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“It’s good. A usual hotel room.”
“Cool.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say that word. “So, was there anything interesting about your room?”
“Oh, you know the usual. Bathroom, nice white bed linen, balcony…” I trail off, listening to him hum in acknowledgement. “Oh, and there was a book and flower outside my door.”
“Huh, interesting. Must’ve been a really awesome person to leave you gifts,” he says, his voice laced with humour.
I look down at the book he left for me and my brows furrow. I’m only just realising now it’s a crossword book. I hadn’t looked at it properly before. Before I can open it and inspect it further, he speaks, gaining my attention.
“Okay, well. I’ll see you tomorrow, shorty. Enjoy your crosswords and dinner. I can’t wait to see you,” he says with a little buzz in his voice that’s echoed in the energy buzzing through me right now.
We hang up and I run my fingers over the black and white squares on the front cover. Opening the book, I start flicking through the pages when it falls open onto a page with a folded piece of paper inside. When I unfold it, my eyes widen and my heart catapults. It’s a personalised crossword puzzle.
Grabbing a pen from the side table, I sit on the bed and begin decoding my puzzle.
If I thought my heart was beating loudly before, I was wrong. Now it’s a thunderstorm, a hurricane and a 4.9 earthquake on the Richter scale.
I read the completed words from the crossword back to myself.
Grayson loves Nora Scott Forever
Over the page I see more.
I raise my hand to my mouth covering a sob, a happy sob, one filled with elation and joy. My heart soars out of my chest. My fingers are numb and tingling. There it is in black and white in front of me. He loves me.
I never wanted easy love with the white picket fences. What I wanted was for someone to come and knock that stereotype out of the window and replace it with somethingwecreated. I don’t want a preconceived notion of what my life should look like. I want him. I want him raw, vulnerable, snarky and difficult. I want all of him. Underneath all his bravado, his heart is his best quality, and I want it all to myself.
“Hey, you.” Jess opens the door to my room, startling me for a second. She pauses when she sees my tear tracks on my face. “Woah, what’s going on?”
Just as I open my mouth, she looks down at the crossword on the bed in front of me. Her eyes widen and then they flit between me and the paper, reading what’s written on the page. “This is from Grayson?”
“No, this is from another guy,” I joke. Jess balks for a second and recovers quickly when she sees my unamused eyebrow quirked. “Of course, it’s from Grayson.”
“He loves you. I just got butterflies for you. This is so adorable.” Jess swoons and I fight a smile.
“I guess he does.”
“Do you love him?”
I nod shyly. “I do.”
“Then we have loads to celebrate tonight.”
An hour later, we’re in the restaurant for dinner when I quickly fire off a text to Grayson.
Nora:So… you love me?
Grayson:Where are you?
Nora:At the venue, just about to have dinner with Jess. You didn’t answer my question.
A few minutes go by, and I think he might not reply when Zoey joins us, and I tuck my phone away to be with the girls.
My eyes are heavy as I lay on my bed in the hotel. The high thread count has me sinking into clouds. I made sure Jess didn’t drink too much tonight, and Zoey for that matter, which left me feeling like I’d been herding cattle because those two are complete menaces. An hour after settling them both in their rooms and I’m back in mine.
A soft rattle startles me from my impending sleep. I bolt upright in bed, but I hear nothing, so I presume it must’ve been the ivy at my window. I close my eyes again and snuggle into my pillow.
Tap tap tap.
