Page 13 of Keeping You

I stare at him, my blood boiling. He opens his mouth wide like he’s about to yell something, and I reach forward, clamping my hand over his mouth.

“Fine. You can sit here and we can talk,” I grit out and watch the smile in his eyes grow as I remove my hand from his mouth.

Sitting back in my chair, I take a bite of my sandwich as Grayson takes a bite of his. If he wants a conversation, then he’s going to have start it. I’m not putting any effort into this.

“Do you have anything planned for this summer?” he asks.

“So far just the group camping trip.”

He nods. “Has Liv picked a spot yet?”

“Yeah, she managed to snag a spot right on the lake in Osoyoos. She booked it for the first weekend in August, arrive Thursday and leave Monday.”

“Sounds good. I’m sure it will be fun.”

He takes a sip of water and watches me. I take another bite of my sandwich. The faster I eat, the faster this can be over.

“Bucket list thing to do?” he asks.

I think for a second, trying to decide just how much I want to reveal to him. Deciding to keep it to something small, I say, “I want to swim beneath a waterfall.”

He absorbs my words, and we spend the rest of our lunch break eating in silence. Returning to the floor, I power through my shift until it’s time for me to clock out. I know that means Ihave to spend a car ride with Grayson, but at this point, I’m just ready to shower and climb into bed and sleep.

I meet Grayson at his car where he’s leaning against the passenger side. He opens the door for me and helps me in before taking us home.

CHAPTER 6

Grayson

Over the next two days, I drive Hannah to work, convince her to eat with me during our break, and then we come home and both crash. Saturday afternoon, I go to knock on the bedroom door to let her know that I have lunch ready. As I raise my fist to knock on the door, I hear her voice.

“Yeah, I’ll be at the game tonight… Yeah, sounds good… Okay, love you, too, Liv.”

I grin knowing she’ll be at our hockey game tonight. I knock on the door, and Hannah pulls it open within seconds.

“Lunch is ready,” I say, and she nods before following me to the dining table. “I can give you a lift to the game tonight,” I say, and she stiffens.

“It’s fine. I can manage,” she says.

“Hannah, I don’t mind. There’s no point in taking two vehicles to and from the same place.”

“I haven’t told the girls yet. I don’t want to show up and leave with you.”

I take a deep breath, reminding myself that she’s worked long shifts almost every day since she’s come back from Vegasand hasn’t had a lot of time to meet and chat with her friends. On top of that, she still isn’t fully on board with this marriage. If I don’t want to completely push her away, I need to be understanding with her while also trying to get her to warm up to me.

“Okay, we can park at the back of the lot and you can walk in first. I’ll give you enough time so that it doesn’t look like we arrived together. We can find time tomorrow to go get your car from your place.”

She stares at me, her eyebrows pinching before her shoulders slump and she says, “Fine.”

It’s not much, but I take it as a win.

Knowing how much Hannah likes her space away from me, I decide to go for a run after we finish eating. I run my usual route around the seawall. On my way home, I see a flower shop with beautiful lilies. I immediately think of Hannah. I slow my pace and pull my wallet out, handing the attendant enough for a dozen red lilies and some baby’s breath with greenery. She bundles it all up into a bouquet for me, and I walk the last two blocks to my apartment.

When I open the front door, Hannah is in the living room with headphones in as she dances around, singing into a water bottle. I lean my hip against the kitchen island and watch her.

She looks so carefree and happy right now. She hasn’t let me see her like that in a long time, and I miss it. I miss the small smiles she used to give me when we’d pass each other in the hallway of the hospital, or the way she’d laugh at a joke that wasn’t remotely as funny as her laugh made it seem. I know it’s my fault for not correcting her assumptions when she walked into that storage closet Samantha had cornered me in. Now, more than anything, I wish I had. Hannah may, on the outside, seem like she’s all snark and sass, like she’s the strongest person you’ve ever met, but I see beneath the facade she puts on for theworld. Beneath all of it, she’s a soft, caring, loving, supportive person who will do anything for the people she loves.

I knew then, like I know now, that she deserves so much better than me. She deserves someone who can be everything she needs and provide her with the life she wants. I’m not sure that I can. Seeing Hannah cry when she walked into the storage room had me flashing back to when I was eighteen. But now I’m going to give her everything I can and hope that it’s enough.

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