The silence that followed gave Grace everything she needed to know. Everyone had already talked about it.

“Thanks, Colin,” she said.

He smiled as if he’d proudly accomplished a mighty task. “I’m pretty sure it was you who told each of us to step in if we ever saw you dating someone who wasn’t right.”

“Was I a part of that conversation?” Erin asked, closing the door of the car.

“No. It was in the hospital waiting room when you were in the ICU,” Parker told Erin.

Grace had said those exact words as she was deleting the dating apps on her phone. Her entire family, including her mom and dad, had been there, too.

“First of all, Dameon and I aren’t dating. And second—”

“I know what I saw,” Colin interrupted her.

“And second . . .” She paused to make sure everyone was listening. “There isn’t anything wrong with the man. But I want to swing around to the part about we aren’t dating again.”

“I saw how he was looking at you, Gracie. If you’re not dating . . . or whatever you’re doing, it isn’t for his lack of trying,” Colin pointed out.

“Even if he was, what’s wrong with that?”

Parker tucked her arm into the crook of Grace’s and started walking toward the Christmas lights. “Nothing’s wrong with that. We’re all just a little gun-shy.”

Considering the nightmare that had woken her up in the middle of the night, she couldn’t be too upset about her family’s reaction.

“If you have anything negative on the man, be sure and bring it to my attention. Right now, it seems like everyone is a worried ninny looking out for the fragile single woman in the group.”

Colin walked up beside Parker and dropped his arm over her shoulder. Matt and Erin came up behind them.

“My counselor said it was normal for everyone to be overly protective for a while and to try not to take it as a personal insult,” Erin told her. “It comes from a place of love.”

Parker squeezed Grace’s arm and leaned close. “We just love ya.”

“I’d feel better if we knew more about the man,” Colin said.

“How about you invite him to a family dinner?” Erin suggested.

“Guys, I’m telling you. We’re not dating. Yes, he asked me out. But I have enough trouble at the office with Richard and his backhanded slights and suggestions to add an actual anything with a client to fuel his fire.”

“I thought Richard had backed off,” Matt said.

“He stopped asking me to get his coffee a long time ago. Now he just piles on the work and insinuates that if I can’t handle it he will give it to Evan or one of the other men on the team.”

“That’s shitty,” Parker said.

They turned the corner, and the entry to the neighborhood lit up the street.

“I can say something to him on Friday at the Christmas party,” Colin offered.

“I only see that backfiring on me. But thanks. I can handle Richard.”

“Offer stands.”

Grace smiled at her brother, then turned to stare at the giant nutcrackers that framed the street. “This gets bigger every year.”

“It’s crazy!” Erin said.

And just like that, the conversation steered away from Grace and Dameon and onto power bills and electrical grids.

Dameon was in his office with spreadsheets and projections sitting in front of him. He’d be lying if he didn’t admit to himself that he was nervous. His company had experienced rapid growth over the past four years, equating to more employees, bigger office space, and an increase in overhead. Without Maxwell’s investment, they had very little wiggle room. During their growth, Dameon had the opportunity to step back and spread out his personal involvement on each individual jobsite and delegate the daily operations to people he trusted. Could he continue to work like that? One misstep and he’d have to downsize.

His phone rang from his secretary’s number. He put it on speaker. “Yes, Pauline?”

“There’s a Mr. Hudson on line one. I asked if he had a reason for the call. He insisted you’d take it.”

Dameon started to tap the pencil he was using against his desk. “I’ve got it. Thank you.”

His finger hesitated over the call. This had a fifty-fifty chance of going bad. He clicked into the call and put Colin on speaker. “This is Dameon,” he answered.

“Good morning. This is Colin, Grace’s brother.”

“Yes, good morning. I was trying to find a reason to call you myself. Thank you for beating me to it.”

“Is that so?” Colin asked.

“Friday was a bit awkward and I wanted to clear the air.”

“How did you plan on doing that?”

Colin was a ballbuster, Dameon had to give him that. “I’m not really sure,” he said honestly. “Grab a beer, prove by example I’m none of the things that were assumed about me.”

It took Colin a minute to respond.

The silence made Dameon want to add something, but instead he let the moment linger.

“Are you suggesting you’re not pursuing my sister?”

“No. I’d like nothing better than for Grace to let me take her out. She’s determined to make me work for it. Thinks she’ll find trouble with her boss.”

“If I told you she has legitimate reasons to feel that way, would you back off?” Colin asked.

Dameon actually had to think on that. “I wouldn’t want to cause her any problems at work.”

“Good.”

“But that doesn’t mean I’d give up.” And why was he having this conversation with her brother? “I may have to lie low until my company is through the city’s red tape.”

“That’s part of the reason for my call.”

He waited. “I’m listening.”

“The city hosts an annual holiday party. It feels more like a networking event than a personal office gathering. Many of the city’s brass attend. I thought perhaps if you came you could talk to the other departments, city council members . . . you know, the people who have to give you a green light on your project. Perhaps it would expedite or at least give a face to your name when it’s time for their signatures.”

Dameon couldn’t help but feel like he was missing something. “That sounds like a perfect idea. Is there a reason why you’d help me with that?”

He really wanted to hear that Grace had put him up to it.

“I’m a nice guy,” Colin said, nearly laughing as he did.

“Who practically took my hand off when we met,” Dameon called him out.

“I have reason to be jumpy.”

“You’re referring to the incident with Erin and her late husband?” Dameon asked.

“Grace told you about that?”

“She did.”

Again, there was silence.

“Then you understand my suspicion of anyone pursuing my sister in less than normal ways.”

That didn’t sound right. “I’m not sure I’m following you.”

“You reached out to her on Facebook, right?”

“I did.”

“That’s strange, don’t you think?” Colin asked.