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“Stop it.” Gillian pulled away from him. “Who are you?” She wiped away her tears. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy to tell you about Grayson and me, but this”—she threw her hands up in the air—“I didn’t expect utter madness.” She kissed Travis on the cheek. “I love you, Dad. That will never change. Take some time to process this. I’m leaving with Grayson.”
I reached my hand out to her, and she took it.
Travis said nothing as we left.
12
Gillian
TEARS BURNED BEHIND my eyes as I laid in Grayson’s arms. We’d just finished making love after I cried in his arms for two hours. My heart had shattered into a million tiny shards after we left my dad’s place.
Even so, Grayson comforted me with his soothing voice and loving words. “It’ll be okay, baby girl,” he’d said over and over. I prayed he was right.
When I was seven, my dad brought home his new friend from work, Grayson Fox. That Sunday dinner was the first of many. Like all of Dad’s firefighter friends, Grayson had become a part of the family. I’d looked up to all of the guys as if they were superheroes. In my young mind, they were. They battled fires and saved people. They were powerful, courageous, and protective.
Some of the guys were married with kids, like Dad. Grayson didn’t have a wife or kids. But I’d heard them bring up “the one that got away.” When she was mentioned by one of the other guys, a scowl appeared on Grayson’s handsome face. I’d always sensed when he was in a bad mood. I had once eavesdropped on Grayson and Dad talking in the backyard late one summer’s night. Grayson’s ex-girlfriend had been his high school sweetheart. He told my dad he didn’t know if he truly loved her, but he had got her pregnant and wanted to do the right thing. After they had graduated, they were set to go to the courthouse to tie the knot.
Grayson’s best friend had stopped the wedding. He apparently was the baby’s father. He’d pushed Lucy away, so she’d lied to Grayson about the baby being his.
He’d dodged a bullet, but the damage had been done. He’d been prepared to take responsibility and be a husband and father at the age of eighteen. Then it all blew up in his face.
I wondered if Grayson remembered telling me that story months before I graduated high school. He might have been much too drunk. But it had been hearing his story that made me run away to Seattle. He’d told me he wanted to get married and have a family but he didn’t trust women.
My heart had hurt for Grayson at that moment. I wanted him to be happy and fall in love. Thinking it would never be me, I left town. I couldn’t watch the man I loved with every cell in my body find his happily-ever-after with someone other than me.
“Whatcha thinking about, baby?” He kissed my head.
“The night you told me what Lucy did.”
His body went rigid under me. “Oh.”
“Do you remember?”
“Yes. It was a low moment for me. I’d been drinking.”
I turned on my side to face him. “I know.” I kissed him. “That was the night I knew I had to go away to college. I didn’t want to watch you fall in love, get married, and have a baby with someone who wasn’t me.”
“Shit, baby, I’m so sorry.” He reeled me into his chest and hugged me. “I never wanted you to leave. I was already in love with you the night I poured out my soul.”
“You were in love with me?”
The sadness in his eyes stole all the air from my lungs. “Yeah, but I was so afraid of what people would say. I was too chickenshit to tell you. So I kept it to myself.”
“Wow.” I didn’t know what more to say. Too stunned for words.
His long fingers went around my head and held it as his nose touched mine. “I’m not afraid anymore, Gillian. I love you. I want a future with you. I want it all with you.” He dropped a kiss on my lips.
“I’m yours, Grayson. I want it all with you too.” My mind was blown. I couldn’t believe we were declaring our love and desires for the future. It was all I’d ever dreamed of. My wildest fantasies come true.
His whiskey-colored eyes warmed my insides, all the way into my soul. His love wrapped around me, and I was home. “So what about college?”
“I’m going to find a school to transfer to here. I don’t want to go back to Seattle.”
“Move in with me.”
My eyes went wide.
“I mean it. If you want to. Because I sure as hell want you to.” He kissed along my jawline. “I never want to let you go.”
