Page 162 of Made Better Together

CONNOR: Shit, I’m sorry. He texted me to meet him at the Waves facility at noon.

EDEN: It might be rough. Take it slow with him. He’ll calm down.

CONNOR: It can’t be rougher than Milo essentially firing me just now.

EDEN: What? OMG I’m so sorry.

EDEN: Do you want to call me?

CONNOR: I want nothing more, but I need to go talk to Grace and then get to the Waves office.

CONNOR: I’ll find you as soon as I’m done with your Dad.

EDEN: Sending good vibes.

46

CONNOR

Grace’s working from home today, since some repair person is coming to look at their dishwasher. A fucking blessing, despite the appliance trouble. I’d hate to have this conversation in the office, under Milo’s scrutiny.

When I arrive, she leads me back into their family room. It’s enormous, with four TV sets, and enough square footage to outsize my new apartment.

“Let’s sit here. The gate attendant will call me when the appliance repairman gets to the development.”

This is all a far cry from our middle-class upbringing in Alabama, and I know Johnson was raised like us. Good for them, though.

“Sounds fine. This is…this isn’t going to be easy, Gracie—I have something I’ve been keeping from you.”

I take a deep breath and go through everything. Shock consumes her face, and then, fuck—anger.

“Why in the world would you do this? Risk your job? Lie to me and the rest of our family?”

I crack my jaw, then look down at my white knuckles, clenched in fists. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted to jeopardize your job.”

“I’m not worried about that, Connor. My job is fine. That’s not what I’m talking about.”

I return my gaze to her. “I—I don’t know what to say. Other than Eden…”

“She’s special to you.” I nod. I can at least admit that. “I get it. But that doesn’t make it okay to lie.”

“I’m…I wish I hadn’t. Not to you.” Hindsight is 20/20, but now I’m playing out in my head how much better it would’ve been if everyone knew under different circumstances. Where we had voluntarily come clean and asked for a way to make it work.

She takes a few breaths, studying me, before speaking. “I’m excited that you’ve found someone you care about.” Her tone is flat, though—she’s still irritated.

“It seemed easier to keep it secret while we were seeing if anything was there to pursue long term.” The words carry the power of being true.

She closes her eyes. “That sounds disturbingly familiar.”

Oh yes. She and Johnson, Landon’s best friend, dated in secret for a while before my brother accidentally found out the truth. I was a college freshman at the time, so I don’t know the details—but there’s got to be parallels.

“I…there were two months when we hid our relationship from everyone, as you know. Under the same theory. That it was simpler to date quietly and figure out if we had something real, before we rocked the boat.”

“With Landon.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

I stay quiet. Maybe if she filters my situation through her memories of that time, it will help smooth things over.