The microphone screeches, and Keith’s voice cuts through the static, trying to regain the attention of the room. “Please, everyone—if I could have your attention for a moment.”
Most of the guests linger, curious ears perked in our direction. A few start to turn back, and when I turn with Grayson toward the exit, Regina is at my side with a hand gripping my elbow. “Okay, damage control time. I’m going to need you back on that stage.”
“Excuse me?”
“We need to spin this. Let’s get the focus back on the Q&A.” She glances at Grayson, eyes flicking up and down. “Let’s reframe the disagreement, we can spin it to be a mental health need.”
I pull back from her, my body physically lurching at her words, and when I look around, a few pairs of eyes are on us. Keith is still on the stage with the microphone firmly in hand, likely waiting for a nod from Regina to announce my return.
“I won’t be going back on that stage, I can guarantee that.” I pull my shoulders back, and take a long look around the room. Tonight is supposed to be aboutcoming together as a team, about helping communities that are different from ours. Instead, it feels more like a competition, with hushed gossip and vanity taking priority. Grayson and I have felt uncomfortable all night, outsiders in a place we were openly invited to, and that’s a place I’d never want to be when there is another place about seventy miles from here that has begun to feel like my real home.
That sobering realization smacks me right in the face. “In fact,” I tell her as a feeling of pride blooms in my chest. I turn to look up at Grayson, and his gaze is already on me, nodding once as if reminding me that he’ll support me in any way possible.
Turning back to Regina, I let my satisfied smile show across my face. “You can tell them that I quit.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Grayson
With Holly’s hand clasped firmly in mine, we rush out the double doors of the ballroom. She grips my hand tightly as her spare hand holds on to the hem of her dress. She pulls me down the carpeted hall, busting through a side door to take a flight of stairs at record speed. I look over at her, a wide smile splitting her face as we practically race down the hall with the click of her high heels echoing through the empty corridor. I reach the double doors that lead to the parking lot and shove through it, pulling her with me.
We both spread our arms wide, taking a deep breath as we enter the dark night. I tilt my head to the sky, noticing the stars hidden by the bright lights of the city. With a spin of my heel, I turn, and my breath catches in my chest.
Under the parking lot floodlights, Holly’s blonde hair illuminates her face. And just like the first time I ever saw her, I wonder if she’s an angel.
Her eyes are closed, but a smile stays on her face. I reach for her arms, pulling her to me. “How are you, baby? Tell me what you’re thinking.” I bury my face in her neck, breathing in the scent of her perfume. She giggles as I place soft kisses against her sensitive skin. “I didn’t get to tell you how incredible your speech was.” I brush my lips against her jaw, moving to grasp her cheeks between my palms. “Even though I had already heard it and practically had it mesmerized myself, you were phenomenal. You lit up that room, sweetheart. Both with your speech and in the way you told your ex to fuck off.” Goddamn, it was hot to see her finally get to tell him how she feels.
She laughs, a slow, soft laugh, exhaling heavily before looking back toward the building. From the second floor windows it looks like the party is in full swing again. Muffled music floats out into the night, and I see a waiter bringing around a tray of champagne.
She turns back to me, taking both of my hands in hers. “Do you remember the night I came to your house, the night I took your sutures out?”
I nod, and she licks her lips, looking past me once before bringing her eyes back. “Do you remember you asked if I was happy? If being a doctor made me happy, and I said I didn’t know?”
“I remember,” I whisper. I remember everything about that night. Every twitch of her brow, the gentle hand she had when taking out my stitches, her wide-eyed gaze as she looked around the farm.
“I lied to you when I said I didn’t know. What I should’ve said was no, I wasn’t happy. I hadn’t been happy for a really long time.” She gestures to the building behind her and to the multi-level hospital that sits a few blocks further back. “None of this has ever made me happy. It was all I knew, all I had experienced, so I assumed that I was the problem. I never once thought it would be the environment I put myself in. I had spent so much time trying to sedate myself, to subdue the churning in my gut that told me what I was doing was all wrong, instead of listening to what my gut was telling me. I’m happy now, and—” She laughs, her head tipping back with the gesture. “I never thought I’d say that I’m so happy everything from my old life fell apart.”
I take a step closer to her, taking her hands and resting them on my waist. I bring mine to her shoulders, smoothing back her hair, which has now fallen loose. “What is your gut telling you now?” I ask, desperate to hear her answer.
She smiles, small, but certain. “It’s telling me that I was never broken. I just needed to be somewhere I couldbreathe.” Her eyes shimmer under the soft yellow parking lot lights. “With someone who sees me.”
My throat tightens, and I brush my thumbs along her shoulders, anchoring myself in the feel of her. “I see you,” I murmur. “I’ve always seen you.”
She closes her eyes like the words settle something inside of her, and when she opens them again, they’re full of something else. Something deeper. “I love you, Grayson.”
Her confession is soft, but sure. She peers up at me through her thick lashes with nothing but pure adoration on her face, and I feel my chest hitch, my nose sting. Because goddamn, I have never loved anything in my life as much as I love her.
I pull her into me and kiss her, deep and certain, pouring my heart into this moment. “I love you,” I breathe against her lips. “I love the version of you I met on that busy, snowy sidewalk. I love the version you are today, and I promise to love every version of you in the future. I loveyou, Holly, and I've never wanted anything more than to build a life with you in the short time we’ve spent together.”
Her hands grip my face as she crashes our mouths together, both of us fighting for control. Or maybe fighting to get the words out, the feelings, to make sure that the other knows where they stand.
We break the kiss, and I lower my forehead to hers. Her soft exhales meet my lips, and I tilt my face up to kiss her forehead before pulling her into my arms. She buries her face into my chest, and I soak in the moment, wanting to savor it, but then a soft chuckle rumbles out of her.
She pulls back, tongue darting out to lick her lips before she pulls the bottom one in between her teeth. “I think I just quit my job.”
My face splits in a smile. “I think you did, too.”
Her chocolate eyes flick up to mine, darting back and forth before her face breaks into a smile.
