Page 18 of The Paradise Plan

6

Harrison lifted his bag into the back of Grant’s truck.“Are you going to cover this?”he asked.

“Yeah, and you’re helping.”Grant unfolded a brand new tarp and he and Harrison spread it over the luggage in the bed.Then Grant pulled down the cover, and they headed for the cab.

“Hey, Harrison,” Bea said from the front seat as Harrison boosted himself up into the truck.

“Mornin’, Bea.”He landed on the seat and looked over to Cass.“Mornin’, Cass.”

“Good morning, Harrison.”She held a to-go cup of coffee for him, and he quickly buckled his seatbelt before taking it.

“Who’s ready for eight hours of driving?”Grant boomed, a laugh immediately following.

“You’re too chipper for this early in the morning,” Bea complained.“Some of us are still waking up.”She lifted her coffee to her lips and glared at her husband.

Harrison concealed his smile behind his own coffee cup, and it was Cass who said, “I can’t wait to drive for eight hours.”

Bea scoffed and snorted.“Don’t let her fool you,” she said.“She doesn’t like a road trip that much.”

“I do too,” Cass said.“For about half of eight hours.”

Everyone laughed, Harrison included, and Grant eased out of Harrison’s driveway.“We’ll stop as much as anyone wants,” he said.

“Yes, you promised me lunch in Daytona,” Bea said.

“That’s right.”Grant reached over and took her hand in his.Harrison watched them, and they were just so pathetically cute.He knew the sting in his chest came from jealousy, and he swallowed and looked over to Cass.

“Did you look at Viola’s house?”

“Yes.”She nodded and placed her coffee cup in the holder between them.“It’s very nice.”

“I’ve walked through it a couple of times,” he said.“It is nice.She’s up a bit higher than mine, so her patio is spectacular.”

“I did like that part of it,” Cass said with a smile.

“What are you going to do?”Bea asked, twisting to look at Cass, who rode directly behind her.

Cass drew in a big breath and then pushed it out in an exaggerated way.“Well, waiting is always the hardest part, so I’m going to have to wait.”

“On what?”Bea asked.

Harrison caught the glint in Cass’s eyes, and one look at Bea told him that drove her nuts.“Cass, you better start talking.”

“I put in an offer on the house yesterday,” she said.A girly giggle escaped her lips.“So now I have to wait and see if I can get my loan approved.”

Bea blinked, her eyes growing wider and wider.“You better not be playing with me right now.”

“I’m not,” Cass said.“I put in an offer on that house.The realtor said I’d know if ‘Miss Vi-o-la’ will accept my offer by five p.m.tonight.”

Harrison smiled, because having Cass only three doors down sounded like heaven to him.He looked up to the front seat, and Bea still seemed like she’d been hit with an alien tractor beam.Grant met his eyes in the rearview mirror, and Harrison caught the concern there.

“I think that’s great, Cass,” Harrison said, and he tapped the drink holder between them.“I hope you get it.”

Bea looked at him, still shocked, and Grant said, “Yeah, Cass.Maybe you’ll give Bea something to do during the day.I think she’s been bored.”

Bea whipped her attention to Grant.“Bored?I am not bored.”

“You’re showing up at my office all the time.”