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“Jesus.” He runs his hand through his hair, shaking his head. “You two are ridiculous. No wonder Mom loves me the best. I’m the only one with any sense.”
“Hey! I take offense to that. I’m the favorite!” I throw my water cap at his head, which he easily sidesteps.
He laughs, watching me closely. “Did Grace really say you were charming?”
“Absolutely. Does that surprise you?”
“No, it makes me wonder about her sanity. Maybe I need to meet her soon, determine her mental stability and see if she needs medical care.”
“Maybe you should try working your own charm and make a move. You’re not fooling anyone. I see the way you look at Claire.” It’s a dick thing to change the subject off of me and focus on him.
His face changes, going from fun-loving to serious, something I’m used to seeing when it comes to Claire Dixon.
“Not cool. My situation is completely different.” He turns his back to me and goes to sit on the edge of my bed.
“Why are you holding back, Mathis? She’s obviously into you, too.”
“I’m not talking about Claire. It’s complicated.”
“How?”
He stares at me long enough for me to think he’s actually going to talk about his feelings for Bizzy’s best friend, who’s also a fellow nurse at the hospital. Then he leans back and ignores the question. “Tell me about your game strategy this weekend. I’m pretty sure the defense has a bulls-eye on your head. You embarrassed the shit out of Indy last year, and they’re aiming for revenge.”
I let the conversation about Claire drop, knowing he’ll talk when he’s ready, and fill him in on the basic overview of the game plan. We spend the next thirty minutes talking about football until he gets up to leave.
“Good luck, man. I’ll call you Sunday morning before the game. Keep your head straight, your eye on the ball, and be safe.” He gives me a quick fist bump and walks out. I hear the door shut a few seconds later and grab my phone, noticing I have five minutes until eight.
A text dings, and my heart sinks when I see the message.
SG: This is Grace. I’m so sorry, but I forgot about a work event tonight. Can we talk tomorrow?
Well, fuck! I sit for a minute, thinking of a response when my phone dings again.
SG: I know it sounds lame, but I have to attend a street fair in South Beach tonight. It’s loud and rowdy, and sometimes cell service doesn’t work. I promised to meet a professor from UM who has some graduate work to show. The students are excited. This was set up a few weeks ago.
I smile to myself, and the tension eases. My Grace is rambling, and it’s adorable even through text. I inwardly pat myself on the back for my ‘SG’ contact entry because, to me, she is Sweet Grace.
It sucks she’s busy, but it eases any doubt knowing she’s thinking about me and not blowing me off again.
Me: Don’t’ worry about it. I’ll call
you tomorrow morning. Good luck.
I hit send and wait, wondering if she’ll respond. She doesn’t disappoint.
SG: If I forgot to tell you today, thank you for the tea. It was really great to see you. Looking forward to tomorrow morning.
With those few words, my mood soars, and tomorrow morning can’t come soon enough.
“So what do you do for the next two days? How does this work?” Grace’s curiosity gives me a feeling of warmth as I find a secluded seat at the edge of the terminal.
A part of me was apprehensive about what to expect this morning. After I finished packing and got into bed last night, I thought of how crazy this whole situation is—me finding her after all this time and basically barging into her gallery to see if my memories were figments of my imagination. The instant my eyes landed on her, I knew I felt something, but what?
And how did I plan on proceeding? I’ve never dated, and there’s good reason. Casual hook-ups were few and far between, especially after seeing what happened to Shaw. No psycho woman was coming after me with an unintentional pregnancy. Without knowing it, Shaw became the best form of birth control.
So I laid there thinking, wondering the best way to move forward. I didn’t lie to Mathis; I plan to be in her space, but until next week, what could I do? This is uncharted territory for me, and the one person who could help me is Bizzy. But I still kept my mouth shut, deciding to navigate through these new waters alone.
I didn’t know what to expect when I called this morning, but Grace surprised me by easing right into a conversation.
