Page 20 of She’s a Big Deal

It took Olivia a moment to remember where she was when she opened her eyes the next morning. She smiled as it came back to her, stretched, and turned over to snuggle close to her partner. Or at least that was the plan… She found the bed empty, and the room as well.

“Grace?”

No answer. She was not in the bathroom either. Wondering, low-key worried, Olivia gnawed on her lip. Surely, Grace had not just… Left? Then the door flew open, bringing a swirl of icy air into the room. As Olivia clung to her blanket, in strode her lover. Grace carried a brown bag in one hand, her laptop in the other, and a blazing smile on her lips. Color rode high in her cheeks and her eyes positively sparkled. One look was like little darts of heat fired into her. Olivia stared, enthralled.

“Good morning.”

“Morning,” she croaked.

Grace pushed the door shut with her foot, dropped the bag on the desk, and pulled two tall cups out of it. “Turns out there’s good coffee to be found in Dodger. I got you white, one sugar.”

“Yes, that is how I take my coffee.”

“Uh-huh. Thought so.”

“You take yours black?”

“Yes.”

“Ah. Thought so too.” Or shot straight into her bloodstream via IV, probably… Olivia glanced at the laptop. “Have you been working?”

“They have way better Wi-Fi at the coffee place than here. I handled a couple of meetings and made a few key calls. We’re looking good.”

And the clock on the bedside table only read 07:22. Olivia groaned.

“Are you always this energetic in the morning?”

“Of course.” Grace blasted her another high-intensity smile. “That’s what mornings are for, aren’t they? I take it you’re more of a night owl?”

“Uhm… No, not really, but…”

Before Olivia could get her brain in gear, Grace came to sit on the side of the bed. She took off her thin leather gloves, rested her fingers on her cheek, and finally acknowledged the obvious. “Are these just special circumstances?”

“Special.” Olivia nodded, her cheek tingling nicely. “Yeah, you could say that. Grace…”

She pulled her down for a slow, soft kiss. Grace’s lips were cool and fresh from the outside, with just a hint of black coffee on her mouth. She tasted amazing. Olivia felt all that restless energy, the power that had been revving so high only a second before, go beautifully still and peaceful. Grace lingered into the kiss, then just rested with her forehead touching hers and her eyes closed.

“You are special,” she murmured.

Olivia ran her fingers gently through her hair. “So are you, Ms. Michaels. ”

She found that ‘darling’ or ‘babe’ did not come to her in that instant. But she could infuse enough affection and intimacy into that, ‘Ms. Michaels’, both to satisfy herself and know that Grace would not be put off by it. Something told Olivia to take it slow and be careful with her today. That her lover might need a bit of time and space to process the amazing night they had shared. And me, too… No rush seemed like an all-around good idea at this point.

“I’m going to take a shower,” she announced.

“Okay. Here, this is for you.”

As well as organizing her business empire and finding her excellent coffee, Grace had also managed to buy a few essentials. Namely, toiletries and fresh underwear. Before first light, in a random town called Dodger, it was no small feat. She took care of things, obviously, which Olivia decided was another hugely attractive quality about her. Last but not least, she learned that Grace had reported the previous night’s threatening encounter to the local police.

“I was going to suggest we do that before we leave,” Olivia approved. “We got off lightly, but it might save another woman the same treatment.”

“Exactly.”

Grace did not follow her into the shower. Taking it slow , Olivia reminded herself. And it was fine. She wanted to drive, which was fine too, and no surprise. But Olivia did not expect her to launch into a series of 360-degree turns in the middle of the busy Motel parking lot. She made the Mustang’s engine roar, pulverized a bunch of snow, and had her literally shrieking with laughter.

“Next-level up from handbrake turns.”

“Phew! Next-level, yeah! ”

Grace flashed her a penetrating look. ”I will teach you. If you want.”

It occurred to Olivia that this may be her way of telling her there would be another time. Her heart jolted at the thought, and it settled her a great deal.

“Okay.” She spoke in the same tone and added a promise of her own. “I’ll hold you to that.”

◆◆◆

Grace barely stopped to eat and sleep over the next five days. The resort needed a lot of work , but she was limited in terms of time she wanted to spend . She flew in top business consultants, performed design assessments herself, and spent more time in her hologram tool than in the real world. She spoke personally to each member of staff on every level of the business and made hard recommendations to her siblings about keeping, hiring, and firing. Or rather, she discussed all these things with Chloe and Mark, who were on board with her ideas for modernization and appreciative of her philosophy regarding the restructuring.

“Is Jeremy not going to participate in this at all?” she asked, irritated.

“No.” Her sister sounded extremely sure. “To be honest, Grace, the only reason he added his signature to the contract is because Father told him to.”

Grace almost dropped her coffee mug.

“Father?” Her voice was dry.

“Yeah. He flew into a right rage when I shared your initial assessment of the situation with him, what with Reece’s antics and all the rest.” Chloe winced in dismay but, to her credit, went on with the truth. “He said he hadn’t worked his butt off all his life for his idiot children to let the business sink into the ground. He asked to review your proposal. Next thing you know, Jeremy makes a big U-Turn and signs off on it. So…”

So, her father agreed with her plan of action. It was a first, Grace reflected. And assumed from the way her sister spoke of him that she did not know of his illness.

“What about Reece?” she asked.

“At home. Sulking. I don’t know what’s going on with him but it’s concerning.”

It was, and Grace was determined to get to the bottom of it. She drove to his house, only to find he was not there. So much for Chloe’s crap intel.

“Goddammit.” She stood on the front porch, debating what to do. It was getting late, and freezing cold once again. She was tired. Surprisingly, he called her right at this moment. “Reece!”

