Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Roxy
I flip through the mail as Isla and Jocelyn chat over a cup of tea. Isla was nearby to do some shopping and decided to stop in for a visit. I have to admit, it’s nice to see her.
“So, you all ready for the official grand opening?” she asks me as she sets her tea down.
I shrug. I pushed the date back a bit. Sales have been a little slow and I really wanted to do something big, something different. I have a few authors ready to attend and sign, but it feels like it’s not enough and I’m getting nervous.
“Sort of,” I admit to my sister. I’ve been trying to be better about talking with my parents and siblings. They have shown over the past few months how supportive they are and how proud they are of me. It’s taking time to recognize that I have the same potential as all of them. But I’m getting there, slowly. My recent revelations are helping me.
“It’ll be great. I mean, if it’s half as good as your soft opening night, then it’ll be amazing,” she says.
I feel my cheeks heat a little under her praise. Fuck, I really am lucky to have such awesome siblings.
“So, what’s up with Gray? I saw him talking to you the other day,” Jocelyn prods.
“I thought you said you two broke up,” Isla says as she leans back in her chair.
Sighing, I run my finger around the rim of my mug. “We did.”
I have told my family that Gray and I just didn’t work out, but I haven’t said why. Jocelyn, on the other hand, knows everything. I’ve even called Tay to vent a few times. Not that it has made me feel any better.
I hear our mailman, Bernie Summers, humming as he drops some envelopes into the store’s mail slot. Must be a light mail day. Normally, I have bigger packages, and he comes in and drops them at the desk.
I walk from my apartment into the store and grab the mail from the little basket I secured by the slot to catch things. As I glance at the envelopes on my way back to my dining area, I see a letter addressed to Kasen Saddler. Frowning, I look at the return address. It’s blank.
Huh.
“What’s that look for?” Jocelyn asks as I sit down and rifle through the rest of my mail.
“Nothing, just got a letter addressed to Kasen. I suppose I can slide it under his door. I have no idea when he’ll be back,” I explain as I look down again at his name on the envelope.
“Has anyone heard from him?” Jocelyn asks.
“What’s going on?” Isla says as she looks from Jocelyn to me. I launch into the weird missing-neighbor situation or non-communicative-neighbor situation, and by the time I finish, I realize how badly I want to tell Gray that I got this letter.
“Why don’t you give it to Brayden or Hutch?” Jocelyn suggests.
“I guess I could. It’s so weird, right?” I state as I flip the letter over and then place it on the table.
Shrugging, she turns to Isla and asks her about her graduate program. The two fall quickly into a conversation about grad schools and my mind drifts to Grayson. When Richard cheated on me, I was heartbroken. I thought I’d never find a man as good as him. I thought I was undeserving of love.
But then Grayson came into my life. The last two months he burrowed his way into my heart. He was kind and respectful…other than our meet-cute. He’s far from perfect, but so am I. The closeness I felt with him was unlike anything I’d felt before. When he listened to me, he heard me, truly heard me. The way he made love to me, the way he kissed me, it was all-consuming. I never would have thought he’d kiss his ex. How did I miss that? Was I so wrapped up in opening my store that I couldn’t see past it to what was happening in my love life? Maybe.
God, this sucks! Everything was so perfect for like two seconds. I had a great place to live. I had finally opened my dream store. I had a great employee, good friends, and wonderful neighbors, and I was finally starting to feel seen by my family. Everything was so much better, for a second. And Grayson was like the cherry on top.
My heart aches again as my mind recalls Gray kissing Lydia.
The memory is cut short when the bell on my store’s door dings. I peek around the open door between my apartment and my shop. Brayden. I frown because Brayden, other than quickly stopping by the soft opening, is not a romance reader and hasn’t been shopping in here.
“I’ll be right back,” I say to Jocelyn and Isla. Jocelyn leans forward in her chair, seeing Brayden, she looks curiously between us and then continues talking with my sister.
I close the door a little as I walk up to him.
“Hey, Brayden. What can I help you with?” I ask, looking around us as if the reasoning for his visit will become obvious.
