“What do you mean?” I answered back, confused about what he meant.
“I kissed you. Hell, yeah I did. But you were also crazy-ass drunk, so I finally took you home that night to put you to bed. Did you never question how you got to bed that night?” Greg leaned in closer with a questioning look.
“I never thought about it. I didn’t think I was drunk,” I admitted. I tried to think back to that night but every time I did it was always a blur after the kiss. I had always thought I was sober for that kiss, but the stench of whiskey filled my nostrils at the memory. Had I been drunk when all of that happened?
“Oh doll, you were beyond drunk, but I couldn’t hold back any longer. That kiss was only the beginning. But later that night, when I was carrying you into your room, you grabbed onto my shirt and told me never to break your heart and told me to leave you alone. You said if we stayed together it would hurt you more than us being apart.”
My heart sped up. I looked down into my lap trying to recall telling him this. Nothing.
“What?” My question was a whisper. Greg grabbed for my chin and tilted it up so that our eyes met.
“I’ve tried so hard to stay away from you the past two years.” He brushed a thumb over my bottom lip. “How I’ve wanted just to kiss you again, but I stayed true to your request because I thought that was what you really wanted.”
He dropped his hand, shrugged, and looked over his shoulder to Tessa. “I think that’s what you would call a breakthrough.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me. Even in the most tension-filled moment, Greg always knew how to break the ice. Looking at him now, I tried recalled that night again. I may not have remembered what I said to him, but I knew what he meant about the feeling that this was the man who could break my heart. He still had the ability to do that, but now, now I felt like I could withstand whatever was thrown at us.
“Tessa.” I looked away from Greg momentarily. “May I ask for our homework assignment for today?”
“What did you have in mind?” The smile that ignited on her face showed just how proud she was of us.
“We’ve not actually spent a whole twenty-four hours with each other, so I was thinking that we could try living together for a few nights.”
I looked back to Greg who was still kneeling in front of me to see his reaction. That smirk from earlier was on his face like he was getting exactly what he wanted.
“I think that would be best for you two. It would force you to see each other before and after work, tell each other where you were going if it wasn’t with the other person, but in a more natural setting, rather than through text. Although I have something I would like to add to this.”
“Anything.” Greg’s comment left me longing for more and I didn’t care what Tessa said, because whatever it was, we were both in this, together.
“Go to family dinner tonight.”
“Done.” Greg’s response was a little too quick for Tessa.
“Wait.” She tapped on her notepad and called for both Greg’s and my attention, but our eyes never wavered from each other. “I want you to go to family dinner tonight, but I don’t want you to come back here on Friday. This is the last week of our sessions, and I want you to be with each other as much as possible. I don’t want you to rely on coming back here to work out if there is an issue. If you have anything to work out, work it out between you two. Then, on Monday morning, we’ll meet at the courthouse to see Judge Baker.”
I processed everything Tessa had said, except the fact that this was the last week of counseling for us. We were done with these sessions and I had to say, I felt completely different from how I had felt the first moment I walked in here.
“How does that sound?” Tessa asked.
“I’m good with that,” I replied.
“Amazing.” Greg’s enthusiasm was greater than mine.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t excited, but Tessa was right. W had been relying so much on these sessions to help with the conflict and tension that was rising between Greg and me. What would we do when we were out on our own? Would we be able to stay together and not try to rip each other’s throats out? I looked at Greg one more time before Tessa ushered us out of the office. The hour had flown by fast and, once the door closed, my heart fell. The anxiety took over, until Greg took my hand, led me towards his car and whisked me away into the gorgeous mountains of Helen.
I looked up at Greg’s parents’ house and took a deep breath. Greg and I hadn’t really discussed that I had told his mother about us. Now walking into that house with everyone knowing our business, it just shined a spotlight I didn’t want.
“It’ll be fine, doll,” Greg came up behind me and grabbed for my hand before opening the door and leading me inside.
There wasn’t anyone in the living room, but laughter could be heard coming from the kitchen. We passed the fireplace. I saw that it was already nine and his family probably wasn’t expecting us tonight.
When we stepped into the kitchen and the first thing I heard was silverware hitting china.
“No phone calls, nothing. You just show up!” Margaret made her way up from the table to stomp over to her son, finger wagging in the air. “You don’t just get to come in here, mister, and think you’re going to be fed just because you show up with Lilly.”
She turned towards me with the most genuine smile.
“Good evening, darling.”
