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I shook my head. “Not gonna happen.”
Pressing his lips together, Lenny’s eyes saddened. “You deserve a little happiness, Josie.”
“What makes you think I’m not happy?”
“Your eyes.” He kissed my forehead and pulled me into a hug. I swallowed back tears because I knew he was right. I was so busy reading and capturing other people’s emotions, I was ignoring my own.
As I stepped back out onto the street, cradling dinner in my arms, I almost crashed into Grayson, who was waiting outside. Minus his car.
“Hey.” He chuckled, stabilising the pizza box before I dropped it.
I cleared my throat and peered up at him. “Hey,” I replied, suddenly nervous. “Thanks for the pizza.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Now will you let me walk you home?”
I shrugged. “I guess so. But I’m not sharing.” I meant it too. That pizza was also my breakfast and possible lunch for the next day. Luckily I was blessed with a ridiculously high metabolism.
Grayson laughed and my heart almost exploded, for I hadn’t heard that beautiful sound since our weekend together. I shook my head in disbelief.
“What is it?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
“You actually sound like…like the person I thought you were.”
He ran his hand over his face and let out a long sigh. “Look, I know I’ve been…”
“A jerk?”
He pursed his lips.
“An arsehole?”
He shook his head.
“A fu—”
“Difficult!” he blurted, with a laugh.
“Difficult?!” I snorted. “Gray, you’ve been the devil incarnate.”
He threw his hands in the air. “Alright, alright, well, that’s the way I’ve been taught to run a business.”
I scrunched my face. “By making everyone hate you?”
“Well…yeah. It works for my father and brother.”
“There are other ways.”
Grayson quietly contemplated my words as we crossed another road. “I really am sorry, Josie. For everything. This version of me…it’s not one I’m proud of.”
I stopped walking and turned to him, humour leaving my face. “Then be one you are proud of.”
He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. I smiled sadly and we continued to walk on in silence, stealing sideway glances until we reached the steps to my apartment building.
With his hands still firmly wedged in his pockets, he found it hard to meet my eyes. “So…Peter’s the ex-boyfriend slash almost fiancé?”
He did see. “Um, yeah. He’s struggling with the idea that it’s over.”
Grayson’s jaw twitched. “I noticed.”
