CHAPTER 45
MAPLE
“No,” I say, walking right up to Graydon and pulling on his hand. “Do not leave. Do not do this.”
The door opens, and Phil walks in but pauses when he sees all of us. “Um, sorry for the interruption, but we have security pushing people away from the flamingos right now given what’s going on.” He then clasps his hands together. “Um, I think we’re going to send you home early, Maple.”
“What? No. I don’t need to go home.”
He clears his throat and says, “We think it’s best that you do and take some time off.”
“What?” I ask, shocked.
I can feel Graydon tense next to me, and I can already hear the voices in his head, telling him this is his fault. This is all his fault.
And it’s not. It’s just the circumstances of the situation.
“It’s probably best,” Gretchen chimes in. “Until we can get ahold of the story and solidify security here.”
“I don’t want to leave. This is…this is where I want to be.”
“Unfortunately, we are not giving you an option in the matter,” Phil says. “Please grab your things. We have security waiting outside to escort you to your car.”
I pause because that sounds like I’m being let go rather than taking a few days off.
“Are you…are you firing me?” I ask.
Phil sighs and then shakes his head. “No, but we’re in a sticky situation here, Maple. We need to tread carefully. We can’t cause a commotion. It will disrupt the animals, and they are always our top priority. If we can’t get everything under control, then we will have to—”
“No need,” Graydon says. “We’re not together anymore. So just let it die down and everything will be okay. It was a PR relationship after all, right? It was bound to happen.”
“What? Graydon,” I say, turning toward him. “That’s a lie and you know it.”
He steps away. “Gretchen, make sure she follows the NDA guidelines for the breakup contract.”
“Graydon. Stop.” I take his hand in mine, but he quickly pulls away. His face remains emotionless as he puts distance between us. “Graydon.”
He doesn’t look at me.
Doesn’t even spare me a glance as he heads toward the door.
“Don’t push me away. You don’t mean this.”
He pauses before he leaves and looks over his shoulder, but not at me. Instead, he looks at Hank. “She won’t be hurting anymore.”
Then he takes off, and I’m left feeling like my world is crumbling around me.
Because it is.
He’s…he’s done with this, with us, I saw it in his eyes. The finality was there.
Hank comes up behind me and places his hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
I shrug him off, taking a step back. “Am I okay?” I yell.
“Do you think I’m okay? Hank, you just single-handedly made my boyfriend believe that he was a burden on my life.
When he’s not, he’s…been such a blessing.
He’s made me feel special, wanted, needed.
And what we have, it’s real, there’s nothing fake about it, but everyone seems to have an opinion on the matter, despite it not being their business. ”
“Maple, let’s go—”
I push away from Gretchen, who is trying to take me by the arm.
“No, I don’t want to hear it. All I want is to talk to Graydon and for everyone else to step out of our business.
” I head toward the door but stop in front of Phil.
“By the way, if the money that was donated by Welcott does not go to the flamingos, you can bet I’ll be writing a scathing article about you, your dishonesty, and how you actually don’t care about the animals but rather the bottom line with your merchandise ideas.
I’m sure the board of directors will love that. ”
“Maple,” Hank says, but I hold up my hand.
“No. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear it from any of you.
All I wanted was to help the flamingos, and when Graydon came along, I saw the kind of man he is, the generous, sweet man, and I wanted to help him as well.
But all of this…these demands, these needs, the use of his celebrity status, it’s gotten out of hand, and frankly, I’m sick of it.
He’s a good person, and he shouldn’t be walking away from a relationship that I know he wants, that he needs, because he’s afraid you might fire me. ”
I gesture to Phil.
“Or because you convince him that he’s a burden to me,” I say to Hank. “That’s none of your business. I knew what I was getting into when I started to fall for him, and I’ve accepted every aspect of it because I like him and because he’s worth it. We’re worth it.”
With that, I quickly grab my bag and head out the back of the flamingo building, straight in the direction of the parking lot, hoping to catch him before he leaves.
“Maple, wait,” Gretchen calls out, but I keep moving forward. “Hold on, let me talk to you.”
“No,” I snap and move through the employee-only section of the zoo to the parking lot, where I catch the tail end of Graydon’s truck leaving. “Fuck.”
“Maple, please, can we just talk?” Gretchen asks, catching up to me.
I whirl on her, my anger over the entire situation getting the best of me. “No, the last person I want to talk to is you. You’ve made this so incredibly difficult, so obnoxiously disheartening, that you are part of the problem.”
She juts her head back, her expression full of surprise. “I wasn’t—”
“Don’t tell me you weren’t trying to make this difficult, because you were.
From the contracts, to the doubt, to the questioning.
It’s been a nightmare, but I kept up with it because of him.
But now it’s gotten so out of control that he’s giving up, he’s giving up on me.
” I shake my head. “But I’m not going to let that happen.
” He’s the best man I know, and I’ve never been in a relationship with someone who cares so much about me.
Even to the point of “breaking up” to help me.
I take a deep breath. “I’m not going to let you get in the way of that. ”
“I don’t want to. I want to help you.”
“Oh, just like you were helping me when you told me to sign the breakup contract?”
“I was forced to bring that to you,” she says, her eyes narrowing. “Just like there are parts of your job you probably don’t like, there are parts of mine that I don’t like either, that being one of them.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” I say, unable to process anything she’s saying. “I just want to get to Graydon.”
I walk toward my car and unlock it.
“I want to help you,” she calls out.
“Too late.” I get in my car and take off, headed right to Graydon’s place to fix this.
I pull my knees in close to my chest as I lean up against Graydon’s garage door, waiting for him to return.
It’s been a few hours since I left the zoo, and he hasn’t returned.
