Chapter 5 - The Gift She Never Asked For
For nine days, Claire allowed herself to be happy.
Not careless. Not convinced that wealth or desire could solve the difference between their lives.
Simply happy.
Grant called without an assistant arranging it. Lucy sent voice messages about school lunches and a class hamster named Senator Pickles. Once, Grant appeared at Claire’s studio at closing time and asked whether she had eaten.
She had not.
They shared pizza on overturned storage crates while Tessa pretended she urgently needed to count ribbons in another room.
On Saturday, Grant brought Lucy to Providence.
They spent the afternoon choosing books at a small shop, then ate grilled cheese at Claire’s kitchen table. When Lucy spilled tomato soup on his sweater, he looked at the stain and said, “I’ve had worse quarterly results.”
Lucy laughed so hard milk came out of her nose.
Later, while the child slept on the couch, Claire found Grant examining a loose cabinet handle.
“Don’t.”
He looked over his shoulder.
“I wasn’t buying the building.”
“Good. The paperwork would take all evening.”
He tightened the screw with a butter knife.
Such an ordinary thing.
She was beginning to understand how dangerous ordinary things could become.
Then the letter arrived.
Claire opened it on a Tuesday morning between a supplier call and a wedding consultation.
Her landlord had sold the building.
The new management company welcomed her as a valued tenant, canceled the late fees on her account, and offered a five-year lease at a rate substantially below market.
The company name meant nothing to her.
The signature belonged to a Whitaker Meridian employee.
For several seconds, Claire heard nothing but the printer.
Then she called Grant.
“Did you buy my building?”
Silence.
“Claire—”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“Rule two.”
“The owner intended to sell to a developer. Your lease would have expired in March.”
“Rule two.”
“I was protecting—”
“My business is not yours to protect without asking me.”
He stopped.
She could hear him breathing.
“Come to the studio,” she said.
He arrived twenty-five minutes later.
Claire stood behind her desk with the letter laid between them.
“How long?”
“The purchase closed yesterday.”
“How long have you been arranging it?”
“A week.”
Nine happy days.
Seven of them containing a decision he had made behind her back.
Grant looked at the letter.
“I intended to tell you.”
“After it was done.”
“Yes.”
“Because you knew I might refuse.”
He said nothing.
That silence hurt more than an excuse.
“You promised me one place in this arrangement where I would remain in control.”
“I thought losing the studio would hurt you more.”
“So you decided which kind of hurt I could afford.”
His face changed.
Claire wished she had not seen it. She wanted anger without complications.
Instead, she saw a man realizing that his good intentions had become another person’s cage.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You keep being sorry after I no longer have a choice.”
Grant stepped back.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Give me the original lease terms. No canceled fees. No special rate. An independent property manager. Everything in writing through my attorney.”
“All right.”
“And no more deciding my future because you can afford it.”
“I understand.”
She looked away.
“I need some time.”
He nodded, though it seemed to cost him.
At the door, he paused.
“Lucy asked whether you’d come to her school concert Friday.”
Claire gripped the edge of the desk.
“Don’t.”
His expression tightened.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have put that here.”
He left.
For two days, Claire ignored his calls.
He sent one message.
The revised documents are with your attorney. No response required.
That restraint made her angrier than persistence would have.
On Friday afternoon, she stood outside Lucy’s school holding a small bouquet of grocery-store flowers.
She had decided the child would not pay for an adult’s mistake.
Inside, Grant sat alone near the back.
When he saw her, he stood.
Hope crossed his face before he could hide it.
Then his phone began ringing.
He glanced at the screen.
His expression drained.
Claire’s own phone vibrated a moment later.
Tessa had sent a link.
May you like
Above a photograph of Claire holding Grant’s hand, a headline screamed:
BILLIONAIRE’S GIRLFRIEND REVEALED AS $120,000 HIRE.
