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“No. Until you start throwing around words like ‘us’ when you’d never mentioned us being an official ‘us’ until Mariana came into your life. I’m not going to be with you just because you need help adjusting to your new role as a daddy, Grant. And I’m certainly not gonna let myself believe you suddenly want more and you want it with me, because of her.” My heart raced at finally getting those words out, finally telling him the truth instead of running from it. From him. “That’s why I haven’t called.”
“Wow. You think I’d use you like that?” He sounded hurt and a blanket of guilt covered me.
I tried like hell to shake it off, though, because he didn’t get to be hurt. Not by this. “I don’t think you would do it on purpose, but I saw it all play out very clearly Grant.”
“bullshit.”
“Okay, since we’re being honest then you be honest. How long would this have carried on if Mariana hadn’t come into the picture? A month or two? Three, tops?”
“I don’t know.”
“A few months would mean a few holidays together, maybe a long weekend away. Long enough that this would go from casual to a relationship, and you’d bolt.”
“I never promised-,”
“Exactly!” I pointed at him with wide eyes. “Exactly, you never promised anything and I never asked you to, but I walk away and you want to know what about us? What about an us that never really was. What else should I think?”
“You could have given me the benefit of the doubt, Brenna.”
“You’re right, I could have and I’m sorry that I didn’t. But I’m not in the market for another broken heart, Grant. I’ll see you around.” That wasn’t as bad as I thought but I could’ve gone my entire life without having this conversation, without having it laid so bare, just how unimportant I was to him.
He didn’t even try to deny that our relationship, casual as it was, wouldn’t have gone anywhere. It was a fact. Grant was great, a good guy who was always up for a good time. But he was an easy guy to fall for and the easy ones were always trouble.
Always.
Grant came to the front door just as slid behind the steering wheel. “This conversation isn’t over, Brenna.”
I flashed a small, sad smile. “Yeah Grant, it is. Goodbye.”
He smiled. “See you soon.”
That sound more like a threat than a promise.
Grant
“It’s not like she was working all that hard to try to be my girlfriend. Most women drop hints like bombs when they’re ready for more, but did she? No! She never once asked for a drawer at my place, to meet my parents or any of the other crap women do when they mark their territory. So how am I the bad guy?” Brenna’s words haunted me and I could not stop thinking about them, no matter how hard I tried. “Well?”
Liam groaned and slid his pen across the conference room table before he reached for a cronut. “I guess it’s safe to say we won’t get any work done until we work this out for him.”
“I don’t need you to work out a damn thing, just help me understand. What did I do wrong?” I shook my head. “And that’s the worst part, she was all calm and sympathetic, like she felt bad for me. The least she could have done is make me feel like an asshole.”
Miles snickered. “Seems to me she did that just fine. You’re wearing the sink of guilt pretty successfully from where I’m sitting.”
“Seriously?” I couldn’t believe they were having such fun at my expense when I was clearly distraught.
“Look Grant, let me ask you something.” Liam sat a little taller and his gaze met mine.
“All right. Ask.”
“Is Brenna wrong?”
That was the question I’d been asking myself all night, that was my focus instead of how I should punish Mariana for leaving school grounds and scaring the hell out of me. “Yes, she is wrong. I like her and I thought we were having a good time. Just because I asked what about us when I did, doesn’t mean Mariana is the only reason I said it.” That was ridiculous. I wasn’t looking for a wife and certainly not just for my daughter.
“Maybe,” Miles began with a sympathetic shrug. “Maybe not. But the timing can’t be coincidental and I don’t think Brenna is wrong for thinking it might be a little too coincidental.”
“You too, Miles? I can’t believe you or Brenna think so little of me. You actually think I would use her just to help me out with Mariana?”
Liam barked out a laugh that seemed to bounce off every wall in the conference room. “You wouldn’t be the first man to do it, Grant. And before Mariana came along you were happy to keep things casual and you liked the fact that Brenna didn’t push you for more.”
