Page 87 of Anatomy of a Meet Cute
“Come here, kiddo.” Diana threw her arms open and wrapped them around Sam. Surrounded by her mother’s hug, she felt another piece of the hard shell she had put around her heart crack and float away. It wasn’t as if she wouldn’t need to spend some time and possibly many therapy sessions unlearning some of the unhealthy patterns they had established, but in this moment, she felt like they could get to a place of okay.
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too.” Diana released her and then fanned her eyes with the hand that wasn’t holding her empty champagne glass. “I guess I shouldn’t call youkiddoanymore. You are fully someone’s doctor who delivered an emergency baby, according to Kaiya.”
“Dr.Franklin helped,” Sam laughed. “Don’t give me that adult badge just yet.”
“So sorry to interrupt.” Duke appeared, his smile all apologies.
“Oh, Duke, honey, don’t be sorry. Thank you again for the use of your car.”
“My pleasure.” Of course Duke was laying on the charm extra thick as he spoke to her mother, and of course Diana was lapping it up. “I actually came to see if you would like to get another glass of champagne with me. I noticed yours is empty.”
“Aren’t you sweet,” Diana said, throwing a hand over her heart as Duke held out an elbow for her to grab on to.
Sam wrinkled her nose. Duke didn’t need to take her mother to get a glass. If he really wanted to be helpful, he could have brought them both a fresh one. Something was up. Sam had opened her mouth to call out her friend when he cut her off, his eyes going wide. “Sam, I think there’s a guest over by the door that you wanted to say hello to.”
“Who?” Sam asked, whipping her head around. When she spotted the red curtain that hid the entryway to the venue, her heart stopped. There, in all his perfectly tailored splendor, stood Grant. Turning away as fast as she could to avoid eye contact, Sam widened her eyes at Duke in the universal look forhelp me.
“I’ll just take your glass too.” The joke in Duke’s voice was almost palpable as he reached for her empty glass. Grinning like a dog with a bone, he began leading her mother toward the bar as he said, “If you need a refill, come find us.”
“So much for being a gentleman,” Sam whispered at Duke’s back.
Taking a steeling breath, Sam ran a hand over her hair to make sure her curls were still in place. Next, she looked down to make sure that she hadn’t gotten any momo on her dress and then checked that her shoes weren’t scuffed. Finally running out of things to look at that weren’t him, Sam tried to look casual as she turned to face him.
Grant was still standing at the entrance, looking around the room and squinting at the different guests. He was wearing a burgundy-colored suit that was so dark it looked almost black in the venue’s soft lighting. Watching him made Sam’s face flush. That suit had to have been made for him. It was the only way he could have found something that highlighted every one of his features, from the broad line of his shoulders to the muscular quads she used to secretly appreciate during basketball games. She had just finished admiring the way the cut of his white dress shirt complemented the angles of his face when he turned and saw her.
Sam wanted to jump behind a picture and hide until she could get her heartbeat to slow down, but then she noticed he was holding flowers. Flowers had to be a good sign, didn’t they?
Twisting the bracelet around her wrist, she took a step forward, excitement and anxiety coursing through her as she watched his face for any sign of what he was thinking. As she got closer, she could see him fidgeting with the edge of the flower wrapping. He was nervous, which made her nervous all over again.
It dawned on her that the flowers might be for her mother. Grant was a gestures guy. Maybe this was the ultimate rot-in-hell gesture. Something to really drive home the congrats-Mrs.-Holbrook-your-daughter-is-a-judgmental-monster message. Dread washed over her, and she slowed her pace down, reminding herself that not everyone was waiting to trip her. Grant had been nothing but consistently there for her; one mistake on her part didn’t mean he would change now.
Before she could fully calm down, Grant closed the last five feet of distance between them. For a second the two of them just sort of blinked at each other. The fine lines between his eyebrows appeared. Sam’s thoughts bounced off one another. One of them needed to say something, or this would turn into an hour-long uncomfortable stare.
Taking a deep breath, Sam said, “You came.”
Right as Grant exhaled the word “Hi.”
The two of them both laughed in that awkward way that indicated that the experience was new for both of them. Sam’s anxiety eased as she watched Grant’s shoulders relax. Even if he hadn’t come to talk and was simply honoring his RSVP, he was still the man who listened to her friends just to find out what she liked. He was kind and thoughtful in his own way, and Sam realized she wasn’t scared of what he might do or say. She was afraid that she might have inadvertently broken her own heart by pushing him away.
“So I—”
“Actually, can I say something first?” Sam reached her hand out to gently silence him by touching his lapel, then remembered her situation and pulled her hand back.
“Okay.” Grant tilted his head to one side and watched her closely.
Sam put her hands in her dress pockets so she wouldn’t be tempted to touch him again. “I know I sort of babbled a somewhat incoherent apology at you earlier today, and I’m not sure that was fair. You deserved to hear thoughtful words, not panicked ones. So here it goes. Grant, I’m sorry.”
Sam paused to collect the rest of her thoughts, and Grant’s brow furrowed as he said, “It’s—”
“Don’t sayit’s all right, because it wasn’t.” Sam shook her head. Listing all the ways it wasn’t okay was the hard part, but if she was ever going to have a shot at rebuilding their relationship, she needed to learn to admit when she was wrong. It was unfair of her to expect him to become a mind reader.
“My behavior was egregious and unfair. I took my frustration with my mom out on you, and I jumped to conclusions about the way you were behaving based on a single negative interaction.” Grant raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips as if he was biting down on a response, and Sam hastily said, “I should add that I did this in spite of myriad evidence that you are notthatguy. Instead of simply asking you why you were doing what you were doing and being clear about what was really going on with me, I lashed out. Anyway, it was wrong, and I apologize.”
Grant’s eyebrow had returned to its usual place as she wrapped up, but his lips remained pursed as the silence stretched between them. Sam felt her heartbeat pick up, and she was suddenly aware of how warm her palms were inside her dress. She had said the wordsI’m sorrythis time, but Grant wasn’t responding, and that made her mind start to spin. She must have missed a detail ...
“Thank you—”
