“Challenge accepted. Wear comfortable shoes and come by after lunch.”
“Oooh. Comfortable shoes. There’s a romance line you don’t hear very often.”
“Is that what we’re doing here? Romance?” His expression is soft—almost vulnerable.
“I don’t know.” My chest tightens.
I can’t answer him with any kind of certainty.
“Well, I don’t kiss the other crew members off-shift,” he says, the playful tone in his voice telling me he’s letting me off the hook for now.
“I’m glad we cleared that up. I wouldn’t want to be competing with Dustin. I bet he has moves.”
Greyson’s laugh is full and loud. I love that I was the one to draw it out.
He brushes his hand down my cheek and then trails his fingers down my neck and arm. When he reaches my hand, his fingers intertwine with mine. He lifts our clasped hands to his lips and kisses my knuckles.
“I know being a single mom is complicated. And I’m not here to make your life harder, Hallie. I just … want us to spend time together. But if you can’t—because of Mia—I get it.”
“Thank you.” I lean into him and he wraps his arms around me. A sigh escapes me, long and deep.
I look up at him. “I don’t know what I can offer you. Can we just take it bit by bit? I wasn’t planning on any relationships. I kind of was planning on not.”
He smiles. “I’m good with bit by bit.”
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow after lunch—in my comfortable shoes.”
He leans in and kisses me and I hold on to him. Then he walks me to my car and holds the door open for me.
“Thanks again—for today,” he says.
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
“I have no intention of anyone dying on my watch, cat orotherwise. But I’m grateful for curiosity if that’s what it took to get you out here.”
Greyson shuts my door after I’m buckled in—always the caretaker.
I’m light as air the whole drive home. An occasional thought flits through about the impossibility of bringing a man into Mia’s life—even a man like Greyson. He’s her coach and my coworker. How would that ever work? But I push those thoughts away, needing to give myself this one small gift of four days with him.
“Bit by bit,” I tell myself. “Just see where this goes for now.”
When I walk in the house, Mom’s sitting in the main room.
“I thought you had a date,” I say.
“I thought I needed to call the cops to file a missing person’s report. Jonathan said there’s an app we can get where I can track your whereabouts.”
“Jonathan?”
“That man next door.”
“Oh! Jonathan. Yeah. Well, we’re not getting an app like that. You could always call if you’re that worried.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Oh, yeah. Hence the missing person’s report.”
“So, I exaggerate. Where were you? With thisfriendall day?” She emphasizes the word friend.
