“You’re an amazing writer, Simon. You have a gift.”
“Thank you.”
“Plus, I can relate to the heroine in this book. I know what it’s like to be so lonely that even when red flags are painted on your forehead, you push ahead because you want to see the good in everyone.”
I reach for her hand.
The words are on my lips, but nothing comes out.
I don’t want to be another red flag for her, but I justcan’tgive her what she wants.
When I finally muster the courage to say something, anything, Grey appears in the doorway.
He crosses his arms and laughs.
Greer quickly scrambles out of the bed. “Do you need something?”
I’m not sure if her reaction is from Grey seeing us or if she is actually worried about him.
“I’m fine.” He steps into the room and points at me. “I can’t believe you’re still in bed. What a wimp,” he teases.
He laughs again, but then his face turns green, and he runs to the bathroom. Greer is hot on his heels and gets to him before I can.
She’s rubbing his back and whispering soothing words to him. Something inside me snaps.
If I don’t figure my shit out now, some other lucky bastard is going to swoop in and take this wonderful woman from me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
GREER
“I feel sick.”
“No, you don’t,” Simon tells me as soon as he meets me out on his front porch. It’s been an entire week since I found him and Grey sick. Now, we’re heading to his parents’ house for a Friday night family dinner, and I think it’s my turn to puke.
“Really. Do I feel hot?”
He puts his hand on my forehead.
“Not even a little.”
“Well, I think I caught what you had. I better just go back to my house and?—”
“It’s going to be fine.”
“I don’t like lying to your parents.”
I feel like a bad person. Maybe if I knew the reason why he wants to do this, I’d feel better. The real reason. Not the “so that my mom will stop asking me” generic reason Simon gave me earlier this week.
Seems fitting enough, but there’s something he’s not telling me.
“It’s fine. It’s a small lie. Besides”—he pauses to watch Grey head back inside the house before he steps up close to me— “not everything about what we’re saying is a lie, right?”
This would be the perfect moment for him to kiss me. Sneak one in real quick. But he doesn’t. In fact, all week he’s been nothing but a gentleman to me. There have been no tempting moments between us. Not even one.
It seems that maybe he has made up his mind.
We all load into the truck and are soon off on our way to Simon’s parents in Melody. It’s a short trip, only a couple of hours, and before I know it, we’re pulling up in front of their house. The house is cute: the curved driveway, the newly painted brick siding, the way each tree is planted perfectly to line the driveway and give what little privacy they can get from the main road. But what keeps drawing my attention is his sister’s car is parked in front of us.
