Grace (The Family Simon 5)

She knew what she needed to do and it didn’t involve any kind of waiting. She’d get through the gala and head to Michigan with her brother Beau and Betty Jo.

Grace smiled as a surge of the old fire hit her square in the gut. She smiled and hummed a few more bars of the Christmas song.

I’ll be home for Christmas.

She was done waiting. Done being sad and miserable. Life was too short for that kind of apathy.

You can plan on me….

Matt Hawkins wouldn’t know what hit him.

32

Matt brought Justin back to New Waterford right after their father’s funeral. Delilah had been MIA for days until she showed up just in time for the wake. She’d proceeded to get shitfaced drunk and after being inappropriate to several members of his father’s squad, Matt asked her to leave.

She was primed to make a scene but all Matt had to do was mention the fact that she’d abandoned a minor, and he had no problem reporting her to the cop who, only moments earlier, she’d been all over.

“You can’t do that,” she’d spat. But he saw the fear in her eyes.

“Don’t push me.” Matt spied Justin a few feet away. The kid looked so damn lost and angry. “He’s coming back to New Waterford with me.”

She never batted an eye. Hell, she put up no fight whatsoever and now, weeks later, Matt was pretty damn sure it had been her plan all along. The estate was a mess—turns out she had a bit of a gambling problem and Nevada had become her best friend—but he was dealing with it.

Funny how things worked out. Less than two months ago, he’d been alone. Minding his own business, restoring his cars for the clients who paid him well

to do so. Playing hockey on Friday nights, hanging with the boys, and occasionally getting busy with whatever woman caught his eyes.

Now look at him.

He had a dog and a kid living in his house. And hell, Dory was here every other night for dinner. All he needed to complete this picture of domestic bliss was…

All he needed was Grace.

“Shit,” he muttered, yanking on his hand and freeing it from under the carburetor he’d been working on. It was bleeding and he swore as he headed over to the sink.

Justin watched him from across the room. The kid had taken to cars like a fish to water and for the past several days, he’d been working on an engine rebuild. Justin had a lot of issues, and most of the time getting the kid to speak was like pulling teeth. But when the two of them were out here, working on the cars, it seemed easier.

“Who’s Grace?” Justin asked, turning back to the engine.

“Huh?” Matt grabbed a towel and leaned against the sink.

“You just swore a blue streak and said the name Grace, like two times. I just wondered who she is.”

“Grace Simon is...”

Justin’s head whipped up so fast Matt was surprised it didn’t snap. He saw the wheels turning—the kid was smart.

“Grace Simon? Like Beau Simon’s sister?” Justin was still amazed that Betty Jo Barker was his best friend, and the fact that she was married to the Hollywood superstar was a bonus.

Matt scooped up a bandage from under the sink. “Yes. That would be the one.”

“She’s hot. Those Kardashian chicks have nothing on her.”

Matt had to agree with Justin there.

“How well do you know her?”

Matt stared down at the blood across his knuckles. “I know her pretty well,” he finally said.