“I’m your girlfriend, and I will take your clothes to the dry cleaner,” I sniffed, “especially since clearly you’re the type of man who sleeps with his assistants.”
I slapped him on his backside.
He grinned at me then chased down his umbrella, under which several iguanas were cowering.
I opened up the lid on the vented container, and he gently placed them inside.
“Wait, Grayson,” I said in shock. “It’s Tuesday. Did you miss lunch with your mom for this?”
“I haven’t been going,” he admitted. “Alessio just isn’t the same without you. Anyway, my mom didn’t have lunch today either.” He waited a beat. “She showed up at my office and wanted to talk.”
“Oh my gosh!” I gasped. “You saw your mom. That’s amazing.” I wrapped my arms around him, giving him a big hug.
“I am so happy for you,” I told him, trying and failing not to cry.
“Yeah,” he said, wiping my face with his thumb and nodding. “Yeah, it was amazing. And it’s all thanks to you. Siobhan said she really liked you, said you’re perfect for me.”
“And you’re perfect for me.”
He leaned down and kissed me again. His mouth was warm, and I let the strength of him envelop me.
“Okay, so there is one thing I want, actually.”
“Anything.”
“You, me, Crumpet, Disney.”
“I will take you to Disney. I’ll rent out the whole park for a night,” he promised.
“As much as I want to have the whole park to myself, you have to have the full Disney experience,” I told him. “That means lines, that means screaming children, and that means walkingaround in mouse ears, eating giant turkey legs at nine in the morning.”
He sucked in a breath.
“No take-backs!”
68
GRAYSON
Lexi’s parents were not happy to see me when I carried the stacks of large plastic containers into the Disney-themed kitchen.
I set the containers carefully in the corner of the adjacent mudroom while her parents glared at me.
“Mr. and Mrs. Collins.” I cleared my throat. “I understand I hurt your daughter, and by proxy you, very much with my actions, and I am deeply sorry and will be happy to make it up to you in any way you’d like. I know you hate me for harming your daughter, and I don’t blame you. I’m glad Lexi has you all in her corner. You’re good parents,” I told them.
“Turn those frowns upside down. Grayson is very sorry,” Lexi said, skipping into the kitchen. She had changed into dry clothes. “He apologized.”
“Did he roll around in the mud groveling?” her mom asked, frowning.
Lexi took my arm while I silently dripped on the tile floor.
“Awkward,” she said out of the side of her mouth.
Her dad was the first to relent.
“Squeaky Mouse hasn’t been this happy since that third Cinderella movie came out, so I guess I can forgive and forget,” Barry said begrudgingly. “But by golly, don’t do it again. This is Florida, and I will feed you to the alligators.”
“Barry,” Lexi’s mother scolded. “You can’t feed Grayson to the gators. He’s too big. They’ll leave chewed-up parts everywhere. Not to mention, Lexi heard you, and she can’t keep a secret to save her life. No, you poison him and bury him in the orchard.”
