“But didn’t you—didn’t we—all do the same thing to him?” Anya asked. “He was a hot, single guy who could have any woman he wanted, right? But he chose you. But with you came us, and suddenly we presented an entire family to him. Plus, we made all those suggestions to renovate his house and plans for the future. And you know what? He never even blinked. He just accepted us. All of us. And all the change that came to his life that we brought. So if he could do that, and love us all, why couldn’t you?”
It took a full minute for Anya’s words to soak in.
“I … don’t know, Anya.”
Anya shook her head and went back to watching the game.
It was only after the game—that the Traders won, after Anya and Leo had gone back to their rooms and she was alone again, that she really had time to think about what Anya had said to her.
They had completely upended his life, not the other way around. Anya was right. He was a hot single athlete who could have had his choice of any available woman. Instead, he’d chosen her and her siblings. And then they’d gone and made suggestions to renovating his house, and he’d loved their ideas and had made plans to move forward.
At every step in the process, he’d welcomed her and her family into his life. He’d always included Anya and Leo, because he knew that if he wanted her, she came with a brother and sister. And when he told her he loved her and wanted to move her into his home, he’d invited Leo and Anya as well. That would have meant huge changes in his lifestyle. He’d never even blinked.
Because that’s what you do when you love someone—you allow change in your life.
She stood and went over to the window, looking out over the city she’d always called home. Now it just seemed foreign to her, because Grant wasn’t here to share it with her.
Grant wasn’t a man who ran from responsibility. He was a man who would have welcomed it with open arms.
Tears pricked her eyes and she swiped them away, so angry with herself she wanted to scream.
“Stupid, Katrina. You are so stupid.”
She’d gone along on this wild, crazy journey with him because she’d known, probably as early as Barbados, that he was the one for her.
The only one.
She’d have never done any of these things with any other man. Just Grant. Because he was it for her. The one, the only, the man she loved.
The only man she would ever love.
She laid her head against the windowpane.
“So, so stupid.”
And now she’d lost him.
DESPITE THE GREAT GAME AGAINST DALLAS, GRANT wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. His parents had come to the game, and damn he was happy to see them. Fortunately, the media was happier to see Easton Cassidy than they were to talk to him, so he let his dad field questions from reporters while he grabbed his mom and snuck away from the inevitable postgame interviews.
They waited in the car for his dad to finish with the reporters.
“I’m sorry Katrina couldn’t be here tonight,” his mom said.
“Yeah, that’s too bad.” It was as much of an answer as he was willing to give.
“Are you going to tell me what happened between the two of you the day you left the ranch, or should I just call Katrina and ask her?”
His head shot up. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to call Katrina, Mom. We’re not … seeing each other anymore.”
His mom crossed her arms. “Okay, what did you do?”
“Why do women always assume the guy screwed something up?”
His mom shot him a look.
“Okay, fine. You want to know what happened? I asked her and the kids to move in with me, and she decided to flee back to New York.”
“Because?”
He threw his hands in the air. “Because … hell if I know why. She said I took charge of her life and made all these decisions and I never gave her the chance to decide if that’s what she wanted or some bullshit like that.”
“I see.”
He looked over at his mom. “Which is not at all what happened, by the way.”
When his mother didn’t say anything, he thought about it. About how he’d just showed up at Katrina’s apartment in New York, and basically took over all the decision making from there.
“Okay, maybe I did. Just a little.”
“You do realize how important her independence is to her, don’t you?”
“Yes. And maybe I bulldozed my way into her life more than I should have. And maybe I could have been a little gentler in my suggestions.” He turned in the seat to face his mother. “I love her, Mom. I don’t want to lose her.”