Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Roxy
I blink a few times because, with all of the excitement of the day, I swear I might be hallucinating right now. But no, he doesn’t disappear. Gray is standing in front of me, with Licorice on a leash and in a dress, a freaking cat dress. He’s holding a bouquet of roses, and damn it, he looks like a real-life book boyfriend in his three-piece suit.
He steps toward me as the actors come up to meet me. I try my best to give them my full attention and thank Pierce and Haven. Jocelyn sidles up beside me along with her friend Clare who I hired part-time to help this week, and longer if things pick up at the store.
I keep watching Gray every few seconds out of the corner of my eye. He waits patiently as I make sure everyone is situated.
“Shall we let people in?” Jocelyn asks, motioning to the front door.
“One last thing,” he says as he steps up beside her, looking at me with such intensity I feel my face heat. I suddenly wish we were alone so he could strip me right out of this dress and I could slowly unbutton that crisp white shirt, vest, and jacket. I know what lies beneath it, and damn have I missed that. Hell, I’ve missed everything about him if I’m being honest with myself. But this isn’t the time or the place for us to talk…or do anything else.
Clearing my throat, I compose myself as I glance around us. “Grayson, we really need to get…” I trail off as he hands me the flowers he’s been holding.
“Licorice and I wanted to congratulate you,” he states. I smile as I look from him to Licorice, and then I lean down to pet her. Licorice rubs against my hand as I stand back up and look into his eyes once again.
“Thank you, Gray,” I whisper as I accept them, allowing myself to breathe in the scent of the flowers before Jocelyn is there to take them away.
“I’ll get a vase,” she says quietly as she steps toward the back of the store.
“I need to…” I trail off as I look around us again. His hand comes up and gently strokes my cheek.
“I know. I’ll let you get to it, Roxbury. I just wanted you to know how proud of you I am.” He pauses and follows my gaze around the store. Roxbury. He said my full name and something about that makes me fall even harder for him. Fighting my feelings is getting more difficult by the second. “ You did all of this. Don’t ever forget that.” He motions with his hand.
I blush. “Thank you.”
“Enjoy it. We’ll see you later,” he says as he steps back, and suddenly I don’t want him to leave. I want him right here with me. My heart aches with need for him.
I reach out and grab his arm. “Wait. Uh, don’t leave. Have a seat or drop Licorice off at home and come back down. There’s more to say. I…it’s just a bad time at the moment,” I stammer.
He nods. “OK,” he replies as he steps to the side. We meet gazes one last time before I turn to the room.
“Everyone ready?” I ask. I get a bunch of “yeses.” “Great. Thank you all for being here from the bottom of my heart. I hope you enjoy yourselves, and if there’s anything you need, just ask Jocelyn, Clare, or me.”
There’s a round of applause and then I give the security guy a nod and the doors open. I watch as Gray sneaks out while one by one, my patrons come into the store.
Haven walks up to me and links our arms. “Congrats. And when you have time, after today, please go talk to him. He’s done so much for today that you don’t even know about. That man loves you, Roxy. Mark my words, he’s one of the great ones. Do not let him get away.”
She squeezes my arm and walks back over to Pierce, leaving me with my mouth agape until a reader I recognize comes over to talk with me. Holy shit! Did Gray have something to do with the actors in my store? My mind races a mile a minute, but I don’t have time to contemplate it more as I greet my patrons.
* * *
The last customer walks out of the store and Jocelyn locks the door. We are the only two people here and it’s nearly eight. Seven long hours, but it was so worth it.
“We can clean up in the morning before we open. Clare said she could come by,” Jocelyn says as she powers down our tablet. I glance at my phone for the time in hours and see missed texts from some family and friends, including Tay, who I feel I’ve barely spoken to lately. I make a silent promise to do better with balancing my work and personal life. I set the phone back down.
“Great,” I say as I take off my heels and stretch my toes. “How in the hell do women wear these things all day every day?”
“They have a pain kink?” she replies with a laugh.
I giggle and shake my head at her.
I slip on some flats that are way more comfortable as I flit around the store and put things away. My mind cycles through the events of the day. It was so amazing. I can’t believe I had such a huge turnout. We had a local news crew cover it and two local papers had reporters stop by. I can’t believe how many people came today. It gives me hope that this silly, old dream of mine might just work out after all.
“Roxy?” Jocelyn’s voice breaks me away from my thoughts.
“Yes?”
