Chapter 31
Greyson
Love is about finding the one person
who makes your heart complete.
~ Julia Quinn
Dustin’s on stage, tuning his guitar and talking to the sound guy at Fork & Fiddle. The crew and their wives, girlfriends and friends fill two big tables right at the foot of the stage.
I’m lighter after I let the dam break with Hallie the other night. The ache for Zach has settled low inside me, not gone—just no longer encased in the crushing weight of my guilt. We’re different too—our crew. We told Cody about us yesterday on shift, so now our whole crew knows.
My eyes scan the restaurant, looking for Hallie among the people waiting at the hostess stand to be seated. I don’t see her yet. I take another sip of water, leaning back in my chair while our friends converse with one another, laughing and catching up.
A prickle crosses my skin, like a breeze raising the hair on my arms. I turn slowly, hoping no one at our tables notices.
She’s here—wearing a red dress and cream cowboy boots. I’ve never seen Hallie in a dress before. If I didn’t know she wanted me alive, I’d think she was trying to kill me.
Patrick leans over. “This is going to be hard on you, isn’t it?”
Cody bends in from around Patrick. “Been there, done that.”
I had all but forgotten that Cody and Carli snuck around before they went public with their feelings for one another.
Dustin’s testing the mic, “Checking, one two. Check. Check.”
Hallie slides into the open seat between me and Winona.
“Ohhhh, girl,” Winona says. “You’re rocking that dress. I don’t know how long you plan to be a single mom, but that dress is going to shorten the schedule.”
My jaw tightens. Hallie is not a single mom.
Hallie giggles. “Thank you, Winona. I never dress up—well, not unless I’m playing princesses with Mia.”
“We’re definitely going to have to fix that,” Winona says. “Stick with me. We’ll have you out about town in no time.”
I clear my throat and take a sip of water.
Hallie turns to me with mischief in her eyes. “You okay there, Greyson?”
“Fine,” I grunt out.
She smiles warmly and says, “Nice to see you,” as if we’re co-workers who just happened to bump into one another at a restaurant in town. But then she adds, “You look handsome tonight,” in that same friendly, formal tone.
Winona’s attention has turned to something Cass is saying, so I whisper, “You look incredible. You’re not playing fair.”
She whispers back, “Well, you always look incredible, so maybe this is payback.”
I pick up my glass of ice water and swallow too big of a gulp, sputter coughing the last drops.
“Careful there, soldier,” Hallie says softly.
My skin is too tight. I’m gripping my glass in one hand and my thigh with the other to keep myself from reaching out to touch her.
Dustin takes the mic. “Good evening friends and to my beautiful wife. If you haven’t had her donuts, well, fix that tomorrow by stopping by Baker From Another Mother.”
“Dustin!” Emberleigh shouts.
“Just doing my part for the people, babe.”
The crowd laughs.
“I’m going to do a little mix of some originals and a few oldies I’m sure you’ll know. And if you’re real nice, I just might throw in a request or two. I’m kicking tonight off with a song I wrote for my wife when she didn’t know she was destined to fall for me.”
More laughs. He’s really made for this.
Dustin sings with his heart—like he does everything in life.
Hallie sways to the music next to me and I try to focus on supporting my friend instead of the pang of longing pushing its way through me.
We order food. I barely touch mine. Hallie digs in and eats with her usual gusto.
“Aren’t you hungry?” She asks, pivoting in her chair to look at me.
“Yes. And no,” I answer her plainly. “I’ll get a to-go box.”
She shakes her head. “Or, you could eat.”
My stomach’s in knots. She’s right here, smelling like vanilla and … her. Swaying to the music, eating like the firefighter she is. All I want is to brush my hand down her hair, kiss her cheek, glance around the table at our friends with my arm around her shoulder.
I’ll eat later.
“If you’ve got a special someone with you,” Dustin says before one of his next songs, “You might just want to stand up wherever you are and make your own dance floor.”
Hallie turns and looks at me.
With a glance, she transports us to Munich—her in my arms, no music in the air, but something between us giving rhythm to our connection as we danced in silence before we had to say goodbye.
I inhale deeply, catching a wisp of her shampoo and perfume.
“Dancing without music,” I murmur under my breath.
She sends me a soft smile through the darkness of the restaurant. The orange and yellow of the lights fixed on Dustin illuminate her face.
Next time we’re alone together, we’re dancing—music or no music, I need her in my arms.
Dustin closes up the set with a few requests. Most of the songs are popular ones by Nashville artists.
“I want to thank you all for coming out!” Dustin says on the last note. “We all know it’s for the steak, but I hope you enjoyed a little music with your meal tonight.”
