“Oh yeah?”
They found a seat together near the fireplace. “Yes. It’s quite the charity, and the causes they give to are incredible.”
“Yeah. My dad taught me all about it when I was in college. We all got to take part in some of the decision making as soon as we became adults. It made us hyperaware of how lucky we all were, and how important it is to give back. All of us have formed our own foundations, while continuing to participate in the main Cassidy Foundation.”
She had no idea. “As I was listening to your mother talk about scholarships and benefits, I thought about all the money I’ve made. I’ve done nothing charitable. I mean, I make charitable donations, of course. But nothing like your foundation.”
“You have a family to support.”
She shook her head. “I can still give back. I need to do something about that.”
He nodded. “Even the smallest thing can make a big difference. Building a playground in your neighborhood, or setting up an annual scholarship. One thing. You’d be surprised.”
She lifted her gaze to his. “I had no idea you thought about things like this.”
“See how we’re learning things about each other? Stick with me, Kat. Maybe we’ll build a foundation together.”
He winked at her, but she wondered about that. She felt a little thrill at his words. The things they could do together could be tremendous.
But they weren’t together. They’d never be together.
And that thought kind of …
Sucked.
She was getting way too involved. But what was she supposed to do about that? She knew it, just now as she thought it, that her heart was getting tied up in Grant. In his family.
She decided the best way to cope with that was simply not to think about it. At least not tonight.
After dinner, she poured another glass of wine. Oblivion was an awesome solution.
She checked on the kids. Anya had met a few of Mia’s friends, who were in town for the party and staying to visit. Some exposure to college kids was good for her.
“They all go to the University of Texas,” Anya said. “Did you know I could get an amazing business degree at the university? And Mia is thinking of getting her master’s degree there, which means she’d be there when I would be. Plus Suz and Della are sophomores, so they’d be there when I attended.”
“That’s so interesting.” Katrina let it all flow through her, deciding that tonight she wasn’t going to freak out about anything, the least of which was Anya’s college choice. By next week, Anya might decide on something else entirely.
Like going to college in Poland or something. She knew how her sister’s mind worked.
Leo was currently talking to Flynn, who was gesturing about … something.
Football related, was her guess, and she didn’t want to interrupt, since it looked like Leo was paying rapt attention and was in very good hands.
She realized as she made the circle back to the bar that she’d emptied her wineglass.
So she refilled it, and just in time, because Easton’s brother—which one was he?
Elijah. That was the one. He clinked his glass to get everyone’s attention.
“I wanted to take a moment to wish my brother a very happy birthday. He’s not the oldest, so we can’t give him a hard time about that. But I can say that he’s a great brother, a damn fine husband, according to Lydia, and since I’ve been around him all these years, I can tell you he is one hell of a good father. He’s lived a rich, happy life and has had monumental success over the years.
“Here’s to a lot more years, Easton. Happy birthday.”
Everyone cheered and clinked glasses. Easton raised his glass and drank.
Then Grant stood.
“I wanted to take another minute to say a few words, since for some reason I was elected to speak.”
“Because you have the biggest mouth,” Tucker said.
There were some laughs to that, and Grant glared at his brother.
“Anyway, I want to tell you all how we kids admire and respect our parents. We weren’t exactly the easiest of children.”
That got him a lot of laughter, and a couple of coughs from his parents.
“There were several fights among us and maybe a little more than the average amount of bloodshed, but that’s what you get when you have four boys. Fortunately, they had Mia, and she might not want to admit it, but she threw herself in there and scrapped with us. It was a lot of fun for us, and a lot of headaches for Mom and Dad, who handled us with toughness, and a hell of a lot of love.