“I think Gray is waiting for you,” she says as she points out the window. I walk over and peer out in the direction of the park. He’s sitting on the bench with the flowers, and I’m shocked to find the flowers still there next to him.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says as she walks out of the store, leaving me looking down the street at Gray. I take a few deep breaths to calm myself, lock up the store, and walk down the street. The cool evening air has me hugging myself as I walk up to the edge of the park and take a seat next to the flowers.
“You left,” I say to him as I glance over to find him watching me.
“You were busy. I didn’t want to bother you,” he replies.
We sit in silence for a long minute. Eventually, I look down at the note on the flowers. It’s definitely the ones that are always here, but the note today is a little different.
They are red roses and peonies. And the note reads:
Today’s flowers represent love. Love isn’t easy. It is filled with difficult moments. But it endures nonetheless. It’s also fragile. Take care of it. Let the other person into your heart. You may regret many things in life, but you won’t regret that.
~The Guardian of Hearts Lane Park
I look up at him. “Did you leave these here?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “No,” he says quietly.
I pick up the flowers and set them aside, scooting over to sit next to him. I can smell his cologne and feel the heat of his body. Something about that is immensely comforting.
“Thank you for bringing Licorice today, and for the flowers…and everything else,” I say. He searches my eyes. “I’m sorry, Gray. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. I…I’m sorry.”
His hand comes up to cup my cheek. “I’m sorry too. I was angry and I should have waited to speak to you. It wasn’t fair.”
I laugh as I feel my eyes well with tears. “We’re a mess.”
He smiles at me and my heart warms. “We’re definitely a mess.”
We sit there grinning at each other. Not speaking, not moving, just connecting in some strangely perfect way.
“For the love of God, will you two just kiss and finish making up already!” Hutch’s disembodied voice comes out of a nearby tree.
I jump back a bit and look around us. “Hutch?” I say as I frown in confusion.
“Seriously,” Gray mutters as he turns to the tree beside us and stands. I watch him rip a small camera off a branch. “No more spying.”
“Oh, come on. Yeah, things were just getting good,” I hear Cam’s voice.
“I vote for you to kiss her,” Al says.
“How many of you are watching this?” he asks.
“All of us. It took you two long enough,” Margie says.
I’m now shaking with laughter, doubled over on the bench, trying to catch my breath. “I…can’t. Why are you all watching us?” I finally manage as Gray walks over to me.
“We wanted to make sure the grand gesture worked,” Al explains.
“What grand gesture? The flowers and cat?” I ask in confusion.
“OK, everyone, thanks for the help. We’re signing off now,” Gray says, and he flips a small switch on the side of the device, but not before I hear Cornelia say, “We’ve got night-vision binoculars at our place.”
Gray and I burst out laughing.
“Dear God,” I say once my tears subside. I wipe under my eyes.
“Come on, let’s go have a drink at my place, where people won’t be using night-vision binoculars to watch us,” Gray offers as he stands and holds out his hand to me.
I accept it and he pulls me up against him. “Gray,” I start.
“Yes, wifey,” he says.
Grinning, I lean back a little so we can look at each other. “I don’t think I was ever faking romance with you. I think I started falling for you when I first saw you watching me in your window.”
He leans down and presses his forehead to mine. “I wasn’t faking either. You drive me crazy, but…I guess that’s why I love you.”
I feel my eyes tear up again but this time it’s with tears of joy. “You love me?” I whisper.
“Yes,” he replies.
“I love you too,” I admit.
He leans down and kisses me and in the distance I hear cheering, we both laugh through the kiss, and when we pull back, I see the love in his eyes. I’ve never seen that from a man before, not like how he’s looking at me. This is real; it was real the entire time.
He takes my hand, and we begin to walk back to one-eleven Hearts Lane.
“By the way,” I say, “you really didn’t need to organize movie stars to attend my grand opening. That was a bit over the top for a grand gesture.”
“You knew?” he asks.
“I figured it out,” I admit.
He pulls me against him, stopping us in the middle of the sidewalk. “I guess I’ll need to come up with a bigger, grander gesture, then,” he muses.
“Nah”—I pause—“or maybe you could just write me a song or something and have it played in a movie.”
He chuckles and kisses my nose. “I’ll work on that.”
“Good, because now that you made a grand gesture, you still have to keep this love alive. I have some books you could read, I mean, if you need some inspiration,” I say with a wink.
“Oh, you have some books, huh?”
“Yeah, something like that,” I reply as I lean up and kiss him. This time when our neighbors hoot and holler, we don’t stop, because we don’t hear them, the world is just Gray and me.