He’s fooling himself. Fork & Fiddle is known for their great food, but Dustin’s talent could fill rooms far bigger than this small town steakhouse—stadiums, even. He chose the smaller life.
I glance around at all our friends clapping for him—at Emberleigh who has hearts in her eyes.
Maybe this life’s not so small after all.
We walk out into the parking lot as a group.
Winona’s talking Hallie’s ear off, her arm looped through Hallie’s like they grew up as best friends. I walk a few paces behind them, smiling to myself at the idea that Hallie’s building a life in Waterford—making friends with women who will have her back.
Winona’s voice goes quiet. When I hear my name, I tune in like I’m standing outside an enemy fortress.
“Greyson was looking at you like he was interested. Do you know he’s single?”
Hallie doesn’t answer.
“If you can get past the grumpiness, he’s actually a really good guy,” Winona says.
What an endorsement—not to say I haven’t earned it.
Hallie whispers back, “Yeah. I’ve seen that side of him.”
Winona says, “Of course you have, working so closely together. Well, I think he might be interested.”
Hallie just smiles.
A few steps later, she turns her head over her shoulder and our eyes connect. When her gaze meets mine, her eyes go momentarily wide.
I glance away, chuckling softly.
Dustin steps up alongside me. “You are a man in pain, my friend.”
“Tell me about it,” I admit.
“Well, if I know anything about love, your secret won’t keep forever.”
“I’m sure. Especially not in a town with eyes and ears like Waterford.”
Dustin’s laugh fills the parking lot. “We do love our juicy gossip.”
Eyes turn our way, but no one knows what we’re talking about except the crew. And they’re loyal—a fact I didn’t recognize until I needed them to keep a secret for me.
I drive home and settle in, brushing my teeth and changing into pajama bottoms and a threadbare undershirt.
My phone rings when I’m about to climb into bed.
“Hey.” Hallie’s voice is soft and drowsy.
“Hey.” I answer her, drinking her in like a tall glass of water on a summer day.
“Where are you?” I ask, needing to picture her—wishing she were here.
“I’m in bed,” she says with a yawn. “My mom’s dog is trying to fight me for space.”
I chuckle. “How did the dog end up in your bed if it’s your mom’s?”
“You know she wasn’t even supposed to live here, don’t you?”
“No. I just assumed she moved in as part of the arrangement—so Mia would have care on your workdays.”
“Yeah. Well, Avery was going to pitch in. Then Mom announced she was staying here.”
“Out of the blue?”
“Completely!”
I laugh. I’m a balloon blown and stretched, releasing all the air I’ve held in tonight.
Her laugh mingles with mine.
“She’s a real pain, you know?”
There’s no bite in her words.
“I’ve met her.” It seems like the safest answer about a woman who could be my mother-in-law one day if I have my way.
“But she’s also saved my bacon.”
“I like your bacon, so I’m grateful she saved it.” I almost slap my own forehead. “Don’t even say a thing about that line. I already know it’s cheesy.”
“I happen to like you being cheesy,” she says on another yawn.
“Well, I happen to like you in that red dress.”
“I thought you might.” She pauses. “I wore it for you.”
“Did you?”
“Of course. Do you think I want any other man admiring me, Greyson?”
“They were,” I pout.
“Were they? I didn’t notice.”
“Good.”
She laughs.
“I’ve been wondering something,” she says.
“Yeah?”
“You know about Danny.”
“I do.”
The man with no principle or loyalty. He did me a favor, though. I hate that Hallie and Mia had to live through his abandonment, but if he had more spine, I wouldn’t be with her right now.
“Who’s your Danny?” she asks.
“My Danny?”
“I don’t need details,” she says. “I don’t want details, actually. But you had to have some serious relationships since Munich. I’m just curious. Are they still here in town? Are some of them baseball moms? That would explain the fiery darts they shoot my way.”
“The baseball moms are not all bad—just slow to warm up to outsiders. Have they been mean to you?”
“Not mean. Just … a little aloof and cliquish.”
“Yeah. I recommend the book-club women.”
“I like them. Winona thinks you were checking me out tonight.”
“I heard. She’s not wrong.”
“So, the baseball moms aren’t all your exes—like in a club of ex-Greyson love interests or something?”
“Not one of them.”
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“I’m an open book, Hallie.”
“Oh? That’s exactly how I’d describe you—especially when I first got here.”
“I’m an open book to you. Not in general. There’s a difference.”
“Okay, then. Tell me about all the women who mattered. I just want to know in case I’m being compared to one of them down the road by people around Waterford.”
“What makes you say I had women who mattered?”
“Have you looked in a mirror lately?”
“What? You think I’m handsome?” I chuckle.