“Hey, sister. Heard you were back in town.”

“I’m at your house. Where the hell are you?”

“In a ditch.”

“What?”

“I crashed my car.”

“Fuck.” Her blood went cold. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Fine. Just… Can you come get me?”

“Tell me where you are,” she snapped. As if I have nothing else to do but rescue everybody! “Alright. I’m on my way.”

As it was, he had described the situation accurately. His car had slipped into the ditch but, fortunately, did not hit anyone else or a tree on the way down.

“Hi.” He greeted her with reddened eyes, and that look on his face she remembered from when he was still a young kid and needed her to fix something stupid he’d done before it came to the attention of their father. “Thanks for coming.”

“What happened? Were you drunk?”

“No.”

“High on something?”

“No, no. A deer shot out in front of me. I over-corrected to avoid it, lost traction on a patch of ice, and fell in.”

She sorted out a tow truck, since apparently it never crossed his mind to get one, and told the guy to take the car to his house. She said they’d be there. Then she drove her brother home, sat him down in front of the fire, and made him a stiff cup of coffee. She sat on the low table in front of him. Getting in his face, pretty much.

“So. Talk to me,” she instructed.

Surprisingly, he did not need too much prompting. “I feel like shit. I’m ashamed. I—”

“Did you hurt these women, Reece? Did you assault them?”

She cut him off, thinking if he said yes, she wasn’t sure she could handle the horrific truth of it. He sighed, deep and heavy, and shook his head.

“Absolutely not.”

“Are you lying to me?”

“No, Grace, I am not.” Firm now. Sure. He looked her in the eye. “I came on to them hard. I suppose, psychologically, it was hurtful…”

“You suppose.” She rubbed the throbbing ache across her forehead. “Jesus, Reece.”

“Look, they weren’t hurt is what I am saying. But that’s the way their lawyer will spin it. They’re after a bunch of dollars.” He sighed again. “Hell, they deserve it. And an apology. I was a total asshole.”

“Are you on drugs?”

“No. Not now. Not this week. I quit.”

“Really?” she challenged aggressively.

“Yeah.” He made a vague gesture as if it were the least of his worries. “Look, it all got on top of me. But I am over it now.”

Grace shoved to her feet, knowing there was more he was not saying, and irritated beyond belief. She needed to get at the deeper truth, so she opted to play the ‘cruel to be kind’ card.

“I’ll tell you what I think happened,” she stated. “You got your heart broken by your Russian girlfriend. She dumped you, and you lost your shit. Resorted to drugs and violence to make you feel better. Did you think that’s how real men deal with their issues?” She poked him hard in the chest. “Because I’ll tell you, Reece: you’ve lost your goddamn mind if that’s what you believe.”

He stared at her with his mouth open and a look of absolute disbelief plastered across his face. Then, incredulously, he broke into a smile. And started to laugh.

“Reece.” She frowned, close to fuming. “How could you be so damn stupid? You think this is funny?”

“No, no.” But he went on laughing, harder, to the point of tears streaming down his face.

“Reece,” she repeated, at a loss now. “What the hell…”

When she went to sit back next to him, he grabbed hold of her affectionately. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. His crazy, wild laughter turned to real tears.

“I can’t believe you don’t know.”

“What?” she prompted in growing concern. “Don’t tell me you’re sick, or—"

“No, no. Not sick. Grace.” He pulled back to meet her eyes. Gave her a heart-breaking smile that reminded her once more of when he was a child. “I’m gay, you know?”

◆◆ ◆

Well. Hell! It was a shock. She hadn’t known. Never suspected a thing. He told her everything. How every so-called girlfriend from his past, including the Russian partner, was just a massive lie. A smoke cover. And of course, he’d not asked her to marry him! This was just a rumor the family made up that he had gone along with.

“It’s been hard… The last couple of years, especially, to keep it all in. And quiet like that. To carry on pretending to be someone else.”

“I bet it was.” The thought of a hot, tight, and nasty closet, with all the emotional shredding that maintaining this kind of double life entailed, made her teeth ache. “Excruciating.”

“Yeah. That’s a good word for it.”

“But… Why?” She did not hide her astonishment.

He gave her a long, sad look. “I saw what happened to you, Grace. It scared me. Turned me into a coward, you might say. I’m well aware of that.”

She did not say. Just let him carry on.

“I was afraid to take the risk. To be different. I didn’t want to have to deal with Mom, Dad, and Jeremy. You were already gone by then, traveling abroad for your dancing, when I realized I was attracted to men.”

She almost asked why he had not told her. Confided in her at the time. Asked for help and guidance. For God’s sake! But he’d just said it. You were gone. She tried not to feel it as an accusation, because she knew it wasn’t said as one. And to be fair, yeah; her own coming-out story was a shocker. She massaged her fingers over her left temple as the headache moved around that way.

“I’m sorry, Reece.” Still felt the need to say it.

He took her hand, flashed another smile, and, suddenly, he was back. The younger brother she’d always felt a strong bond with. The gentle guy she knew and loved. Maybe it was the gay thing between them.

“Don’t be sorry. I didn’t want to be that guy, so it’s all on me. I refused to look at it and to accept myself as a gay man. I pushed it way down. Just tried to be more like Jeremy.”

She looked him in the eye hard and snarled, “What the hell would you want to do that for?”

“Yeah.” This made him chuckle. “Told you I was confused, eh.” He grew somber. “I was drunk and trying to play macho. I was an asshole to these women and I want to apologize. I will. What I did was stupid. And wrong.”

“For sure. This isn’t you, Reece, this macho type.”

“I know. And now I need to sort out this whole mess. Will you help me?”