“Do you remember when you told me to make changes to Beautiful Blooms whether I had Grace’s permission or not? You told me not to let her wait me out.”
“Yes. I said you had to treat it like you might get hit by a bus tomorrow. The business needed to get turned around, and you were waiting on her to be on board with it. Meanwhile, the shop was stagnating. I said just do it now.”
“Right. Well, throw that advice out the window.”
That was not what I was expecting him to say, and he smiled, seeing my surprise.
“Grace is not a business plummeting into the ground, and she doesn’t want to be rescued.”
“Yeah. I’m aware. She told me I have damsel-in-distress syndrome.”
Isaac laughed. “That sounds like Grace.” He tossed his racquet from hand to hand. “I guess what I’m saying is, she’s expecting you to treat this like anything else in your life. She’s the exciting new project that’s consumed you. You’re going to give it your best effort, study the pros and cons, and then walk away when you’ve decided it’s not worth it. And you won’t lookback. That’s what she’s preparing herself for, with more armor than you can imagine.”
I frowned. “That’s not me at all.” And that better not be how Grace felt because it made me sound awful.
“I know. But I have to ask. Are you really, truly, serious about her?”
“Yes.” I could say it without hesitation. She was all I could think about, and that wasn’t a new thing. The intensity had ramped up since finding out our chemistry could blow up a science lab, but she was so much more to me than that.
“You’re in this?”
“Well, I can’t force her to fall in love with me, but I’d sure like to make it happen. She claims she can’t love anybody anymore.”
Isaac rubbed his shoulder, looking thoughtful. “When we were kids, we had this drawer that broke, and my mom taped over it so we wouldn’t accidentally open it and pull the whole drawer out. It eventually got fixed, but we were so used to not using it, we never put anything in it again. Grace feels that way about relationships. She’s operating like the drawer is still broken.” He smiled. “I think she’ll come around, though. For you.”
“Okay, but—”
He held up his hand, cutting me off. “The bad news is, there are no shortcuts. There’s nothing you can do to fix it right this second, which is why you’re so squirrelly. Get over your action-based, troubleshooting instincts and just chill. Be the guy she needs, day in, day out.”
“Is there good news?”
“Yeah. She’s secretly a softy. Also, Piper thinks you’re pretty great.”
I smiled. Didn’t I know it. On both counts. If anything, I was the least risky guy Grace could ever date as a single mom, because I wasn’t some guy being introduced to Piper. Piper was already a part of my life, and that wouldn’t change, even ifGrace decided to permanently go back to pretending I didn’t exist.
Isaac got a ball out of the canister and bounced it on his racquet. “Big picture: Grace is waiting for you to give up. So, just prove to her you won’t.”
I let out a long breath. “Okay, that’s not the worst advice you’ve ever given me.”
“You’re welcome. One more game?”
I nodded. Perhaps I did need to calm it down and have a little faith. We played one more game to fifteen points, and because Isaac had trashed me in the first one, I made sure to win the second. Then I showered, changed, and headed back to the office, giving Connie a genuine smile as I passed her desk.
She had ten messages for me to return, but first, I opened up my text thread with Grace. I didn’t know what conflicting plans she had for tonight, but I could at least let her know what other nights I was free. I sank into my desk chair and sent off a new text.
Dean: Friday or Sunday night is good for me. I was thinking of barbecuing hamburgers. I haven’t used my grill in a while.
She sent me back a thumbs up a few seconds later. Followed by… nothing. Isaac wasn’t even a little bit wrong about Grace’s defense system. It was firing on all cylinders. I thought back to what she’d said in frustration:I just can’t keep resisting you.Those weren’t the words of someone who was indifferent, no matter how much she wanted me to believe otherwise.
Chapter 27 – Grace
Isaac and Carmen picked us up in their Ford crew cab. I put Piper’s booster seat in the backseat next to me and her overnight bag at her feet, and buckled her in. Tomorrow was a teacher in-service day, and Isaac and Carmen had offered to keep Piper for a sleepover and drop her to me at Beautiful Blooms in the morning. It would be a good opportunity for me to catch up on laundry and watch an overly gooey Lifetime Christmas movie while I matched socks. I’d need that after meeting up with Rob.
Normally, the four of us were a loud bunch, but I was always subdued on the nights we met up with Rob at Chili’s, and Isaac and Carmen matched my mood, focusing their attention on my daughter and giving me a moment to just stare out the window while we drove.
Piper showed them her new sandals, which happened to match the color of Carmen’s canvas sneakers. They were both a coral red.
“We got them at Target,” Piper said, every bit as smug as Blaire had been about the designer of her gown. I smiled at the thought.