I have no idea where he is or what he’s doing, and even though I’ve tried calling him several times, his phone goes straight to voice mail, and his text messages go undelivered.
To say I’m worried is an understatement.
The sun is setting, the street is calm, just local commuters finding their way home, and there is a slight breeze picking up that ruffles my hair every once in a while.
I’ve shifted a few times on the concrete beneath me because my ass has gone numb, but I don’t care because I will stay here through the night if I have to. I want to see him.
Headlights blare down the road, and I perk up, but when I notice it’s an SUV, I lower my head back down.
Where is he?
I hope he’s okay.
I hope—
The SUV pulls into his driveway and stops short of me. When the lights turn off, I see Hutton sitting in the driver’s seat and Graydon in the passenger seat.
Why is Hutton driving him home?
Did he get in an accident?
Panic swells in my chest as his car door opens, and I stand from the ground, brushing off my pants.
When his hazy eyes meet mine, he says, “What are you doing here?” He stumbles out of the SUV and then shuts the door, nearly falling to the ground.
He’s drunk.
“Maple,” Hutton says, coming up to me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. The bartender, who is a friend, called me.”
“It’s okay. Does he have his phone turned off?”
“Broke it,” Graydon says, moving past me and to the keypad on the side of his garage door. He types in a few numbers, and it starts opening.
“You broke your phone?”
“He threw it against the weight room wall when Slutty Little Glasses answered your phone.”
“Slutty Little…do you mean Hank?”
“Sure,” Hutton says as Graydon moves into his garage and starts digging through a bucket that’s next to his door. “I don’t think he’s in a great position to talk right now.”
“It’s okay. I’ll make sure he gets into his place and gets to bed.”
“You sure?” Hutton glances at Graydon, who fishes a key out of the bucket. “I’m not sure he wants to be near you right now.”
“I don’t care about that,” I say. “He can push me away all he wants, but it’s not going to happen.”
“Good,” Hutton says, then leans closer. “He needs someone like you.”
“I know,” I answer.
He offers me a side hug and then takes off as I head toward Graydon, who is struggling to open the door to his house.
I press the button to shut the garage door, then take the key from him and unlock the door.
He pushes through and then stumbles toward the couch, where he crashes down on the cushions and lets out a deep breath.
While he gains his bearings, I go to the kitchen and pour him a glass of water, bringing it over to him.
“Here,” I say, handing him the glass, but he doesn’t take it.
“Why are you here, Maple? Didn’t you get the hint at the zoo?”
While I was waiting for him, I mentally prepared myself for this, for him to continue to push me away, for him to say things I know he wouldn’t normally mean, and not to take offense at them.
If I know anything about Graydon at this point, it’s that he will do anything to protect the people he cares for in his life, including me.
And if he thinks he’s protecting me by pushing me away, then he’s going to do a damn good job at it, even if it hurts us both.
“Can you please drink some water?”
His eyes fall to mine, dark, dangerous, but also…sad. “I asked you a question.”
“And I’m choosing to ignore it.”
He shakes his head. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Graydon, please just drink some water. I can make some coffee as well—”
“I don’t want your coffee, Maple. I want you to leave.” His voice is terse, but I stand firm.
“I’m not leaving. Not when you’re drunk and saying things you don’t mean.”
“I wasn’t drunk at the zoo and meant every word I said there.”
Yup, he’s not holding back, but that doesn’t matter to me because I can handle it.
At least I hope that I can.
“I’m not going to get into a fight with you right now. Why don’t we just get you upstairs for a shower and—”
“Leave me the fuck alone,” he says, sitting up and pulling his shirt over his head. He deposits it on the floor and then lies back down on the couch. He closes his eyes and drapes his arm over his eyes.
I stare down at him, wondering how to handle this, how to get him to listen to me, but when I see his breathing even out and his chest rise and fall at a slow pace, I notice that he’s asleep, which is probably for the best.
So I pick up a blanket that’s draped over the back of the couch, and I cover him with it before heading up to his room, where I turn on the shower and undress.
I slip under the hot water and let it run down my body as I allow myself to relax for a moment and feel the anger and frustration pour out of me.
Tears fill my eyes.
The need to hit something pushes through me.
The urge to scream over the situation rises to the tip of my tongue, but I hold back, not wanting to wake or disturb him. Instead, I let my tears flow down my cheeks as I use his body wash to clean the day off me.
After I dry off, I slip on one of his T-shirts and a pair of spandex shorts I’ve kept here.
I brush my teeth and head back downstairs, where I find him still sleeping.
I want to climb on top of him, curl into his side, sleep next to him, and let all the worry drain away, but I also don’t know how he’ll receive me.
Instead, I grab another blanket and a throw pillow, and I curl up on one of the chairs.
As I lie there, my eyes on him the entire time, my heart aches thinking about the pain he’s feeling, and how unfair his life has been.
His dad leaked the news about how our relationship started.
What sort of person does that to their own son?
How can a man so despise his flesh and blood that he can hurt him with such brutality?
I refuse to contribute to that. I know he loves me. I felt it the other night after we visited his mom. I know that I make a difference in his life, that he not only wants me but needs me.
And it’s the same with me. He’s changed so much in my life, opening my eyes to what love really is, this all-encompassing feeling of happiness where the person holding your hand is your moon and stars, and you go to sleep at night dreaming about them, only to wake up the following morning and crave them.
He’s opened me up to a type of passion I had no idea existed, but now that I’ve had a taste of it, I refuse to let it go.
He can push.
He can hurt me.
But I know none of it’s true because I know the way he looks at me, kisses me, loves on me. We have that forever kind of connection that you only find once in a lifetime, and I refuse to let it go despite all the roadblocks.
Nope, I’m going to fight for us, even if it kills me.