Page 55 of Always Been Yours

Sue me, I was like ten at this point. It was the most romantic thing I’d seen at that age.

I don’t know if Grady thought it was silly. He probably did, but he never told me so. Instead, he leaned in and hooked our pinkies. “I promise to dance with you under the stars when we go to prom.”

I always thought we’d go to together but at that moment, I didn’t care about who he had gone to dances with, nor was I thinking about my high school boyfriend. I only cared about Grady Chase Miller and how warm his arms felt; how gently he rubbed my back through the entire four-minute song.

We swayed together, and he even twirled me around a few times. But as soon as the music stopped, so did we. It was about a minute later that Grady pulled away from me.

His arm was still around my back, but his other hand moved up to my cheek, wiping away more tears I didn’t know were falling.

“I’m sorry, Vivi,” he whispered, like a guilty admission and a heartbreaking finale.

Neither one of us had anything else to say so he turned around and closed the gate. I sat under the tree, staring at his bedroom window and feeling cold in a way that had nothing to do with the temperature. Thirty minutes later, my mom finally turned the lights off and I snuck into my room, where I laid in bed and continued staring at his bedroom window. And I could have sworn I felt his eyes on me the entire time.

I know the song is coming to an end and I know I need to take a step away once it does.

I feel like I’m drowning in everything that Grady is, has been and could be.

“Thank you, Grady,” I whisper into his chest.

He’s rubbing my back gently, just like he did after prom. “For what?”

I do my best to swallow the lump in my throat, but my hands tighten around his neck. “The dance.”

The jury is out on whether he knows which dance I’m talking about, but it’s not the one we just shared.

Chapter Nineteen

Grady

I wanted to hold on to Vivi a little bit longer after our dance, but she walked away too quickly. And as much as every nerve in my body is buzzing to go to her, I know that I need to give her some space right now.

All I wanted from tonight was to finally take Genevieve to a homecoming dance, even if it’s fifteen years too late. But Vivi wearing her pretty green dress and the DJ playing that song at that moment? An amazing coincidence, even if it wasn’t prom.

I could tell from the way her hands tightened in my hair and her soft ‘thank you’that that dance meant as much to her as it did me. And I don’t need anyone to tell me when to not push Vivi.

So, I’m cleaning up the trash left on the floor and bleachers while Vivi is helping Mrs. Lee with the tablecloths and centerpieces. As it always goes when I’m in the same room as Vivi, my attention is on her even when I’m doing something else.

My entire life I’ve been consumed by Genevieve Briar Davies, and even after years of silence and a failed marriage, she’s still the only woman who has this hold on me.

“You making up for missed opportunities?” Knox smirks at mefrom behind the trash bag he’s holding out.

I don’t know what, or who, Vivi has talked to about us, but it seems more likely my mom would have gossiped about it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I shrug.

All of the amusement fades from Knox’s expression. “Look, Grady, I know this isn’t my business,” he pauses, seemingly knowing that it isn’t, but continues anyway, “but clearly you two have a long history I don’t know about. I’m not asking you to give me the details. From what I just saw,” he waves his hand toward the dance floor, “there is something there. Something that a decade couldn’t break.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I repeat. He gives me a frustrated look at my childish response. It’s the closest to anger I’ve ever seen from Knox. “It was technically fifteen years, by the way,” I add, deciding to throw him a bone.

Instead of anger though, he rubs his hands across his eyes. “Good god, man. Are you serious?” Taking a deep breath, he looks at me. “She doesn’t deserve to sit around waiting for a man to make up his mind. And I don’t think she’s the type of woman to do that. You’d only be disappointing yourself, and her.”

“I know,” I say in a gruff voice. He gives me a disbelieving look, opening another trash bag. “I do, okay? There’s just a lot that happened between us. And now with my daughters…” He nods in understanding at that. “I’m figuring it out.”

He looks over my shoulder. “Well, don’t take too long with that.”

I turn to see what he’s looking at and the blood in my veins immediately boils when I see Harper leaning toward Vivi. From where I’m standing, he’s about to brush the hair out of her face when she pulls her head away.

My head whips back toward Knox and he gives me a look that says,what are you going to do about it?

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