Page 23 of Gravity

Whoever he is, I can tell he’s joking, but that doesn’t stop the irritation I feel in my chest. Like my feet have a mind of their own, I head to the steps at the other end of my lawn to gain a better view of the Nelsons’ garden.

“You can lead an unsheltered life and still enjoy bubbles, you know,” I say a little loudly, finding Nora on the lawn, Pete in his wheelchair on the patio, and a guy I’ve seen going in and out of their house on occasion, his uniform now telling me that it’s Wade, Pete’s carer.

Nora spins around, looking as beautiful as ever. Her hair is up in a messy topknot, her T-shirt hanging off one shoulder, this time with the slogan ‘hell was full so I came back’, across the front. She’s wearing those shorts again that reveal her perfect legs—legs that I often imagine wrapped around me.

“Grayson. I didn’t see you there.” She studies me for a second, taking a closer step toward her side of the fence. “We didn’t wake you, did we?”

“No. I’ve been up for a bit. What’s going on here?” I nod at her dad. “Hey, Pete.”

Nora lifts up the bubble wand that she’s holding, the happiness in her face something I want to capture forever. “Just having fun with Dad. Like old times.”

Old times.

My chest tightens with her statement. I’ve heard those words too many times already since she’s been home. I know she means well. I know her intention behind them is harmless, but it just sparks something within me and I can’t work out what that is. I hold her gaze, not knowing how to respond, and once again question why this woman has the ability to strip me of everything.

“I don’t know who is having more fun, though: Nora or her dad,” Pete’s carer says, breaking the silence. His tall—not so muscular—body walks toward her, and I question how he has the strength to lift Pete when it comes to his physical therapy.

“Grayson, have you met Wade?”

I nod. “Hey.”

“Wade is the most annoying person out there,” Nora deadpans.

“How charming,” he replies.

“I’m only speaking the truth.”

“I wasn’t annoying when I bought you donuts this morning.”

I suddenly feel I’ve been kicked in the stomach, and my hands grip the edge of the fence. Donuts are our thing. No one else gets her them except me, not even Asher, and as she grew older and became the young woman she is now, those Saturday mornings we’d shared before she headed off to college became the best part of the week for me.

Nora makes matters worse when her eyes dart to me and she says, “There’re some left if you want to come over.”

What the hell is going on here? I’m an adult—a grown fucking man—and some kid has just passed a comment that shouldn’t bother me at all but instead has managed to grip my stomach with jealousy.

“No,” I say firmly. “I’ve got stuff to be getting on with.” With that, I walk away, trying to work out what the fuck is wrong with me.

Chapter Eight

Nora

I’m getting pissed off with his up and down attitude. I’ve not seen him in nearly two days and he just pops up out of the blue and expects me to be able to read him.

Last night’s late call had been so unexpected, and I’d been able to hear the tension in his voice. For a moment—when we bantered like before—there had been a flicker of the old Grayson, but as soon as I told him I missed us, I knew I’d done wrong.

The expression on his face when Wade had mentioned the donuts looked like envy to me. I hadn’t asked Wade to bring them, but I hadn’t thought twice when he did. Yet I feel like I’ve done wrong for accepting the generosity of a guy I’m starting to get to know.

“You were right, Pop,” I say to Dad as I pull myself up to sit on the kitchen island. “Gray’s changed.”

I tried to get a conversation out of Asher, asking him if he’d noticed a difference in him, but in typical Asher form, he just replied that he was fine.

“Give. Time.”

“But how much time? I know I’ve only been home a few days but… He’s not been the same with me in years. And I don’t know why.”

I’m so frustrated with myself for letting it get to this stage, and I have no reason to be. I’ve done nothing wrong, yet I’m the one that’s left feeling like crap.

“Maybe he’s just got fed up with the kid sister hanging around,” I sigh, hoping my words are not true. I have never been that annoying girl who bothered him. I have never been a girl that he would try to hide away from. If anything, the older I’ve become, the more he has hung around me and the stronger our friendship became. He’s always protected me in a way that Asher never has.