Page 56 of His Build

Like she was home.

But this wasn’t her home. It never would be.

Now it was Graydon’s turn to grip the back of his chair. These were his grandmother’s chairs. She’d had a whole dozen of them passed down from her mother with their giant farmhouse full of people. He’d split them with Casey when she died, and he loved having the memory of his Grandma right here in his kitchen. Now he didn’t know why he’d dared be sentimental about a single thing in his life.

“Alright, Lucy Fulham,” he said. He was an empty shell. A husk of a man. “See you at the site. Actually, you know what, why don’t you coordinate with Chris. I’m going to put him as lead on this job. We’re almost done, anyway.”

“But you love the Miyazaki.”

“I don’t love—,” he began, his eyes steeled at her. What was he going to say? Anything? Anyone?You?

He took in the waves of her bright red hair, curving onto her shoulders. The delicate arch of her eyebrows. The pain he saw reflected in her eyes.

That would be a lie.

To his horror, he felt that fucking lump growing in his throat again. He turned his back to her and pulled out his phone. “I’m sending you his contact info.” He scrolled through and forwarded Chris’s info to Lucy. When it had gone through, he held his thumb over her name, hesitating. Then he deleted her info from his phone.

It was stupid and petty, but it was something. And it made the lump abate.

Sam’s footsteps came running down the hall, followed by the jingle of Casey’s keys. “Sorry, it was hard prying him away from that thing. You all ready?” she asked Lucy.

“Come on Lucy, I’ll show you our truck!” Sam said. “It’s red!”

“Sam is the only person in the world impressed with my piece of—my older model vehicle,” Casey laughed. Her laughter died out when Graydon and then Lucy.

Sam ran up to Graydon and threw his arms around his leg. “Bye Uncle G!”

Graydon knelt down and squeezed his nephew so hard the boy made a joke gagging noise. Then Graydon strode towards his sister, giving her a quick hug and peck on the forehead. “Thanks for dinner,” he said. He didn’t look at Lucy over her shoulder. He couldn’t.

“Of course,” Casey said, the concern stark on her face when he pulled away.

Graydon waited until he latched the door behind them. He waited until he heard Casey’s truck doors slam and her engine rumbling to life. He waited until her taillights disappeared through the trees. Then he picked up his grandmother’s chair and hurtled it across the room.

20

The ride home with Casey was awful. But only because Casey was so nice, while Lucy felt as if she was drowning.

Casey seemed genuinely interested in Lucy’s life. Even though Lucy wished, at first, that they could ride the short drive in silence, she found herself answering Casey’s questions easily, and was soon glad for the distraction of conversation.

Lucy talked about Sadie and how much she worried about her, how she was dating awful guys and what a mess her life was. “Sadie can’t seem to see how incredible she is; how much choice she has, you know? She’s so smart and funny and sweet…”

“She sounds a lot like you,” Casey said.

Lucy flushed. “We’re not really alike. But we make a good pair.”

A silence stretched out between them and Lucy knew what Casey was holding back on saying. She saw the words; she heard them.You and Graydon make a great pair.

When Casey pulled up to the Lakeside, Lucy pressed the button to release her seatbelt. She looked back at Sam, who had fallen asleep in the back seat. His little mouth hung open, his soft snores filling the car. Her hand hovered on the door handle. After wanting to get back as soon as possible, now she suddenly didn’t want Casey to leave.

“Sam is a great kid,” she said.

“Yeah. Thank god.”

“Thank god?”

“His dad is a real piece of work.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

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