Page 92 of Fake It Till We Fall
“Better?” he asked the second he’d handed the microphone back to the lead singer and we’d retreated safely down the stage steps.
“So much.” I smiled with relief and let him pull me into his arms again. “For so many reasons.” When I tilted my head up to look at him, my heart swelled.
This was real.
This was mine.
Grayson was mine.
Finally and forever.
I reached up to cup his cheek, cool from the cold, and pulled him down to my lips.
When I opened my eyes again, the world had carried on around us. The band had started playing again, the crowd was singing and celebrating, and Grayson was still looking at me as if I were the only person there.
“Finally!” Tilley Beckett appeared from nowhere, her clipboard once more in her hand.
I belatedly remembered dropping it on the stage at some point, but like a boomerang, it had found its way back to her.
“I knew it!” she declared. “I don’t care what the two of you said about it being pretend. There was nothing pretend about…this.” She waved between us with her clipboard. “I think I speak for the whole town when I say that we couldn’t be happier for you two, right?”
The small crowd that was still paying attention to us, instead of the band, roared their approval.
“Best part of the night.”
“I knew there was more to it!”
“It’s about time.”
My cheeks burned, but I knew my hometown well enough to know that there wasn’t going to be any escape. Especially not when we’d been so public, intentionally or unintentionally, about it all.
She gave us each a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before bustling off to deal with some other emergency, just as Reid pushed his way through the crowd with Avery at his side.
He stopped short in front of us, his eyes locked on his twin in some unspoken communication until finally he nodded and pulled Grayson into a tight, back-slapping hug. “I’m glad you both got over yourselves, brother.”
Grayson stepped back. “Me too, Reid. Me too.”
Reid hugged me next. “Thank you for finally putting him out of his misery, Harper. I don’t think I could have lived with his moping around for another fifteen years.”
I laughed. “Happy to help.”
We accepted more hugs and congratulations before Charli appeared with Symon at her side with baby Poppy, fast asleep in the carrier on his chest. My old friend pulled me in for a tight hug. “What did I say, huh?” she whispered in my ear. “Sometimes those second chances are worth everything.”
“You’re not wrong,” I told her, but was unable to say anything more because at that moment, the rest of the Lyons brothers appeared. Quinn wiggled herself free from Ethan and Delaney and threw herself at her uncle.
Grayson squeezed her tight. “I’m sorry I was such a grump, kiddo.”
“It’s okay, Uncle Gray.” She waved him away. “Love does funny things to people.” She rolled her eyes. “Which is why I’m never going to let it happen to me.” Everyone laughed, and she rolled her eyes again, harder, before turning to me. “That was epic,” she squealed. “Way better than the fireworks.”
“Although I’d say there were plenty of fireworks on the stage.”
I looked over Quinn’s shoulder to see Grandma, bundled up in her parka, watching with careful eyes.
“Grandma.” I stepped through the others to pull her into my arms. Fresh tears slipped down my cheeks as I held her and shared the moment with the most important woman in my world.
“That’s enough crying,” she said after a moment with a pat on my back. Despite her gruff words, I saw the tears on her own cheeks. “It’s a happy occasion. You’re in love, your New Year’s feast was a massive hit, and we’re all together. I can’t think of any better reason to celebrate.”
I couldn’t agree more.
