“Maybe if you’re here, he’ll stay for supper. Getting him to do that can be a struggle sometimes.” Grace’s smile faded to that serious expression again. “And I’ve been wanting to talk to you.”
The small knot, which had loosened while she watched him, folded up again.
Grace grimaced. “I’m about to get all outside my lane and he wouldkillme for this, but I love him, Holly, and I cannot watch him get hurt again.”
A spurt of anger flowed over the knot. “I’m not out to hurt him.”
“I know that.” Grace waved the idea away. “But I want the best for him, especially after Tyler, and I don’t know if this is just casual with y’all or what, especially since you and Tick—”
Holly sighed, a rough, irritable sound. That again? “Tick and I have always been friends. That’s all.”
“Look.” Grace spun away to pick up her own cup, loose off-white cardigan flaring out with the movement. With her navy leggings and gray cami, she looked like the amazing balletdancer she’d been when they were teenagers, although she’d had a baby only a couple of months ago. “I love you, too, and I’m crazy about the idea of you two together, but I need to know you’re serious about him and will take care of him.”
And that was Gracie, assertive and protective as always. Holly couldn’t dredge up any irritation with her for inserting herself into Holly and Colt’s private life.
“I mean it, Holly. He already breaks my heart, and I can’t stand to watch him get slapped down again.”
“We’re both in this with an eye to a serious relationship, Grace. I have strong feelings for him.” Holly lifted both shoulders in a helpless shrug and buried her warm blush in a sip of icy water. “I don’t know what else to say to reassure you.”
“Strong feelings.” An arm braced over her midriff, Grace leaned on the cabinet. Brows twisted into a frown, she lifted her cup with her other hand in a circle. “What does that even mean?”
“It means . . .” Right now, she wanted to scream. She hadn’t been defining her emotions, even to herself, had simply been taking each day with him, trying to make deliberate steps forward because he was like Polo when she didn’t want to go for a walk. She had to keep him moving the same way she did her dog. Plus, she needed to keep her heart moving forward, away from Scott. Shedidhave serious feelings for him.
She just didn’t know what to call them.
“I have always loved him as one of my friends–”
Grace’s derisive snort exploded in the room. Holly glared.
“And Ireallylike him. I respect him and–”
“Holly.” Grace’s voice cooled, as chilly as the plastic against Holly’s palm. “Don’t you play with him and don’t you dare break his heart.”
Well. Holly bristled, fingers clenched around her cup. Gracie meant out of her lane for real. “I am not playing with him.”
Lips pursed, Grace appeared unmoved by Holly’s open resentment. “I don’t care if I offend you.”
“Obviously.” She needed to keep this light before she lost her religion and let her inner Mona out. Besides, she liked Gracie — and didn’t she want Colt to have people who loved him and advocated for him?
Being seen as a threat to him bothered her, though.
Grace didn’t give, although the set of her mouth relaxed a little. “Listen, I’m like this whenever he goes out with someone new, on pins and needles. I can talk to you, though, and that’s a good thing. I know you want what’s best for him—”
“Well, thank you for that.” She folded her own arms, pretty sure her features froze into the expression Mona used with irate customers.
“Andy and I feel awful about that night.” Pain glinted in Grace’s big hazel eyes. “He wasn’t even supposed to be there, had told Andy he was staying over in Tifton. If Andy hadn’t thrown that party, if we hadn’t been in his bedroom . . .”
“Gracie,” Holly whispered. Lord, how many of them carried something awful from that one night?
“It wasn’t like she was invited. She came with someone, and we didn’t even know she was there until afterward.” Tears filled Grace’s eyes, and she blinked rapidly, staring at the ceiling. “He hasn’t ever been the same, and that’shard, you know?”
“I do.” Her voice emerged as a pained whisper, hurting her throat. She got it because she loved Tick like Grace loved Colt, and he’d never been quite the same after that weekend, the entwined losses of Colt and Will and his trust in Allison lessening him in some way. She hadn’t seen him start to comeback to himself, really, until he’d gone to Texas and Caitlin reentered his life.
And Colt’s life, the way he limited himself, punished himself. Witnessing that and wanting more for him . . . yes, that was hard.
She wanted to be that more for him. That was hard, too, because their forward progress was so excruciatingly slow, and she couldn’t fully guarantee where they would end up. She wanted to love him widely and expansively and deeply, as he deserved to be loved.
The back door burst open, emitting a rowdy flow of sweaty little boys, followed by Andy and Colt, their rich laughter hanging in the air. That sound wrapped around Holly, warming her as much as his carefree grin and the relaxed line of his long form in jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt, his feet shoved in a familiar pair of leather flip flops. Her chest panged with that wonderful laugh, easy and warm. Oh, she wanted somuch . . .
