Free One Night in Weaver... by Allison Leigh Page B

to. But I can count on one hand the number of times you’ve gotten out and about with me. The only thing you do is walk around the block each morning. Do you stop to say hello to anyone?”
    “You don’t understand.”
    Hayley squeezed Vivian’s hand. “Then help me understand.”
    “You’re very much like my dear Arthur,” Vivian murmured.
    Hayley knew that Arthur Finley had been the last of her grandmother’s four husbands. That before his death, he’d been the one to encourage her to mend the long-standing rift between her and her sons. “I would have liked to have known him. I’d like to think my dad and Uncle David would have, too.”
    “They would have just accused me of causing his death, too,” Vivian said tiredly. She finally looked at Hayley. “That’s what they always blamed me for. Driving Sawyer to his suicide.”
    Hayley absorbed that, trying not to show her shock.
    Not once had she ever heard her father say anything about the death of his father. “Arthur died of cancer. You told me that months ago. They can’t very well blame that on you. And suicide is—”
    “Sawyer did
not
commit suicide,” Vivian said flatly. “He died in an automobile accident when your father was only a baby. Sawyer was terribly upset with
me
as usual, but he never would have abandoned his children, no matter what they grew up to believe.”
    “How would they have even gotten the idea of suicide?”
    “Because Thatcher was convinced. When he was sixteen, he found the accident report. It had never been made public. The benefits of wealth and influence.” The soft lines in her face seemed even more prominent. “Sawyer’s car ran off an embankment. The cause behind that was never established. But Thatcher drew his own youthful conclusions.”
    Vivian had once run through her litany of husbands and Hayley quickly calculated. “Was this before or after your second husband died?”
    “Just after Theodore died.” Vivian’s lips twisted. “Thatcher was hardly upset about
that
. He’d never gotten along with Theodore and certainly didn’t grieve his death. I can’t blame him for that, though. I hardly got along with Theodore. Our marriage was mostly convenience. I had three young sons. I needed a husband to help raise them, and he was suitable. And he liked marrying into the Templeton money.”
    “Whether Thatcher liked him or not, Theodore was still a father figure for your sons. Grieving or not, his death undoubtedly affected Thatcher, too. As well as his brothers. Teen years are impressionable ones.”
    Vivian didn’t respond to that, instead choosing to return to the subject of Jane and Casey’s wedding. “You should have a proper date for the wedding tomorrow.”
    “I have a proper date.” Hayley lifted Vivian’s hand and lightly kissed the back of it. Because she’d learned more details about Vivian’s life when her dad was a child in the past ten minutes than in the entirety of her grandmother’s six-month stay, Hayley knew better than to push Vivian where she didn’t yet want to go. So she rose to her feet and gave her grandmother a steady look. “And I’m expecting her not to stand me up. For one thing, I would very much like a chance to introduce her to more of my friends.” She hesitated, and then dangled some actual bait. “One in particular.”
    Vivian eyed her. “The young man who surprised you with lunch even after you’d cancelled your dinner date?”
    Hayley nodded. She was too adult to acknowledge the giddy curl inside her, but that didn’t stop it from happening. “Seth knows Casey from Cee-Vid. He’ll be at the wedding.” And the reception, though she didn’t bring herself to offer up that piece of information. A comment about saving a dance was one thing. Actually having it come to pass was another. “If you really do want to meet him, it will be a good opportunity.”
    Vivian pursed her lips. “You’re pretty good at maneuvering people where you want