Page 130 of Just Let Go

She smiled. “So, I guess you could say I’m your muse?”

He tucked a wilted curl behind her ear. “Definitely.”

“And when you win the whole Olympics, you could say it’s all because of me?”

He laughed, but his smile quickly faded and his face turned serious. “Everything good in my life right now is because of you.”

Lucy, with her impeccable timing, plopped down in the booth across from them, where her untouched plate of biscuits and gravy still sat. Couldn’t her conversation with Betsy have lasted three minutes longer?

Grady and Quinn both watched her as she opened the paper napkin and tucked it on her lap.

“Oh, don’t mind me.” Lucy smiled. “I’m just here to eat my giant plate of food and whisper ‘I told you so’ to my oldest friend.”

Quinn waved her off. “We have to go. Grady has to train early in the morning.”

Grady groaned. “Why’d you have to remind me?”

She scooted out of the booth. “Because I want bragging rights when you bring home that medal.”

Grady paid for their meals, and they walked out into the brisk air. Quinn wrapped her arms around herself, as if that could keep the cold away. Her shawl was obviously doing nothing to keep her warm. He quickly took off his tux jacket and hung it over her shoulders.

Only a few minutes later, they were in front of the flower shop, with her apartment up above. The memory of so many similar nights flashed through his mind, and yet not a single one of them had felt like this one did.

There was no alcohol, no pretense, no promise of something more if he came upstairs with her. And yes, he wanted to go upstairs with her, but Quinn wasn’t like other girls. She was special. Pure. Good.

And he’d respect that—no matter how difficult it was.

His hands slid up her arms, underneath the jacket around her shoulders. “You’re amazing—you know that?”

Her eyes flashed, a smile skittering across her face. “Just don’t break my heart, okay, Grady?”

He wanted to tell her about her mother. In that moment, he didn’t want a single thing between them. Secrets would only cause them pain, and he wanted to start this—whatever it was—the right way. But as he peered down at her face, full of hope, her fear exposed like a raw nerve, the only thing he could do was close the gap between them. How would he ever tell her that her mother had not only seen her design, but seenher? And she’d still chosen to walk away. He knew it would break her heart.

And standing there, under the awning of the Forget-Me-Not Flower Shop, breaking her heart was the last thing in the world he wanted to do.

CHAPTER

32

THE DAYS FOLLOWING THE BALLwere filled with Winter Carnival activities. In true Harbor Pointe fashion, the event lasted a full week. Every day and most evenings, there were activities throughout town, which meant tourists, which meant more business, which meant Quinn had a very busy week.

Grady had been a great sport about attending all of their small-town events—they’d played Moonlight Bingo on New Year’s Eve, attended the downtown winter art walk, which was one of Quinn’s favorite events, closely rivaled by the snowman building contest, which was almost always won by the Kelley family. If any of it bothered him, he didn’t let on.

Most of the press about him had died down, giving him time to continue his training in peace, and he was serious about it. He got up before dawn every morning for his early workout, and then he checked in for community service. This week, his duties were all centered on the carnival, ranging from hauling garbage to cleaning the sidewalks. She hadn’t heard him complain once.

In the evenings, another training session, usually via FaceTime, with a guy called Happy. Grady’s commitment was impressive, and while Quinn tried to stay out of his way, she also didn’t want to be away from him.

She’d turned intothatgirl. Giddy when her friends mentioned his name. Blushing when his photo lit up her phone screen. Counting the hours until she would see him again.

At the moment, she stood in the window of Forget-Me-Not while he signed autographs and posed for photos across the street at Dandy’s Bakery. To her knowledge, Dandy’s had never hosted an Olympic athlete, or any other celebrity for that matter, and even though Grady had become something of a fixture in their little community, he still brought out quite the crowd.

“Looks like your boyfriend is pretty popular.”

Quinn found Geraldine Byers standing at the center of her shop, mailbag strapped crossways over her shoulder, stack of letters in her hand. Geraldine had been delivering mail to the flower shop for as long as Quinn could remember, and though she was slower than she used to be, the old bird still had a lot of juice left. And she used at least some of that juice for whatever town gossip she could soak up.

“You two set a date yet?”

Quinn could feel her cheeks flush. “We’re just getting to know each other, Gerry.”

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