Page 51 of Keeping You

When everything is locked up, we make our way back to the house where more people have gathered for dinner as we wait for it to get dark. I find Hannah with Chloe and her friends playing cornhole, laughing and drinking. Hannah tosses her head back as a loud and beautiful laugh leaves her. Her blonde hair cascades down her back in soft curls, and the sun shimmers off it. When she looks at me, it’s with an unadulterated smile, and I tell myself that for the rest of the week we’re here, I’m not going to worry about our future; I’m going to enjoy the present.

CHAPTER 19

Hannah

Grayson’s been off ever since our run in with Rebecca, and I don’t know why. I’m assuming there’s history between them, but I have no idea what that history is. As nosey as I am, I don’t want to go asking his family about it. It’s something Grayson will have to tell me when he’s ready and wants to. I’m not gonna lie and say it’s not heart-wrenching knowing he’s seen me at my worst and knows how shitty my relationship with my mother is, yet he has this secret he hasn’t even mentioned to me before. I had never heard the name Rebecca in relation to Grayson until the parade.

I don’t know why it bothers me. It shouldn’t. My plan was always to divorce Grayson as soon as possible, but he’s making me see another side of him and it’s chipping away at this view I had of him.

When the guys leave for the barn, Chloe drags me to the yard where her friends have just shown up. She convinces me to join them for a game of cornhole.

“Okay, we’re gonna play twenty questions cornhole,” Chloe says. “You get a beanbag into the hole, you get to ask anyone a question and they have to answer truthfully, or they drink.”

Everyone nods and grabs a drink from the bucket beside the deck. Brinley goes first and tosses the beanbag. It slides across wood and hangs just over the hole but doesn’t fall in. Chloe laughs and makes her throw. It lands right in the centre of the hole.

She taps her finger against her chin as her eyes bounce between all of us before they finally settle on me and a wicked grin spreads across her face.

“Hannah, fuck, marry, kill, Grayson’s friends, Matt, Caleb, and Josh.”

I nearly spit out my drink. I cough and pat my chest. “You realize one is a friend’s brother, the other is that same friend’s husband, and the other is a friend’s fiancé?”

She nods, her smile not fading.

I figure if this is her starting question, then they’re just going to get worse, so I might as well answer. I don’t want to be wasted before the fireworks even start.

“Marry Caleb, fuck Matt, kill Josh.”

She tilts her head, assessing me. “Not how I thought you’d answer that.”

I tip my head back and laugh. “And how did you think I’d answer it?”

“I don’t know, just thought Matt would be your kill,” she says.

I shrug. “Fuck boys do make for the best fucks.”

Their jaws drop before they all bend over, laughing.

“Is that how my brother managed to hook you?”

The question sobers my mood. I turn to Aspen and say, “Your turn.”

She gets the message and tosses her beanbag. When it slides into the hole, she turns her gaze to Brinley. “Why did I see yousneaking out of Ryder’s truck yesterday morning, outside your office?”

Chloe spits her beer out while Lennon’s eyes bug out.

“You and Ryder?” Chloe asks incredulously.

Brinley holds her hands in front of her as she shakes her head vigorously. “No. Nope. I’m not sleeping with him. He was on his way to the station for his shift and saw me walkin’ to work because my car wouldn’t start. He just picked me up and dropped me off at work.”

“You’re tellin’ me Ryder Daniels gave you a ride to work out of the kindness of his heart?” Aspen asks.

Brinley shuffles foot to foot and tucks her hands in the back pockets of her jean shorts as she shrugs. “Yeah, I guess. He pulled over and told me to get in, I did, and we made the drive into town in silence.”

“Huh,” Aspen says, still looking confused.

Lennon tosses her beanbag and misses, and now it’s my turn. I’ve never played cornhole but assume it can’t be that difficult. I pull my arm back and toss the beanbag underhand the same way I watched the girls do it. I watch it slide across the wood and just when I think it won’t go in, it drops into the hole. I jump up and cheer while the girls laugh. I turn and face Lennon. I spotted her wedding ring the night at the bar and she only mentioned her husband briefly that night.

“Lennon, what’s one secret that you’ve never told a soul, not even your husband?”

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