Page 39 of Austen, Edited

Chapter 23

“Hey, man! How goes it this morning?” Carson called out to Greyson as he made his way to the bank of the Charles River.

Greyson laughed, still trying to open his eyes so early on a Saturday morning. The guys liked to begin rowing around six, which wasn’t too early considering many rowers tried to get onto the water earlier than that.

“It goes. Are you the first one here?”

Carson shook his head, pulling the boat out of the small shed where they kept their stuff. “Parker forgot something in his car. He parked down a ways, so he might be another minute. I haven’t seen Brennen yet.”

Greyson walked over, taking the oars out of the shed and helping Carson set up the boat so they could get started once all the guys arrived.

“What have you been up to, man? I didn’t see you at dinner with Abby the other night. Aren’t you two a thing?” Carson wiped at his forehead, a little sweat glistening on it even in the damp cool morning.

Surprised by the comment, Greyson tried to think about where Carson would have been that Abby had gone out to dinner. “What do you mean?”

Carson stood, his chest heaving a bit as he rested a hand on his hip. “I’m saying that Abby was at my restaurant with some guy. Summers, I think was his name?”

Hot frustration poured through his body. What would she have been doing with Jeff?

“Are you sure she was with him? At Top Shelf?” Greyson tried to figure out why she would have gone there and with Jeff of all people. She wasn’t into trendy restaurants and clothing, and from all the times he’d spent with her and Jeff when they were younger, she’d always been leery of the guy. What would have changed now? And why wouldn’t she have told Greyson about it?

Carson nodded. “Yep. Same Abby I met at Meg’s party. She looked a little stiffer with this guy, but I didn’t want to say anything right then about you being together.”

Running a hand over his face, Greyson groaned. “We’re not officially together, although I’d like to be.”

“Then what’s the holdup? You don’t want to lose eight years like I did with Ruby, man. I’m just glad I got a second chance with her, you know?”

Greyson glanced around and saw no one else coming their direction. It was early, and all the information Carson had given him made him even more tired than before. Sitting in the grass next to the bank, he said, “I don’t know. I mean, we’ve been best friends forever. I screwed things up when I left for Princeton with another girl, and it already took a while for her to forgive me for ghosting her. I just, I can’t hurt her, man.”

“Who says you’re going to hurt her? Maybe she wants the same thing and is just waiting for you to initiate it.”

Staring out at the calm river, Greyson nodded. “I’ll have to figure out what she was doing with Jeff in the first place. Then I can see if she’d even think of me more than a best friend.”

Carson smacked Greyson’s stomach with the back of his hand. “Don’t worry about that. I think she already does.”

The other guys came all at once, and they piled into the boat, pushing out on the water and beginning the morning workout.

He was grateful for the consistent motion of rowing. It helped him think. He’d have to find a way to ask Abby what it was all about.

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