Page 76 of Made for You
I frowned, a fresh round of worry wedging between my ribs.
“Oh, I’m sorry. But he was here? He came with you?” Her brows were high with expectation, almost hopefulness.
After the morning she’d had, it was the least I could do to put her out of her misery. “He was. He drove me, actually, so I can’t give you a ride home.” I hadn’t even thought about that until right now. I sent Bruce a text to ask if he had an ETA and sat on the edge of Gram’s bed.
“I’m sure Amir could drive us. Or we can get the Springs to send a shuttle. We’ll be fine. I bet you it takes at least another hour until they’ll discharge me.”
“Okay. Yeah, it should be fine,” I said absently, staring at my phone and willing him to respond. Silly to expect a response immediately.
But after that hour and another half hour had passed, after the nurse had brought the discharge paperwork and Gram and I had walked arm in arm to the front where the shuttle picked us up, complete with Amir acting as host of our ride and fussing adorably over Gram, I still hadn’t heard anything, and my nerves had notched up with every passing minute.
Once she was settled back into her room in her velvety chair she’d had the movers install at an identical angle to her TV as she’d had at the house, she snuggled down into the chair with a blanket on her lap and gave me the look. Amir had left us to see if they were still serving lunch, and I knew I was in trouble.
“Stop your fretting. He’s going to be fine.”
I shifted on the love seat she’d taken from her room and now sat at a right angle to her chair. “I know. I just have this sense of dread. I mean, we just had this amazing night together and—”
The Cheshire cat grin eating Gram’s face should’ve been criminal. “Did you now? Tell me everything.”
I couldn’t hold in the laugh that burst out of me. “Not likely.”
She shrugged. “Had to try.”
With a sigh and relief at the moment of levity, I slumped back. “I don’t know why I’m freaking out. I’m not used to not being able to get ahold of him, but I’m also realizing there’s never been anything like this. When he left, he said he loved me, just kind of tossed it out there, and I—how can he love me? I mean, we barely know each other. We met, what, three months ago? That’s insane. That’s foolish, frankly, and—”
“Now, now. Let’s calm that runaway train and think about this with your very favorite thing—logic.”
Her words should’ve soothed me, but the thought of using logic when I’d been letting emotion rule the day and lead the way sounded terrifying.
Because logic would tell me this made no sense. Bruce was a guardian to his sister and had his own business he needed to focus on. Logic would remind me that a mere ninety days wasn’t enough to know someone, let alone fall for them. Logic would point out that half of marriages ended in divorce and the odds got higher if you came from a background like mine and Bruce’s.Logicwould absolutely show that history would repeat itself like it always did, and I couldn’t get to have Bruce just like I hadn’t had anyone else but Gram.
On reflex, I touched the stone I’d somehow managed to slip into my pocket in the midst of things. And yet, sliding my thumb in soothing arcs over the path I’d mapped thousands of time on the stone’s surface, it occurred to me I hadn’t done this in days. I hadn’t needed this touch point, this tether.
Because here I was. With Gram. And… more.
“I see the spiral, Veronica, and I’m telling you to quit.” She held out a hand in silent command.
I took it obediently, her soft, warm hand instantly bringing me a measure of comfort even as her use of my full name set me on alert. “If it was that easy, I would’ve.”
She tugged on my hand, drawing my attention to her face. “I want you to hear me when I say this. Okay? You ready?”
I nodded, bracing.
“It’s okay to trust yourself. If I were a betting woman, I’d put all the chips on you and Bruce if that’s what you want. If that’s whatyouchoose.”
Throat tight, I worked to clear it, even as molten fear and doubt swirled in my gut. “I do trust myself.” After a beat, I added, “Or, I thought I did.”
“Sometimes, we can fool ourselves, especially when things are going well. I don’t think anything is actually going wrong, but I do suspect that you are worried aboutthatmore than anything else.”
“Maybe,” I admitted.
Too true, though. Nothing was wrong. Everything here was right. New friends who were supportive and kind. Loving Gram, who had not only been fine today but had just given me her amazing house and a sense of financial security I’d never felt I had a right to. And Bruce…
She smiled before smothering it with a serious gaze. “I’m sure you just ran through statistics and the like to help bolster your concerns over a future with him. I don’t need to hear those recited. What I want to know is whether you love the man.”
I exhaled, that shakiness in my gut stilling as the answer practically glowed in front of me. “I do. So much.”
I’d avoided admitting it to myself, and I foolishly hadn’t said the words to him, but I did.
