Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Came Looking
Then Sabrina Whitmore arrived in Pine Creek.
Mary was beneath a truck when the black luxury SUV pulled into the gravel lot.
Grant recognized it instantly.
His stomach dropped.
Sabrina stepped out wearing cream trousers, sunglasses, and an expression he knew too well.
Mary rolled from beneath the truck.
“Be with you in a second.”
Then she saw Grant’s face.
“Friend of yours?”
Sabrina removed her sunglasses.
“Fiancée, actually.”
Silence fell across the garage.
Mary looked at Grant.
Not shocked.
Not dramatic.
Just very still.
Grant stepped forward.
“Sabrina.”
“So this is where you’ve been.”
“Outside.”
“No.”
Her eyes moved to Mary.
“I think this concerns her too.”
Mary stood.
“Does it?”
Sabrina gave a bitter laugh.
“You don’t know who he is, do you?”
Grant felt the entire world narrowing.
“Mary—”
“Who are you?”
The question was quiet.
Grant had heard that exact question from investors, reporters, employees, competitors.
It had never frightened him.
Now it did.
Sabrina answered for him.
“Grant Callaway. CEO of Callaway Holdings. The Grant Callaway whose family owns half a dozen companies you’ve probably done business with without realizing it.”
Mary stared at him.
Sabrina continued.
“His Manhattan apartment is worth thirty million dollars. He has houses in three states. His plane is probably worth more than this entire town.”
“Sabrina, enough.”
Mary’s eyes never left Grant.
“Is that true?”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
“And she’s your fiancée?”
“The wedding is off.”
“Did you tell her that?”
Sabrina’s jaw tightened.
“Eventually.”
Mary wiped her hands on a rag.
“How long were you going to keep this from me?”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
Grant had no good answer.
That was the problem.
Mary laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
“Wow.”
“I can explain.”
“I think you should.”
Sabrina folded her arms.
Mary looked at her.
“Not here.”
The two women regarded each other.
Then something unexpected happened.
Sabrina’s anger faded.
She looked at Grant, then at Mary.
And perhaps for the first time since arriving, she understood what she was actually seeing.
Grant in worn jeans.
Grease on his forearm.
A wrench on the bench.
A half-eaten sandwich wrapped in foil.
A version of him she had never known.
Sabrina’s voice became quieter.
“I didn’t come here to ruin this.”
Grant looked at her.
“Then why did you come?”
“Because you disappeared.”
She swallowed.
“Because the wedding planner kept calling. Your mother kept asking questions. Everyone looked at me like I had an explanation, and I didn’t.”
“You knew why I left.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes shone.
“I just didn’t know where you went.”
Mary stepped back.
“This is between you two.”
Grant shook his head.
“No. Not anymore.”
He looked at Sabrina.
“The wedding is canceled.”
She closed her eyes briefly.
“I know.”
“You know?”
“I knew the night you left.”
Sabrina removed the engagement ring.
For a second, Grant expected her to throw it.
Instead, she placed it carefully on the workbench.
“I kept telling myself you were overreacting. Then I spent three weeks surrounded by everything I told Lauren I wanted.”
Her voice cracked.
“The apartment. The parties. People asking about the Callaway Foundation. Invitations addressed to future Mrs. Callaway.”
She laughed bitterly.
“And I was miserable.”
Grant remained silent.
Sabrina looked at Mary.
“I thought I came here to bring him home.”
Mary said nothing.
“But I don’t think he was home with me.”
That hurt more gently than Grant expected.
Sabrina looked at him one last time.
“I did love you.”
“I know.”
“I just loved too many other things at the same time.”
Grant nodded.
“I know that too.”
She turned toward the SUV.
Then stopped beside Mary.
“He hates mushrooms.”
Mary blinked.
Sabrina smiled faintly.
“And when he’s scared, he starts asking unnecessary questions.”
Grant frowned.
“I do not.”
Both women looked at him.
For one strange second, Mary almost smiled.
Then Sabrina left.
Dust settled behind the SUV.
Grant looked at Mary.
She picked up Sabrina’s ring from the workbench and held it toward him.
“Take it.”
“Mary—”
“Take the ring.”
He did.
She walked into the office.
Grant followed.
“Please let me explain.”
Mary turned.
“Were you testing me?”
The question stopped him cold.
“What?”
“Were you waiting to see whether I’d behave differently after finding out you’re rich?”
He didn’t answer quickly enough.
Mary’s expression changed.
“Oh my God.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Then what was it like?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Of what money does to people.”
“No. Don’t do that.”
Her voice sharpened.
“Money didn’t lie to me. You did.”
“I never lied about my feelings.”
“You lied about your life.”
“I told you I worked in business.”
Mary stared at him.
“You own the business.”
“Several.”
“That is not helping.”
Grant dragged a hand through his hair.
“The night before I came here, I heard Sabrina telling friends she wouldn’t marry me if I lost my money.”
Mary’s anger hesitated.
Grant continued.
“I spent years believing she loved me for me. And in five minutes, I realized I couldn’t separate myself from everything around me anymore. The houses. The company. The name.”
“So you erased all of it.”
“For a while.”
“And erased my right to know who I was getting involved with.”
Grant had no defense against that.
Mary’s eyes filled.
“Do you know what hurts?”
He shook his head.
“I would’ve believed you.”
Grant looked at her.
“If you’d told me the second week, I would’ve thought it was insane. If you’d told me after our first date, I would’ve probably laughed because I thought you were joking. But I would’ve believed you.”
She wiped angrily at one eye.
“You didn’t give me that chance.”
“I know.”
“You decided who I might become before I had the opportunity to show you.”
Grant whispered, “You’re right.”
Mary looked almost disappointed by the answer.
Perhaps she wanted him to fight.
He couldn’t.
Because she was right.
“I need you to leave.”
His chest tightened.
“Mary.”
“Please.”
May you like
He nodded.
Then he walked out of Dawson Auto Repair.
