“Are you ready for that?”
“I have to be.”
“You’re not in it alone, anymore. We’ll be ready, too,” he says, wrapping an arm around my shoulders in comfort and protection. I choke on my emotions. He’s giving me some of what I’ve never had. “Does Grady know?”
“No,” I answer, shaking my head. “I only found out a few hours ago. I’ve been letting it brew.”
“And how does it taste?”
“Strong with a hint of bitterness.”
“Yes, you are,” he says and winks at me, making me laugh loudly.
“I am, aren’t I?”
“It’s a good combination, kid. And you’re in a good place.”
“Thanks, Gray,” I say, swallowing back more emotion. “Really. Your family has been great to me.”
“That goes both ways. You’ve inspired something in my son I was afraid I’d never see again,” he says. “What Mags and I have…I want that for him. After everything with Brenda, he closed himself off from damn near everyone. Until you showed up, that is. It’s like my son is back.”
“Oh, Gray,” I say, dropping my head to his shoulder. “I’m in love with him, you know?”
“Does he know?”
“You’re the first one I’ve told,” I say.
“The three most frightening words,” he tells me.
“I don’t want to be afraid of them anymore, or anything else.”
“The more you say them with meaning, the less scary they get,” Gray says. “That goes for most things in life.”
Twenty-Two
Lou
“Be brave, not perfect.”
Reshma Saujani
“It’s possible he doesn’t want to risk the protection order,” Juliet says on the other end of the call.
“No, he’s playing with me,” I tell her. It’s been a week since the story broke that I was finding comfort in the arms of a mystery man along the coast of Oregon. Luckily, the picture obscures Grady’s face and he’s garnered no added attention from it.
It’s not big enough of a tabloid sensation to have throngs of paparazzi storming the town, either. Neither Pierre nor myself are A-list celebrities, after all. We’re only well-known in our corner of the world.
Still, he’d have seen it. Which means, he knows. And the only fathomable reason he hasn’t arrived on the streets of Stowaway to confront me is because he wants me to squirm.
“He likes the game of cat and mouse,” I add. “It’s his favorite.”
“It has been before, but maybe it’s different, this time. With the publicity and the court’s involvement.”
“Maybe. I can’t trust that, though. Or let my guard down,” I tell her. “Not until I know he’s moved on from it.”
“From you, you mean.”
“Yes, exactly.”
