Gemma replied with her ready humor. “This is the only day of the week that I have all to myself so I don’t want to hear one negative thing about it.”
Gemma was a hair stylist. She owned one of the largest and most reputable salons in Washington, DC.
“I’m not complaining,” Gray told her. “But I won’t lie, if I could get this taken care of sooner, rather than later, I’d be much happier.”
“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen you happy, Gray,” his sister said softly.
Oh, no, Gray thought with a shake of his head. They were not about to have this conversation. Gemma was the only one of his siblings who believed in the fairy tale of love, even though she’d yet to find her knight in shining armor. The fact that their mother had nursed a broken heart until her dying day didn’t seem to matter to his sister. Gemma staunchly believed that love would always find a way. Gray usually allowed his sister her dream, but today he wasn’t in the mood to humor her.
“First thing tomorrow morning I plan to march into city hall and speak with the rep at the chamber of commerce. It’ll be good to get an idea of what the buildings are currently being used for.”
“Why? I thought we were just going to sell them,” Gemma replied. “You don’t need that type of information to put them on the market.”
Gray had thought of that last night as he’d left the community center. He hadn’t needed to personally come back to Temptation, nor did he need an escort to show him around the buildings, either. It would have been much simpler to call his attorney and let him deal with the Realtors and the sale, an action he could have easily taken from his desk in his Miami office. There was just one thing stopping Gray from handling this the way he would any other business deal.
His mother.
“She would have wanted to know,” he admitted quietly.
Gemma remained silent for a few seconds.
“She would have,” she eventually agreed. “She’d always wanted to know about the town and how it was doing after we’d left. One of her greatest heartbreaks was that the loss of the money from our show and how the scandal that had followed our departure would have a negative effect on the town. She would have been happy to know the buildings were being used for something good, and she might not want us to sell them if they are.”
Gray rubbed a hand over his forehead. “I’ve thought about all that, too. Garrek and Gen were on the fence about selling when I spoke to them,” he said.
“Gia’s trying to open another restaurant, so she says the money from the sale would come in handy,” Gemma added.
“And Gage,” Gray said before sighing as he thought about the youngest brother.
Gemma made a sound that mimicked his frustration with their brother. “He’s so busy putting in hours at the hospital that he barely had time to sign that paper you had me take to him,” she said and then sighed again. “It would have been a lot better if all of us could have gotten together and talked this through. Mama would not be happy knowing that it’s been years since we were all in the same place, at the same time.”
“We were born in the same place, at the same time,” Gray stated drily.
“Now you sound like Gen, hating the way we came into this world.”
Gray shook his head at that remark. “No, I don’t hate that we were born. I just don’t like all the attention that came afterward and the way this town that supposedly loved the Taylors of Temptation weren’t there for us when everything came crashing down.”
It didn’t matter, Gray told himself immediately. When his mother decided to leave Temptation, her grandfather offered his vacation home in Pensacola Beach for her and the children to live in. His father, in a rare moment of generosity, hadn’t contested the divorce or the spousal support and alimony payments. Eventually, years later, their family began to feel the benefit of Theodor’s successful business endeavors through higher monthly payments. It was apparently much easier to write a check to his wife and six children than it was to live in the same house with them. The bottom line was that they hadn’t needed anyone from this town back then and Gray definitely didn’t owe them anything now.
“Look, I plan to have this wrapped up in the next day or so. I’ll send a group email when the listings are up and then keep everyone posted on the sales.”
“Right,” Gemma said. “Business as usual. That’s fine, Gray. I’ll be sending out my gifts in the next couple of weeks, so be sure to check the mail at your condo.”
Gray resisted the urge to sigh again. Instead, he squeezed the bridge of his nose. “You send us all Christmas gifts every year like you’re our secret Santa. We’re not kids anymore, Gemma.”
“No,” she said adamantly. “We’re not. But Mama loved Christmas. She always had gifts for us under that tree no matter the circumstances. It’s the least I can do to keep her alive in my heart, Gray. I know all of you have your way of dealing with the hand we were dealt in life, but this is mine so don’t try to take it away from me.”
After a few seconds of silence Gray replied, “I wouldn’t think of it.”
Gemma was right—she needed to deal with her life, in her way, just as the rest of his siblings did. Just as he did.
Gray ended the call with his sister and he was able to get lots of work done as the hours passed. Now, at close to six in the evening, he realized he hadn’t eaten all day. Grabbing his jacket, Gray left the room and headed into town. He had driven to Virginia from Miami, deciding that he might enjoy the peace and quiet of the fifteen-hour drive. It was a drastic change from using his private jet to travel the globe and hiring drivers for the shorter distances when he traveled for business. This time it was personal, and Gray was certain he could handle maneuvering the streets of the small town.
That thought was short-lived. Almost an hour later, after going up and down street after street looking for a restaurant of his liking, Gray finally parked his car in front of Pearl’s Diner on the corner of Sunset Drive and Evergreen Way. The first thing he noticed when he stepped out of his Porsche Panamera Turbo—besides the fact that the i and the e in diner were out on the lighted sign hanging in front of the establishment—was all the Christmas decorations. Thanksgiving had only been two days ago, but the holiday season was clearly in full swing in Temptation. Black lampposts positioned about six to eight feet apart had wreaths around the lighted tops and huge red ribbons in the center. Strung above the wires holding the street lights were large snowflakes formed from stencils and cheerful white lights. Funny, when he’d driven into town yesterday he hadn’t seen any of this, or perhaps he hadn’t wanted to see it. Could Gemma’s earlier reference to how much his mother had loved Christmas be the cause of his revelation now?
Another reason he may not have noticed the decorations before—the more logical one that Gray preferred to consider—was that he’d avoided driving through the main streets of town when he arrived. Instead, he’d made a wrong turn the moment he entered the town from the highway, forcing his GPS to reconfigure the directions to the community center. That had worked just as Gray planned and he’d ended up traveling through narrow streets lined with houses before pulling up on Century Road, where the old planked structure of the community center sat on a corner. Gray hadn’t wanted anyone to see him driving his fancy car through the old town. He recalled from his mother’s stories how quickly news—good or bad—traveled in Temptation and how much the townsfolk
