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Great.
“She’s gonna kill me.”
“For wrecking the car?”
Breanna shot him a look. For starters.
Derek’s hand came down on her leg, patting her knee. “We can fix the car. I think she’ll be relieved you’re okay, so don’t worry.”
“How bad is it?” Biting her lip, Breanna turned in her seat, and his hand moved away.
“It’s going to be in the shop for a few weeks, but it’ll be as good as new,” he assured her.
A few weeks? Jesus, with school, she couldn’t possibly stay here that long. Well, technically she could. She did bring her Mac with her, but she only brought enough clothes for a few days, not a few weeks.
“Did they say how much it’s going to be to fix it?”
“You don’t have to worry about that, Breanna.” His hands gently settled on her shoulders.
“Yes, I do,” she insisted. “My credit card has a limit, you know, and it’s only five grand.”
Of which she’d already used a thousand, give or take, so make that four.
“You’re a Dalton.” He winked. “I already took care of it, so no, you don’t.”
Grandmama’s money.
“She’s got lots of it.”
Still, this man seemed so very kind, and for that she was grateful.
Nervously, Breanna licked her lips. “I don’t know what to call her.”
“Who?”
“Valerie…my grandmother.” A snigger escaped. “I mean, yes, she’s my father’s mother, but I don’t know her at all.”
“Who do you think of her as?”
Just a name.
“I call her Grandmama in my head,” Breanna admitted with a soft giggle. “Can’t say why.”
“She’d probably like that.”
“Don’t know if I can call her that to her face. It might feel weird.” She shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out at dinner.”
Rubbing his lips together, Derek looked down at his lap. “Your grandmother won’t be joining us.”
Brows pulling together, Breanna shook her head. Isn’t that why Derek summoned her here? Isn’t that why she drove almost six hundred goddamn miles? Because after twenty-one years, Valerie Dalton wanted to see her son’s only child. She didn’t get it. Did the old lady change her mind and not want to see her, after all?
“Oh.” Fighting the sting building in the back of her eyes, Breanna looked at the lawyer. “Why not?”
Taking her hands in his, Derek lifted his gaze. He opened his mouth to speak, then pursed his lips as if gathering his thoughts for a moment, and taking a breath he found his voice, “Because she can’t. Your grandmother passed away two months ago. That’s why I contacted you.”
“But why didn’t you just tell me then?”
“I couldn’t tell you in a letter, and as her only living relative…well, it’s left to you to settle her estate.”
