Feeding the Fire by Andrea Laurence

tomorrow night?” he asked with his charming smile.
    “Oh you,” she chastised, a blush rising to her plump cheeks. She smoothed a hand over her mostly graying hair and shook her head. “I’m sure you could show an old lady like me a hell of a time, but I went to school with your daddy and that just doesn’t seem right.”
    “You’re not an old lady,” Grant insisted, picking his suit up off the hook.
    “I’m old enough to be your mama and that’s what counts. And while you’re the spitting image of Norman at your age, if that’s what I wanted, I would’ve taken my chances back when I still knew what to do with him. Now I’m just a middle-aged woman who smells like fabric softener.”
    “It’s an alluring fragrance that reminds me of freshly washed towels.”
    “You know just what to say to a girl,” Winnie laughed. “You have fun at the auction. I’m sure the lucky lady will be very pleased with her investment.”
    “Will do. Have a good evening,” he said as he headed out the door.
    As he left, the opening door nearly collided with Logan Anthony. Grant apologized and stepped aside so he could go in the shop, trying to avoid any sort of real interaction with him. He knew Logan was back in town, but he hadn’t run into him yet. And he definitely hadn’t had to speak to him since the pepper spray incident.
    Logan started into the shop, then pulled back and let the door swing closed. “Grant?”
    With a resigned sigh, Grant turned around to face Pepper’s brother. Several years younger, he never had any real, direct interactions with Logan. He was a year older than Blake, but back in school there was no love lost between them. “Hey there, Logan,” he said, trying not to sound like he was dreading the conversation. “Welcome back to Rosewood.” He thought about shifting his suit in his arms to shake Logan’s hand, but Logan didn’t make any moves to do the same, so he let it go.
    “Thanks. Can I talk to you for a second?”
    “Sure.” Since his past discussions with Blake always seemed to come to blows, Grant laid his suit across his left arm to leave his right free to defend or deliver a solid right hook.
    Logan crossed his arms over his chest and looked around before his gaze settled on Grant. “I heard about what happened with Pepper.”
    Grant straightened up in surprise, then immediately realized that her brother wasn’t talking about what happened at Halloween. If he did, they’d be fighting, not talking. “Are you referring to the pepper spray incident?”
    Logan nodded. “Why were you following my sister home from the bar?”
    Since the truth was that he was hoping to relive the past, he opted to answer his question with a question. “Is that what she told you I was doing?”
    “No. She said you were returning her scarf.”
    Grant nodded. “There you go.”
    “You see, the problem I have with that story is that you had to be following her already to see her drop it unless she left it in the bar. Did she?”
    “Nope.”
    “You see where my concern comes in, then.” Logan looked him up and down, his sharp gaze assessing him the same way his father did. It pissed Grant off.
    “I was concerned as well. That’s why I followed her. I thought if one of my sisters was walking home alone in the dark, just days after the peeper looked in her windows, I’d hope a good man would be willing to see her home safely. So that’s what I did.”
    “What’s this about the peeper?” he asked, his brow drawing together in concern.
    Apparently she hadn’t told her brother. She probably didn’t want her family hovering and he didn’t blame her. “About a week or so ago, not long after you moved back, I guess, she caught someone watching her through the kitchen window. She didn’t mention it to you?”
    Logan’s jaw was so tight, his teeth were nearly grinding. “No, she didn’t.”
    “She probably didn’t want you to worry. But you see, that’s why she was so jumpy that night.