“Nope,” she told him. “I’m fine.”
“I need to go now,” he told her. “But take good care of yourself, okay?”
“Okay,” she said. “I love you.”
“Love you too, Buttons,” he said.
She slid the phone back into her pocket and crawledto the edge of the bed. She didn’t feel ready to go back out and face Grayson just yet, but if she stayed in here too long, or let herself cry like she wanted to, he would suspect something was wrong. He might even grill her about the phone call or maybe even ask to see the phone. He did buy it for her, after all.
I can do this,she reminded herself.I can do anything.
13
GRAYSON
Grayson put Leo in his carrier and cleaned up their breakfast, glad to have something to do with his energy.
Evangeline was still in her room, presumably on that call that had her rushing off so suddenly. He frowned to himself as he grabbed their plates and mugs and carried them over to the sink.
The look on her face when she saw the number that popped up on the phone had been sheer panic. But it was hard to know why.
Was it someone who was going to give her a hard time for one reason or another? He couldn’t imagine anyone as sweet as Evangeline could have a lot of enemies.
Maybe it was the opposite. Maybe it was a boyfriend, and she was panicking because she’d almost let Grayson kiss her last night. That option made more sense. It was a brand-new phone. The only way for someone to have the number would be if she was the one that gave it to them.
Heat pressed in on him, and he blew a breath out slowly, uncertain where all this fury was coming from.
If he didn’t even know her well enough to know if she had a boyfriend or not, then why did he care this much about it?
And why did I even think about kissing her last night?
But he knew that if he could go back, try as he might, he would probably do exactly the same thing. There was something about this girl that he couldn’t explain. She took him out of himself, made him feel like he was free of the weight that was always pressing down on his chest.
I’ll never be free,he thought to himself, his hand snaking up to rub at his scars.
“Uhh-ah,”Leo squeaked, kicking his legs.
“Thanks, buddy,” Grayson said, nuzzling the soft thatch of hair on Leo’s head.
The baby evensmelledgood. Caring for him was the best distraction from the thoughts that tormented him.
He washed the dishes and cleaned the coffee maker, and then put himself to work wiping down the counters. As he worked, some of the tension slipped away.
“Hey,” Evangeline said softly as he straightened from wiping up the table.
He turned to her and began cataloguing her signs of stress without meaning to. Her face was pale, her hands clenched, a small furrow creased her brow.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, smiling.
But her smile was too tight and it didn’t sparkle in her eyes the way her smiles usually did.
Something was wrong.
He longed to pull her into his arms and whisper in her ear that he would take care of everything if she would just tell him what the problem was.
But that wasn’t his right, and it was a bad idea for so many reasons.
