Page 34 of Twice in a Lifetime

“It was. What can I do for you?”

She finally turned her attention to me, smiling brightly and batting her eyes. “I came to see if you wanted to grab some lunch. I don’t know about you, but I could really go for a burger from Evergreen. Maybe follow that up with something sweet from Muffin Top?”

She’d just named the two places in this town that were guaranteed to be packed at this time of day, and she’d done it for a reason. She knew we’d be seen, and she knew word would spread. If I had to guess, she was here because she’d already heard people talking about my past with Blythe and thespeculation on when or if we’d get back together, so she felt time was running out to shoot her shot.

I pushed out a sigh and rubbed at the tension building in the back of my neck and shoulders. “Grace, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh, well, if it’s a timing thing, we could grab something to go. My schedule’s flexible. I thought it would be nice to catch up.”

The waiting room was empty, aside from Naomi sitting at the front desk, but this wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have with any kind of audience. “Why don’t you come back to my office real quick?”

Her smile told me she thought she was getting somewhere, which made my stomach sour. She was a good woman, I didn’t want to keep hurting her, and I felt like an asshole because I knew that was what was about to happen.

I stepped aside so she could enter, then followed after her, making sure to close the door so no one could overhear. “Grace?—”

“If you’re busy, I totally understand. If you can’t do lunch then maybe we could go out for dinner?”

“No, Grace, listen.” I sucked in a fortifying breath. “I mean I don’t think it would be a good idea... ever.”

My stomach dropped as realization dawned in her eyes and the excitement turned to sadness. “I thought we were good. Weren’t we good? I mean, we had fun together.”

“We did. But it just isn’t in the cards for us. I’m sorry.”

“But...” She took a step closer and placed a hand on my chest, “It could have been if you’d given me half a chance. It still could be,” she insisted, forcing a smile.

Christ, I was such an asshole. “Grace, you’re an incredible woman, and you deserve a man who knows exactly how lucky he is to have you. That man isn’t me. It can’t be me.”

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down, her chin trembling. “It’s because of Blythe, isn’t it? Because she’s back?”

I’d ended things with Grace before I knew Blythe was returning to Hope Valley. When I realized my feelings for her weren’t strong enough, and they weren’t going to get any stronger. But I didn’t say any of that because the first half of what she said was right. It was because of Blythe, and it always would be.

“Why are you willing to try again with her but not me?”

I gave her the truth. She deserved that much. “Because she owns my heart. She has since I was seventeen years old, and she always will. Whether or not she’s ever mine again.”

Grace sniffled, her eyes growing glassy with tears as she looked away. “I see,” she whispered, a single tear breaking free and trailing down her cheek right before she turned on her heel and walked out of my office without another word.

Guilt ate at me, weighing heavily on my chest and shoulders for the rest of the day. That pressure stayed for hours, to the point I wasn’t sure it would ever go away. Then the most miraculous thing happened.

The instant I pushed through my front door that evening, the weight lifted. It was a combination of things. The smell of something delicious cooking in the kitchen. The sight of Adeline sitting in the great room off the kitchen, curled up in a cushy wingback chair with a book in her lap. It was the sound of Ainsley singing off key and at an ear-splitting volume to whatever princess movie was playing on the television in the living room. And it was seeing Avett, his pockets stuffed full of treats, working with Koda, going through some of the training techniques I’d shown him. She already knew all of them, but it was fun for the both of them, so I didn’t say anything. I didn’t even say anything about the pink and purple bows and clips inthe shape of butterflies the girls had clipped all over her long fur, though it severely impacted my dog’s scary, badass vibe.

But mostly, it was rounding the corner and seeing Blythe in my kitchen, her feet bare and her work scrubs replaced with comfortable clothes. It was watching her hips swaying and her lips moving to whatever song was playing from her cellphone on the counter as she went about making dinner.

She belonged here. They all did. And seeing them in my house, filling it with noise and activity for the first time since I moved in, nothing in my life had ever felt more right.

Chapter Eighteen

Blythe

Ihummed along to Shania singing about feeling like a woman as I moved around the kitchen, finally familiar enough with it to know where everything was—mostly because Rhodes gave me the freedom to move things to make them convenient for me.

Tristan’s kitchen had been nice, but his house was older and closed-concept, making it more difficult to work in because it was cramped and impossible to keep an eye on my kids while I was cooking. I had to constantly stop to check and make sure one of them wasn’t injured or bleeding.

Here, I could see every room from where I was standing at the massive stone island, chopping shallots and mincing garlic for the sauce I was preparing. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this relaxed. And it helped that my babies seemed to be settling into our new normal.

“Blythe, I told you, you don’t have to cook.”

I jolted at the sound of his voice and jerked around, the chef’s knife in my hand swinging. “Jesus.” I placed my free hand overmy racing heart like that might slow it down. “You scared the shit out of me. I didn’t hear you come in.”

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