He runs his hand through his hair, reminding me a bit of Grayson. He’s slightly shorter than Grayson, maybe closer to six feet, and has the build of a runner who might do a little weight training on the side. I can’t help wondering if there could be something more between him and Carly. They’d be so perfect together.
“I think you should see something,” he says as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. I watch him unlock it as he continues to speak. “I was friends with Gray when Lydia broke his heart. I was seeing this woman off and on and we all used to go out together on occasion. Lydia tolerated me because I was a doctor and I suppose for her, that’s socially acceptable. After what happened the other day, I texted her to tell her exactly what I thought of her behavior.”
He hands me the phone and I look down at a text conversation.
“Go on, read it,” he encourages.
Brayden: What the fuck, Lydia? Why would you kiss Gray? That’s really fucked up.
I have to stop myself from laughing when I see what he has named Lydia on his phone.
Golddigger Dragon Lady: I don’t know what you are talking about.
Brayden: Gray told me everything.
Golddigger Dragon Lady: Well, did he tell you that he kissed me back? We aren’t over yet. Even he knows this. He just needed to get rid of that low-life smut seller. So I did it for him. He’ll come around eventually.
Brayden: So you kissed him on purpose, knowing that Roxy would see it?
Golddigger Dragon Lady: Obviously. I could have heard her coming a mile away. Her shoes were absolutely vulgar. Anyhow, now that Gray has figured out how wrong she was for him, we can get back together. You know we were good together, Bray. We were happy. I just…needed some time. We were young.
Brayden: Lydia, that was only a year ago.
Golddigger Dragon Lady: So what? I thought you’d be on my side. I thought we were friends.
Brayden: Yes, I thought we were friends too until you broke my best friend’s heart over how much money he was making. Go fuck yourself.
I look up at Brayden. “I didn’t know you still spoke to her,” I say as I try to wrap my head around what I just read while handing him his phone back.
“We don’t. I just didn’t delete her number from my phone,” he explains. “And I’m glad I didn’t because now you know the truth.”
Blowing out a long breath, I cross my arms. “OK, fine, so he didn’t kiss her, but he still is blaming me for Pierce finding out we were fake dating. I’m not good with that either.”
He cocks his head to one side as he considers what I’ve said. “I get that. He was upset and he should have thought his words through before speaking to you. You should know by now that Gray can be a little hot-tempered at times.”
“A little?” I say with a pointed look.
He chuckles. “Fine, a lot. But it’s only because he’s a passionate person. He fights with words and sometimes he lets his emotions get the better of him. It’s probably his only fault. If it’s any consolation, I think he feels terrible.”
I look around us. “Well, I don’t see him here apologizing.”
“You could go talk to him,” he says.
Groaning, I look down at my feet. I hate that he’s not wrong, but I also am stubborn, maybe that’s my biggest fault. “I could, but I’m not going to. He came raging in here all mad when I was already mad at him, and he knew it.”
“I think you should talk to him. I promise you, Roxy, he’s worth it. You will never find a more loyal, kind, smart, funny, and passionate man. I’ve watched him go above and beyond for his friends. He’s a good man and I’ve seen you two together. You had something real. Don’t toss it away over his crazy ex and one misunderstanding,” Brayden says as he starts to turn to leave.
I contemplate his words for a second but then remember Kasen’s letter.
“Brayden?”
He turns back to me, and I hold up a finger as I walk to the door in the back. I open it and Isla and Jocelyn scurry to their seats. “Seriously? Eavesdropping?”
Jocelyn shrugs and Isla looks sheepish. I roll my eyes and grab the mail.
Walking back to him, I shove it in his hand. “This is for Kasen. No idea how it got mixed in with mine.”
Frowning, Brayden looks at it, turning it over just like I did. “Weird. Uh, thanks. I’ll slide it under his door.”
“Oh, I could have done that,” I say, not sure what I expected.
“I can do it,” he assures me as he waves the letter. He walks out of my store, and I stand there watching him go, wondering where I went wrong. Am I to blame for how things went down with Gray? No. Maybe? I did immediately jump to conclusions. And I do feel bad about that now. He was trying to tell me the truth and I wouldn’t listen. Fuck. Is it too late?