I heated the milk, debating if I could have my third one for the day. Deciding there was no such thing as too much chocolate, I made myself a cup as well and sat down next to Maisie.
If I was lucky, I’d get a few minutes to catch up with her. I hadn’t seen her since before the show. “How is the pregnancy going?”
“I think I’m growing a giant. Or twins. But the doctor keeps telling me there’s only one in there.”
I took a sip of my hot chocolate, eyeing her belly. It looked huge, the size no doubt exacerbated by her slight frame.
The bell over the door jingled, and I got up. I shouldn’t have bothered since it was only Oliver striding in, his gait confident, his face scrunched up in worry.
He dropped to his haunches next to Maisie. “You can’t just leave like that.”
“I sent you a message where I was.”
He put his hand on her belly. “You know I don’t check my phone. And when I saw the empty office, I panicked.”
Maisie groaned. “Please tell me you didn’t call the police.”
He turned away with a sheepish look, and I giggled. Oliver had always been protective of Maisie. But since she’d been pregnant, he’d taken it to another level.
The brownies weren’t quite done when I checked on them, and I busied myself cleaning the kitchen while waiting for the timer to go off.
Grayson came into the kitchen as I was getting the tin out of the oven. “You need a hand?”
“No, thanks, there’s not much to do. How was your meeting?”
“Fantastic. Lester will take me on while I sort out my licensing for Colorado.”
I put the pan down and leaned up to touch my lips to his, stepping back before we got carried away again. “That’s amazing. Congratulations.”
“I should have gone into criminal law right after school.”
“Why didn’t you?” I carefully extracted the entire brownie from the pan. I figured whatever Maisie didn’t eat, she could take home, so I cut it into four gigantic pieces before sliding it into a cardboard box.
“Dad. He needed a hand with one of his movies, and I kinda got stuck. I wasn’t the same after…you know. I was aimless and looking for something that wasn’t there anymore.”
I closed the box, pushing it to the side. “I’m so sorry for what I did. I’ll forever regret the way I handled things.” We should have talked about this before today, but I’d been too scared of what he might think once he heard the truth.
Grayson sank one hip against the counter, looking at the ground. “What exactlydidhappen, Ray?”
“I let my own insecurities get to me.” And then Garret topped it all off with his usual assholery, and I’d created the perfect shitstorm of destruction.
Grayson looked up, silently telling me he was listening.
“Your parents offered me a hundred grand if I never spoke to you again.”
That was a lot of money for me. It would have paved my way to my own bakery without having to take out much of a loan. Things were cheap in Humptulips, yet at that point were still out of my reach.
His face fell, and I rushed on to explain. “I didn’t take the money. I would never. But they also took a few aimed jabs at my background. And they told me you’d been dating Allie. I thought you cheated on her with me.”
I scrunched up my nose at the mention of her name.
“I wasn’t with her when we were at the inn,” he said, his gravelly voice tinged with sadness. But I believed him. Which meant his parents had lied to me. Again.
“I didn’t know that back then. My emotions were running wild. I’d just spent a night with the man I’d wanted since I was fifteen.” Probably a little before then too, but I didn’t want to freak him out. “Your mom knew what to say to plant doubts about us in my head. And then Garret took Willa’s college money. She’d gotten scholarships but still needed to cover housing and food. Everything was falling apart, and I didn’t know how to cope.”
“Are you telling me all this happened and you didn’t say a word?” He looked pained, his face pinched tight. “I would have done whatever I could to help you.”
Probably one of my biggest regrets was not talking to Grayson and instead walking away. “I know. But I was young and scared. Your parents throwing our differences in my face and then bringing up Allie scared me enough to walk away. And I thought I was holding you back. And that was the last thing I wanted to do. What if you regretted being with me? I don’t think I would have survived that.”
