Chapter 37 Grayden
THIRTY-SEVEN
Grayden
I paced around the front room, keeping an eye on Piper and Grace through the window. They were sitting in Grace’s SUV. Just sitting there and talking.
At one point they hugged, which seemed like a positive indication. Grace had run out of here, but she hadn’t driven off. Wasn’t yelling, far as I could tell.
Of course she wouldn’t. Grace wasn’t angry like that. Like me and Ashford.
I still worried I had hurt her, though. I never wanted to hurt my sister. Some of the biggest decisions I’d made in the past had been designed to avoid hurting Grace.
And yet I’d ended up hurting her anyway by being out of her life for so many years. Sometimes a guy couldn’t win.
After about ten minutes, Piper and Grace both got out of the vehicle and approached the house. I thought about pretending I hadn’t been watching them. But what was the point of that? So I opened the door for them and stood aside.
“Hey, Gracie,” I said as she walked into the house again.
“Hi. Sorry about earlier. I should’ve called ahead or something.”
“Don’t be sorry. You’re always welcome here.”
“That’s pretty much what I told her,” Piper said.
I shut the door and touched Piper’s back, running my hand down her spine over her sweater. I wanted to kiss her and ask how she was feeling, but my sister’s presence stopped me. For the moment, anyway.
“We good?” I murmured to Piper instead.
She didn’t answer. Grace turned and faced us, arms crossed over her coat. She was glancing from Piper to me.
“Can we talk?” I asked Grace.
“I was going to suggest that.”
Piper took a step away from me, and my hand fell back to my side. “I’m going to call Ollie and Callum,” Piper said. “Should be kick-off pretty soon. I want to say hi.”
Grace nodded at her, and the two of them shared a serious look.
Well, shit. My stomach churned, nervous about what exactly the two best friends had been discussing in that SUV. Piper was already so skittish about us having a future.
“We can sit in the kitchen,” I offered after Piper stepped outside. “Not much seating in here just yet.”
“It’s looking great, though. Wow. I can’t believe this is Piper and Teller’s old house.” Grace glanced around the room, stopping beside the desk to study my drawings.
“Sketches for a mural. It’ll go on that big wall. This area will be reception. Don’t have a studio name yet, but I’ll work that into the mural.”
Hell, I was rambling. Time to get to the point. I was the older brother here, and I owed it to my sister to make this easier for her.
“Grace, it wasn’t my intention to keep this a secret.” This, obviously being my dating Piper.
She shrugged. “I get it. Piper said it’s pretty new. Whatever’s happening between you two. You went on a date yesterday?”
“We did.” I was glad Piper had told her. “She means a lot to me. I didn’t expect any of this when I came to Silver Ridge, but I care about her.”
She took a slow breath. “Good. If you didn’t, I’d have to punch you in the nose or something, and I already know how much that would hurt my hand.”
A laugh burst out of my chest.
“I’m ready to sit down now,” she said, leading the way to the kitchen. When she reached the table, Grace took a seat and folded her hands on the table like this was a business meeting.
My stomach dropped. I felt like a guy called into the boss’s office to get fired.
I slowly dragged out the chair across from her and took a seat. “Are you supposed to give me the bad news?”
“Bad news?”
“I just barely got Piper to agree to go out with me. I pushed for too much, didn’t I? Moved too fast. She’s scared.” This wasn’t Grace’s fault, of course. Just that her showing up gave Piper a ready excuse for why we couldn’t work out.
Grace’s mouth dropped open. Closed. Opened again. “She’s scared, yes. That’s true. But there’s no bad news. Not right now, I mean. This is… I’m still trying to get used to the idea.”
I exhaled. Alright. So I still had a chance. “I’m sorry. Not sorry for what I feel for Piper. But sorry this is hard on you. I know it’s complicated.”
“That’s the thing about love. It actually makes complicated things seem really simple.”
“I know what you mean. Wait, did you say love?”
What exactly had Piper said to her out there?
