Falling Fast

“That sounds nice,” Grandma answers.

After getting us back to the house, I make us each a hot cocoa that we drink at the kitchen table while working on the puzzle. Then I help Grandma get into her PJs and into bed before going to my room and doing the same. Lying in bed, it takes forever to fall asleep, because all I can think about is Colton and Lisa and how perfectly they fit each other.

~**~

Scrubbing one of the high-top tables in the middle of the room, I spray some more of the cleaner onto my rag and scrub harder. The table is already clean—all the tables are, along with the bar, the floors, and the bathrooms. I’m just cleaning them all again so I can avoid Colton. Colton, who showed up twenty minutes ago telling me to let him know when I had a minute to talk to him about my Jeep. I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t even want to be around him after tossing and turning most of the night. I came to the conclusion I just need to focus on Grandma; that’s why I came here.

“You scrub that any harder you’ll take the paint off.”

Hearing that, I look up at Colton who somehow snuck up on me. I didn’t even hear him coming.

“It’s wood.”

“All right, you’ll scrub the stain off it then,” he says, taking the towel out of my hand and dropping it to the bucket of cleaning supplies at my feet. He then does the same with the bottle of cleaner I have in my other hand.

“What are you doing?” I ask, watching him pick up the bucket and walk toward the office with it.

“The place is clean, Gia, probably cleaner than it’s ever been. You won’t lose the job if you take a break,” he states, dropping the bucket onto the floor instead of setting it down, causing things to bounce out. “Do you want a coffee or a soda?” he asks, walking past me.

“Neither right now. I was kinda in the process of doing something,” I state, and he pauses to look at me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you mean besides the fact you are stopping me from doing my job… again?” I accuse, and his lips tip up, which I want to hate, but can’t. He looks gorgeous all the time, but when he’s smiling like that, he looks boyish and cute and, okay, still totally gorgeous.

“How’s your grandma?”

Hearing concern in his voice, I shift on my feet. “She’s okay.”

“Just okay?” he questions, pulling a glass out from under the bar and filling it with ice and Diet Coke before handing it to me. Looking at the glass then him, my stomach feels funny. I ordered a Diet Coke at lunch the other day, and he obviously remembered that.

“She thinks I’m my mom,” I blurt out to cover up the way I’m suddenly feeling off- kilter.

“What?” he utters, his brow furrowing.

Taking the glass with me, I move past him and go around to the outside of the bar, taking a seat across from him on one of the stools.

“She thinks I’m my mom. She calls me Gabriella. That was my mom’s name.”

“Baby,” he whispers, and that one word washes over me, leaving behind something that makes me feel entirely too good.

“It sucks, but I’m dealing.” I shrug, and he leans on the bar with his elbows, putting him closer.

“What do the doctors say?”

“She has an appointment tomorrow. She was diagnosed with dementia before, but I’ve been doing a lot of research, and I think she might actually have Alzheimer’s or her dementia is to the point now that she just can’t remember the past from the present.”

“I’m sorry you’re dealing with that.”

“It’s okay. I still get to spend time with her, so that makes it worth it,” I tell him, and his face softens.

Clearing my throat, I take a sip of soda then turn to look over my shoulder when the door opens, causing light to shine into the darkness of the bar behind me. Seeing it’s Lisa, my back straightens and my muscles bunch.

“Fuck me,” Colton growls, and my eyes fly to his, which are locked on Lisa. Turning on my stool, I realize as I watch her get closer that I was wrong yesterday. She’s not just beautiful; she’s perfect. She looks like she could step onto any runway in Paris and fit right in. “What are you doing here?” Colton asks, moving down the bar and out from behind it.

“I want to talk to you.”

“Not now,” he states, and if he had said those words to me in that tone, I would have run for the door, but not Lisa. She just gets closer.

“Colton, we need to talk. You can’t keep putting it off.”

“We don’t need to talk.”

“I’m still in love with you.” Her voice cracks, and my heart sinks. Sliding off my stool, I make a move to leave, wishing I had the power to just disappear into thin air.