Take a Chance (Chance, #1; Rosemary Beach #7)(71)

“What are you doing?” Grant asked as I slipped my phone back into my purse.

“I’m leaving. It’s time for me to go,” I replied, then picked up my shoes and slipped them on.

“You can’t leave.” He slammed his hand against the wall, “Fuck! Why didn’t you tell me? I need time to process this, Harlow. You can’t just leave.”

I walked over to him and stood in front of him. This was it for us, and when I looked back on this day I would always have regrets. But telling Grant the truth before I left was important to me. “Because you would have treated me differently. I didn’t want to see in your eyes what I knew would be there. I wanted to be near you. I wanted to know what it was like to have a guy want me. I wanted to live. My heart may not be whole, but it still beats. I’m still alive. Why should I live like I’m dead?”

I stood there and waited for him to respond. He said nothing. The emotions in his eyes as he stared back at me were too much to define. I knew he was hurt. I also knew he felt betrayed, and I hated that I had made him feel that way. But for once in my life I chose me. I wanted Grant Carter and his sweet-talking magic words. I let myself have him and forgot about the facts. Hearing him say I may not live long was like being slapped in the face. No one said that to me. Everyone who loved me talked about my life being long. They believed and had faith. Grant was already digging my grave. I couldn’t let myself be near someone who expected me to die young.

“Don’t go out there. Just give me a moment to process this. You just let me get close and didn’t prepare me for this. I don’t understand how the sweet, selfless Harlow I know could do this.”

I stopped as my hand touched the doorknob. His words hurt deeper than anything else. Maybe because I knew they were true. I had been wrong. I should have told him.

“Well, now you know. I’m not the kind of girl you plan forever with. At least you found out before your heart got involved,” I said.

“Can’t you at least see my side of this? Don’t walk out that door,” Grant said, taking a step toward me.

Staying any longer would just hurt worse. Grant would tell me good-bye. I was saving myself from that memory. It was one I could do without. I hadn’t told him that my heart was weak. I hadn’t warned him. I had let myself live. And now I would live with the fact he couldn’t forgive me for it. That he didn’t have the courage to love me anyway. I opened the door to walk out into the crowd. Flashes went off and people came running toward me.

“Miss Manning, are you seeing Grant Carter?” someone yelled, and I looked over as a camera was shoved in my face. Before I could think of an answer, someone else shouted, “Miss Manning, is your mother still alive?”

That was the question I had been prepared for, but I was pushed and I stumbled forward.

“Miss Manning, where is your father? Is he still in Paris?” another voice shouted at me. I couldn’t focus. There were too many of them. Too much.

“Miss Manning, can you tell us if you have seen your mother?”

“Did you know?”

“Have you been living in your father’s Beverly Hills mansion since the death of your grandmother?”

My head was spinning. Questions were yelled at me, and I could hardly see over the flashes of light in my face. I shouldn’t have come out here. I wasn’t going to be able to do this.

“Get the f**k off her.” Grant’s voice broke through the tunnel of people and voices. His hand closed around me and pulled me away, and he shoved me into a truck. At first I thought it was his. Then I saw Rush sitting in the driver’s seat.

“You okay?” he asked, his face hard as stone as he glared out at the people now calling out his name.

“Get her out of here,” Grant said without looking at me and closed the door.

Rush backed his truck up as I watched Grant walk back toward his condo. Not once did he look back at me.

“I’m sorry, Harlow,” Rush said.

“Me, too,” I replied. I couldn’t go back to Nan’s. I needed to leave all of this.

“Can you take me to the airport?” I asked him as I pulled my purse closer to me.

“Where are you going to go?” Rush asked.

“L.A., Texas, I don’t know. Dad needs me but I don’t know if he wants me. I could go to Mase, but I don’t want to take this insanity to his ranch.”

“Grant just needs time to deal. He’ll come around,” Rush said.

“No. That’s over. Things were said I’ll never forget. That chapter is closed.”

Rush didn’t reply as he pulled out onto the main road that led out of town.

“He’s just scared,” Rush said, defending him.

“I’m gone now. Nothing for him to be scared of,” I replied. “Could you get my things from Nan’s and ship them to the L.A. house?”

Rush let out a loud, defeated sigh. “Yeah, I can do that. So you’re going to L.A.?”

It was better for Mase if I did. “Yes, for now. I’ll hide out there and help deal with Dad.”

Rush nodded.

We drove in silence for a while. I tried to think about Dad and what he was dealing with. I didn’t let myself think about Grant. I couldn’t. I would break down on Rush, and he didn’t need to deal with that. I would have plenty of alone time once I got to L.A. Plenty of time to cry.