“Yeah,” Grayson answered without hesitation. Because she had.
“On purpose?”
Grayson hesitated. That was the part he didn’t know. Because he’d been a grumpy asshole and stormed out without letting her explain. “I don’t know.”
“Then talk to her.”
“It’s not that easy.”
Maverick pushed away from the barrel, crossing the short space between them to place his hand on Grayson’s shoulder. “Of course, it is. Because if she’s truly the one, then you’re already in love with her. And that’s not going to go away.”
Those words struck him like a punch. It was way too fucking soon to attach that emotion to what they shared.
Or was it?
Maverick must have recognized the change in him, because he smirked. “Figuring it out, aren’t you?”
His lips twisted. “Shut up,” he said, with absolutely zero heat.
Maverick laughed.
Grayson flipped him off.
“Don’t be a dumbass, Gray. Swallow your pride and your stubbornness and go get your girl.”
For the first time since learning the truth about Wren, Grayson’s anger started to weaken, replaced by something lighter…something that felt a lot like hope.
If there was one thing the Storm family had in spades, in addition to their work-hard, play-hard lifestyles, it was their stubbornness. So, despite Maverick’s assurance that Grayson was wasting his time being mad at Wren, he still dug in his heels.
For four whole days.
Though to be fair, some of that time lapse had less to do with him being stubborn and more to do with him being busy as shit. Harvest time was always a killer, and this year was no exception. He’d spent two entire days alone working fast and furiously to fix the destemmer with Jace, because without it, they were fucked.
But this morning, he’d hit a breaking point on the whole Wren/Lark situation. He knew Lark had confessed to Nora and Remi about the twin switch, but because he’d missed Sunday dinner, where they’d apparently told everyone else, Grayson, himself, still didn’t know why they’d done it. Since then, it was apparently old news and forgotten by everyone except him. And he hadn’t asked anyone for details, still too pissed off about being played for a fool.
However, the fact that Lark had kept her job, and she was moving in with his cousins, told him that perhaps there’d been a better excuse for their deceit than the twins simply wanting to prank him. Of course, even if that had been the only reason, Grayson suspected the girls’ reaction would have been similar to Maverick’s. Pure amusement.
That didn’t seem to be the case for Wren, from what he saw at the library.
Now, he wanted to know why they’d done it, so he stopped by the B&B Mom and Dad ran and checked the cleaning schedule posted in the kitchen.
Grayson found Lark exactly where he expected her to be.
The Nook.
Back when Mom was in charge of the rental cabins, she and Everett had given them all cute names to go with the descriptions on the website. The names were more enticing than the numbering system they’d used before. Not that Grayson had made the switch. In his mind, the cabin everyone else called the Nook would always be cabin seven, his personal favorite.
Armed with a mop, bucket, and what appeared to be enough cleaning supplies to sanitize a hospital, Lark should have been hard at work, scrubbing the kitchen floor. Instead, she was zoned out, looking out the back window, though Grayson doubted she was fascinated by the trees. More than likely, she was daydreaming.
He cleared his throat.
Lark turned, freezing when she spotted him standing just inside the front door.
The second their eyes met, she groaned.
Actually groaned.
“Nice to see you too,” he grumbled.
