Page 27 of The Grumpy Roommate Gamble

“Gabriel Edwin Bishop, what did you do?”

I closed my eyes.

Fuck.

Nana came barreling out of the house like a tornado in orthopedic sneakers. “Answer me, young man.”

I didn’t have to ask what she was talking about. I had no doubt word had already gotten around town that Felicity had moved out. Probably that I’d kicked her out. Not that I’d told people, but she probably had. I wasn’t going to say a thing to mitigate anything that made me look like the bad guy. Because I was. I’d take the fall here, because it was what needed to be done.

So I simply hunched my shoulders a bit and took a sip of my beer. “The right thing.”

“According to who?” Nana demanded.

“Me. She’s not safe with me.”

“What in holy hell are you talking about?”

I hadn’t intended to tell her any of this. What had happened between Felicity and me was personal. Private. But I also knew there wasn’t a chance my grandmother would drop it without some kind of explanation.

“She tried to wake me up from a nightmare, and I pinned her like she was some kind of enemy combatant.” No reason to mention she’d done it from my bed, though Nana would no doubt read between the lines there.

“And you kicked her out over that?”

I finally forced myself to meet my grandmother’s baffled gaze. “I could have hurt her. I could have killed her.”

All the variations of that had been plaguing my nightmares in the short snatches of sleep I’d managed since it had happened.

Nana’s expression softened. “I’m sure that was terrifying for both of you. But the answer is not to kick her out of the house. The answer is fucking therapy.”

I blinked, so taken aback by my grandmother dropping an f-bomb that I didn’t argue.

She lowered herself into the chair beside me. “I did not go to all this trouble to push you two together, only to have you screw it all up.”

My overtired, overwrought brain latched onto that, and an ugly suspicion began to form. “What are you talking about? Did you do something to Felicity’s house?”

Jesus, had she sabotaged the pipes as some twisted form of matchmaking?

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course not. I would never. But when it happened, I saw an opportunity. You were always sweet on her, and I could tell she was always sweet on you. I wanted to give you two a chance to get out of your own way. And from the sound of things, you absolutely did, which is fantastic.”

She laid a hand on my arm. “You have been happier than I’ve ever seen you these past few weeks. I know you think that by sending her away, you’re protecting her. But you’re not. Shutting her out, letting her think the worst of you, is simply denying both of you the chance at happiness. You need to get your head out of your ass and go win her back.”

“How can I do that? What if it happens again?”

Nana waved that away. “First off, she clearly shouldn’t touch you to try to wake you up from a nightmare. It’s not like you’re going to just randomly attack her in her sleep.”

“You say that so simply. As if every fear I’ve been living with can just be magicked away.”

“Not magicked away. I’m sure you’ll have to work at it. But that’s what therapy is for. I’m sure all you boys need it after what you went through on this last deployment. This is asolvable problem, Gabe. One you don’t have to make yourself and Felicity miserable over to fix.”

Was she right? Was there some scenario where Felicity and I could still be together?

“Honey, I know you’re scared. That just tells me how much you care about her. But you pushing her away? That’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made in your life.”

I felt it. I’d felt it the moment I’d stepped back into the house that no longer felt like my home because she wasn’t in it.

But I’d done so much damage in the name of trying to protect Felicity. Was there actually a way back from what I’d done?

EIGHTEEN

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