just make a change,” Grant said, taking a step back and reaching down to pat his dog on the head. “When you’re ready to take the next step, let us know. We’re moving into the house this weekend. We’re hoping to have a housewarming sometime soon, so maybe you can plan for that. If that’s too much, maybe just dinner one night.”
“What about tonight?” Logan asked. He wanted to fix this, and the longer he put it off, the more reasons he’d find not to do it. “I’m happy to come to the party, too, but I don’t think I should wait. Maybe I can help you guys move, too.”
Grant smiled. “Sure. That’d be great. I’ll let Pepper know and make sure tonight works for her.” He glanced over his shoulder casually, and froze. “Shit.”
“What?” Logan turned and looked in the direction that had grabbed Grant’s attention. There, standing across the narrow street outside the sporting goods store, was Lydia Whittaker. She was holding a new yoga mat in one hand and a cell phone in the other, not even bothering to act like she wasn’t listening in, and possibly even recording, their entire conversation.
A wide, wicked smile spread across her deceptively beautiful face. She turned off her phone and slipped it into her purse. Raising one hand, she delicately wiggled her fingers in smug greeting. Then, she flicked her blond hair over her shoulder and got into her car.
“Do you think she got all that on video?” Grant asked as she drove away.
Logan swallowed hard. “I don’t know.” He felt like an idiot letting his emotions put his plans at risk. If Lydia heard it all, he had no doubt she would tell people. His secret was officially in self-destruct mode, except he didn’t know how long the countdown would be.
Hours, days, weeks . . . how long would it take for everyone in Rosewood to know the truth? He supposed that would depend on how Lydia could best use the information to suit her. She could keep quiet and try to blackmail one of them. She could take out an ad in the paper and announce it to everyone. He hadn’t had much experience with her personally, but he knew about the incident last year that landed her in court. He’d heard from Pepper that she blamed the Chamberlains for that because the photographic evidence that convicted her had been slipped into the slideshow at Ivy’s concert. Ivy was Blake’s fiancée, and only someone close to the family could’ve slipped that photo into the deck.
It was ironic, really, considering how hard she’d worked to actually marry into the Chamberlain family. Logan had always thought she would succeed on that front. She had that cutthroat quality and high opinion of herself that seemed to fit right in with the rest of them. She just didn’t like it when those qualities were turned against her.
When she did share his secret, he had no doubt she would do it in a spectacular fashion to create the most impact and embarrass the family. In the end, it wouldn’t be about him, it’d be about the Chamberlains, and that’s what worried him the most.
Emmett had told Maddie that Wednesday nights were slow at the bar. Most people were at church or hiding out at home, so people wouldn’t see them out and about and ask them why they weren’t in church. Maddie had to be in bed so early, she’d dropped out of Bible Study when she bought the bakery. There was no way to do both. In the end, it was just as well, since she would’ve missed a month of classes while she served her sentence with Emmett.
With Clark Newton’s art experiment over, they’d been able to return to more mundane community service activities this week. This afternoon, they’d been sent to the library to assist in decorating for the upcoming Halloween festival on Saturday. Every year, the children of Rosewood would gather in the square for a Trunk or Treat. Since most of the homes were so scattered in the country, it was easier for folks to come to town for Halloween. They parked all along the square, handing out candy from their hatchbacks and truck beds.
Before the trick or treating, the library would host an annual party for the children. The librarians would read scary children’s books, let kids bob for apples, and provide them with messy crafts that involved gluing faces on pumpkins and fangs on vampires.
When that was over, it’d finally be dark enough for the tiny ghouls, goblins, and princesses of Rosewood to pour out of the library and descend on the people waiting patiently to hand out treats. Emmett and Maddie had spent most of the afternoon at the library hanging fake glow-in-the-dark spiderwebs, arranging pumpkins on the patio, and setting up a spooky scarecrow out front.
This year, after the Trunk or Treat, there would be a special community event for the grown-ups, too. After much planning, Maddie and Alice Jordan had decided that doing a movie night on the lawn on Halloween might be fun. They chose the 1930s black-and-white version of Frankenstein. Flyers were up all over town advertising the event, sponsored by Madelyn’s Bakery & Tea House. She’d even put one up in her shop’s front window. She was planning to give out pumpkin sugar cookies to attendees with coupons for a dollar off a future purchase.