Grace gave me a hard look, sitting forward. “You know Piper and Ollie are a package deal, right? If you want to be with Piper, you have to think of her son too.”
I rested my arms on the table and scooted my chair closer. I couldn’t believe we were talking openly about me and Piper being together. It gave me a hell of a lot of hope. “Absolutely. Ollie’s an amazing kid. He detested me at first, not that I can blame him for being skeptical.”
“Kids are honest.”
“Yeah, that’s something I admire about Ollie. The kid made sure I knew he had his eye on me.”
“Callum told me he saw you and Piper and Ollie having dinner at Hearthstone. But I didn’t think… I guess I just didn’t see this coming. Not even close.”
“Do you have a problem with it?”
Tears filled her eyes. “I’m just afraid of losing you again. I couldn’t take that.”
I reached across the table to put my hand on her arm. “You won’t lose me. No matter what happens between me and Piper. I came here for you and Callum and Ashford and our family, and I’m staying.”
“What about Teller? He and Piper are my family too. Our family.”
I glanced at the table. This same damn table where Teller and I had sat so many times. “I haven’t spoken to him yet. I don’t expect him to approve of this. Of me with Piper. But I have to try, Grace.”
There were plenty of other factors too, and I wasn’t sure how much of that Grace knew. Like Danny’s threats and my need to protect Piper and Ollie from him.
I could’ve protected them as a friend. Set my true feelings aside and been the better man. Refused to risk upsetting the rest of our families. Refused to tarnish her reputation in Silver Ridge with mine.
But this, what I felt for Piper, was undeniable.
Grace sent a glance toward the back of the house, where Piper was on the phone with Ollie. “Are you in love with her?” Grace whispered.
“That’s where I’m heading.”
She blinked, and those tears hovering in her eyes fell. “Oh, Grayden. Then I want this for both of you. It won’t be easy for Piper, though. You have to be patient with her.”
“I’m planning on it. I’m glad she has you.” I already loved my sister like crazy, but I adored her all the more for being such a good friend. “Proud of you,” I said. “I’m sure Ashford and Callum deserve a lot of credit for how great you turned out.”
“Hey, I’m awesome all on my own.”
“Of course you are.”
She grabbed both my hands. “And you were around for plenty of important things when I was growing up. You were there for all of us when mom died. You stepped in when dad left. Nothing that happened afterward takes away from that.”
Dammit, now I was getting choked up.
Grace deserved the whole truth. Every ugly reason that I’d cut off contact when I was in prison.
She’d probably had enough revelations today. I wanted her to keep looking at me like I was the big brother she loved. But we’d just been talking about Ollie’s brash honesty. I could take a page from the kid.
“Gracie, you know you can ask me anything, right? Anything about what happened. My arrest, my prison time. All of it. I don’t want to keep secrets from you.”
She was still gripping my hands, but her eyes drifted to the window over the sink. “Do you want me to ask?”
No. Yes. No.
I was a coward for making this her decision. But that same old hesitation held me back. I never wanted to hurt Grace, that was a given, and this would hurt her.
“It won’t be easy to hear. Or easy to say.”
“Then it can wait. You served your time, Grayden. That includes the years you spent after getting out, thinking we never wanted to see you again. We’ve been through enough sadness. We’re still going through it because Ashford is so damn stubborn.”
“I don’t blame him.”
Annoyance flashed across her features. “I kind of do, but I’m trying not to. Maybe when Ashford’s ready to listen, you can tell all of us about those awful years and what happened. But I just want us to be a little bit happy in the meantime. Okay? I want you to try to make this work with Piper.”
“I will.”
Grace stood up, opening her arms. I got up and pulled her into a hug. Had to bend way over to do it because she was so small.
“Fair warning,” she said against my shoulder. “If you break Piper’s heart, I might have Dane hire someone to kill you.”
I chuckled into her hair. “And if she breaks my heart?”
“She’d better not. That’s all I have to say.”