Page 21 of I Still Do

And that included her. She’d never really fit in at school and was often a target for bullies.

Man, Grey was her hero back then. She’d looked to him for everything from reassurance to friendship. She’d like to think she’d been there for him, too.

She wished she could go back and pinpoint where it all went wrong with them. She suspected it was a lot of things that gradually grew into something much bigger.

“Grey?” The word was out of her mouth before she realized she was going to say it.

“Yeah?” She shook her head, but he cupped her elbow in his hand to bring her gaze to his. “What is it?”

“When we were married, it felt like we went from being happy to everything falling apart around us with very little in between.” She paused. “Was it like that for you, too? Or was I just naïve? Or stupid?”

“If you were, so was I.” He gave her a sad smile. “That’s how I felt, too.” His hand moved from her elbow, down her arm, and paused when their hands touched.

Electrical impulses sparked at every point where her fingers met his. In that moment, it’d be too easy to pretend as though they were reliving a simpler time in their lives. Too easy to allow herself to lean into him and forget the pain that had punctuated the last six months of their marriage and the years that followed.

He must have come to the same conclusion because they moved away from each other at the same moment.

“I’m going to go and let you get some rest.” He tried for a normal smile and nearly succeeded. “Good night, Cora. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night.”

He closed the door softly behind him leaving Cora alone. Instead of letting her mind wander, she busied herself changing into sweatpants and an oversized, long-sleeved shirt to sleep in. By the time she’d used the bathroom and brushed through her hair, the room was nice and warm. She crawled between the sheets of the bed and allowed her head to sink into the oversized pillow.

Had she really only flown into Colorado yesterday? It felt like so much longer since she’d left Denton. She thought about her life and everything she’d accomplished in the last few years.

Being a nurse was a dream come true. She could help others, and she was respected. During her shifts at the hospital, Cora was truly happy to be needed and to make a difference in other people’s lives. But when she went back to her apartment at the end of the day? The time dragged, and Cora often felt trapped. Technically, she had everything she needed there, but it wasn’t home.

The realization hit her with a flood of emotions that she had to work to swallow back. To her, home had been Grandpa Jackson and Maria’s house. Later, it’d been the home she shared with Grey.

“I’m in a good place right now, God. I know that, and I’m thankful.” Cora swallowed her tears as she stared at the weird shadows that danced across the ceiling in time to the flames in the hearth. “I just sometimes wonder if I’ll ever get to a point in my life when it feels like home again.”

~*~

After Grey left Cora’s room, he’d gone back downstairs to help Mom with anything he could possibly think of to do. The last thing he wanted was to replay his conversation with Cora. When he got to his room, he found Dare had beat him there and already had the fire blazing. The warmth welcomed him in, and Grey collapsed onto the small couch.

“That bad, huh?” Dare was looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. “You and Flynn haven’t been in a fistfight yet, so I’d say the weekend is going better than a lot of us feared it would.”

“Funny.” He looked for something nearby to chuck at his brother and finally resorted to one of his own shoes. Dare easily ducked out of the way. Grey took the other off and tossed it to the floor.

“In all seriousness, though, is Cora doing okay? All of this can’t be easy.”

“I think so. She didn’t really want to talk about it.” He gave his brother a pointed look. Maybe Dare would get the hint and realize that Grey didn’t particularly want to talk about Cora right now, either.

Dare joined him on the couch. “So, what’s it like?”

“What’s what like?” As if he didn’t know. But if Dare was going to ask a stupid question, Grey was going to make him ask a complete one.

“Spending time with Cora?”

Grey decided to go with nonchalant. “It’s been fine. I found out she’s living in the Fort Worth area, too. Neither of us had any idea we lived so close.”

“That’s pretty interesting.” He was clearly waiting for more information. “So that’s it? All is fine in the world of Grey and Cora? Wow, how dull.”

“I’m sorry if our relationship bores you.” Grey shot him a sharp look.

“Then there’s still a relationship?” Dare’s eyes twinkled.

It was a slip of the tongue, but that didn’t matter now. Once Dare grabbed a hold of something, he rarely let it go. He was a lot like a pit bull in that respect. “No, no relationship. I should’ve said friendship, and even that is shaky at best.” He tried to shove Dare off the couch, but his younger brother swerved out of the way and stood again.

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