Page 103 of Every Chance After

IknewWade was a secret softy.

Even Roy divulged his devastation over losing his job as a power lineman to one bad move that left him with a bum hip and a slight limp. The work he loved best was traveling to areas hard hit by storms and restoring their power. It always made him feel like a hero. Now, he feels he has nothing. He’d built his identity around his job, only for it to be taken away.

I relate to that and all of them in strange, beautiful ways. My unlikely associates are becoming my dear friends. They prove, once again, that everyone has a story, stories that should be heard.

I wonder about Grady’s story.

CHAPTERTHIRTY

Grady

The door chimes my arrival,and all eyes turn toward me—I’ve interrupted something. Marina stands at the counter (now in the center next to The Canteen), holding up a rumpled manila envelope while her other hand is attached to her hip. Wade, Christie, and Roy stand in front of her as if on the receiving end of a lecture. Wade rubs the bridge of his nose. Christie shakes his head, flapping his dangling earrings. Roy looks aghast.

“I stand by it,” he says, hands splayed over his protruding belly. “I don’t get what the big deal is.”

Marina sighs, returning her attention to them. “The big deal is that it’s completely and utterly inappropriate.”

“What’s going on?” I ask, moving in beside her.

“Yeah, let’s get Grady’s opinion,” Roy argues while the other two shake their heads like it’s the worst idea ever. “He’ll back me up.”

Marina smiles weakly, handing me the large envelope. “Roy got me a present.”

The puffy envelope is soft. There’s a phone number scribbled on it under the nameBobby. I lift the flap and pull out the cheap, sateen fabric. Ogling the light green, frillything, it takes me a minute to realize what it is. The enormous cups give it away.

“What the fucking hell, Roy?” I bark, tossing the lacy, emerald green baby doll nightie at him.

He catches it, holding his hands up submissively. “You, too? Dang it. I thought it was a nice gesture.”

“A nice gesture?” I demand, furious. “She’s young enough to be your daughter, perv!”

He shrugs. “I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s her color. Soft and pretty, like her. I thought she’d like it.”

“It’s sexual harassment, dumbass!”

Marina’s hand curls around my bicep, holding me in place. “Relax, Grady. He meant well. He’s just being a numpty.”

Everyone goes silent, staring at her.

“What the fuck is a numpty?” Wade asks.

“Sorry, it’s a British version of a bonehead,” she says, shrugging. “Too much PBS.”

Christie, Roy, and Wade nod in unison at this new fact, as if she regularly blows their minds this way.

I groan. “How does hemean well, gifting you lingerie?” I fume, truly ready to drag his ass behind the store and beat him senseless like I’m a damn teenager, blood pumping with hormones and idiocy. I don’t care how macho-dumbass I’m being. Roy thinking about her, Roy imagining her in something like that, Roy imagining herat allpisses the reason and sensibility right out of me. My hands fist at my sides.

Still holding my arm, like she knows what I want to do, Marina explains, “He got me this after a discussion we had, the four of us, about how we’re all single and what Seagrove’s dating scene, or lack thereof, is like.”

“Such a nice talk. Affirming and supportive,” Christie chimes in. “We told Marnie about the singles night they do at Rebellion and how she should give it a shot. She’d have a much better chance than us old farts.”

“I explained that, first of all, none of us need a partner to feel fulfilled or happy,” she says. “And that dating is off the table for me.”

My eyes cut to hers, but she avoids my gaze.

“You said you’dneverdate again,” Christie corrects, his bushy brows perched high on his wrinkled forehead, “which made us all sad.”

“Hearing that bummed us the fuck out,” Wade says more empathically. “We respect your independence. You don’tneeda man. But swearing off dating sounds like you’re giving up rather than deciding you don’t want it. And when have you ever given up on anything?”

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