“They’re going to love you, Grace. I’ve told you this already.”
“But isn’t it a little fast? We just started seeing each other.”
“Hell yeah, it’s fast, but I’m not worried about that.”
Her stare changes, and her eyes start to glow liquid lavender. Then she tells me exactly what I’ve needed to hear.
“I never forgot you. I’ve followed you since the day I left school. The draft, your career, your life… Big or small, I didn’t care. I wanted to know,” she blurts out, and my chest tightens at her admission.
To some guys, this news may be inconsequential, but to me, it answers so many unspoken questions I was hesitant to ask. Even knowing the circumstances, I wondered if she thought of me. She didn’t walk away that night and leave us behind. Her life was turned upside down, but she didn’t forget me. My pulse races as the gravity of her confession sinks in.
Something in me changes. I may have said I was crazy about her, but the feeling
s start to magnify. My hands go to her head, my fingers threading through her hair as I tilt her face to mine. My mouth crashes down on hers as I try to convey how much this means to me without using words. She sinks into me, her own hands sliding up my back and gripping my shirt to hold on.
As I kiss her, all thoughts of lost time fade away. None of it matters anymore.
Now, I think about how much fun it’s going to be making up for lost time.
Chapter 11
Grace
I float around the gallery in a haze, humming as I wipe down the frames and display cases once more before tonight. The last few times we’ve had a reset and opening, my nerves have been frazzled, but today, I’m completely calm. Maybe even excited.
Nick and Logan are right; this is our best display to date. Everything is perfect.
There’s a rustling in the back, announcing Logan’s arrival, and I head to the office to try to smooth over his irritation with me. He barely glimpses up as I walk into his office.
“Hey,” I chirp a little too happily.
“Hey,” he grumbles.
“Are you still aggravated with me?”
“For what exactly? Outing my non-labeled relationship with Melanie to Grandpa? Or for the fact that I had to talk to Mom last night for forty-five minutes explaining it’s new, I’m not going to propose, there are no wedding bells and white dresses in the future, and you must have been dropped on your head as a child?”
“I’m sorry, Logan.” Really, I’m not, but an apology is the best way to ask for forgiveness.
“Are you?” He pins me with his eyes, and at this moment looks so much like our dad, I crack.
A giggle escapes, followed by another until I’m covering my mouth and trying to hold back.
“You think this is funny?”
“Kinda, I mean, you started it by telling Grandpa I had a new ‘fella’. Do you know how awkward it was for Nick to overhear that?”
“Must not have been too embarrassing, considering I walked in here and you two were going at it like you needed to get a room.”
“We were not!”
“Whatever, as Grandpa would say, you were playing a fierce game of tonsil hockey.”
“Please don’t ever say that again!” My humor slips away as heat creeps up my cheeks.
Satisfaction crosses his face, and he sits down, opening his laptop.
“I know a way to make you forgive me.”