Page 11 of Fake It Till We Fall
“I’m sure.” She rolled her eyes and stepped toward the door, where she dramatically lifted the wreath in the air.
Right before she placed it on the hook, I sucked in a sharp breath and pretended to gasp.
Harper spun to face me. “Gray!”
Hearing the abbreviated version of my name from her lips sent a shock wave through me. “Sorry,” I mumbled and bit back a laugh as she finished hanging the wreath in its place. “Nice work,” I said when she stepped back. “I didn’t doubt you for a second.”
She shot me a look and shook her head. “Thank you for your help,” she said with a small smile. “I’m happy to have this off my list before the town decorating committee comes after me. I’ve been pretty busy since I got back and?—”
A flash of movement from across the plaza caught our attention. We both turned at the same time to see Symon Scott and his wife Charli, both of whom we’d gone to school with, watching us. I knew what they were thinking. What, no doubt, anyone who knew us when we were younger was thinking.
“Looks like we have a bit of an audience,” I murmured.
Harper blew out a breath. “I guess two people hanging up decorations is pretty exciting stuff around here.” She met myeyes, and again, there was a surge of something from deep inside me.
It had been so long since I’d seen her. There were so many things I wanted to say. Things I’d dreamed about saying for a long time. Things that had kept me up at night, wishing I’d said them over a decade ago.
I opened my mouth, but, thankfully for my pride, before I had the opportunity to say anything, Harper clapped her hands together. “I should probably get back inside.” She turned to walk away, and it took everything in me to keep from reaching for her and making her stay. “Thanks, Grayson,” she said. “I appreciate it.”
I lifted my hand in a pathetic wave, but she was already gone.
Harper
The second thedoor clicked behind me, I pressed my back up against it, holding still until I was sure my knees wouldn’t give out.
I closed my eyes and willed my heart to slow down.
It was hammering against my ribs, the sound loud in my ears.
It had been a long time since I’d been in Grayson Lyons’s arms. It was a lifetime ago. It shouldn’t feel that way anymore. It shouldn’t affect me. It shouldn’t make mefeelat all.
Naively, I’d assumed that time and distance would have dulled the hold he had on me. I should be able to look at him and see a boy I used to know once upon a time.
I was wrong.
So. So.So.Wrong.
He was broader now. Stronger. The kind of strength I felt through every cell in my body when he caught me in his arms.There was a steadiness in his touch, and the way he looked at me…like he’d been waiting all these years for me to stumble on a chair, just so he could be there to catch me.
But there was no way.
Not after all these years.
That door was closed. That chapter of our book was long over.
I dared to open my eyes and let out a shaky breath.
He was just a man I used to know. A man who helped me hang decorations. A neighbor. An acquaintance. A friend.
I was back in Trickle Creek for one reason only. Grandma.
I needed to be there for her and her only. And leave again, without my return to town meaning anything more.
No problem.
But now, with my pulse racing and my body tingling where he’d held me, it felt like a lot more of a problem than I’d initially thought.
I blew out a breath and pushed up from the door, ready to head into the kitchen and lose myself in the dinner prep, when a sharp knock sounded behind me.
