33. Greyson
My dad’s voice filled my truck as I drove home from work Monday.
Instead of calling to update him about something at the resort like I usually did, I’d called him with a laundry list of questions about my personal life that he was currently trying to filter through.
“So, you have a girlfriend?”
“Yes.” My fingers flexed on instinct at being able to call True mine.
“Congratulations,” he said, sounding boisterous before his voice evened out. “And you’re developing feelings for Noah, too? Did I get that right?”
“I don’t know, dad. That’s why I asked you.” I coasted past the property line of Wolfe Summit and relaxed the closer I got to Whimsy Lane.
“Well, how am I supposed to know? I’m not in your head, feeling what you’re feeling.”
“You always have an answer for everything else.”
He chuckled and the familiar sound warmed my heart. I couldn’t wait to see my folks for the holidays. But I hoped by then I’d figured out the chaos I hadn’t made sense of yet.
“Well, I guess it’s normal to develop feelings for someone after spending as much time as you two do together.”
I’d thought that, too. But it hadn’t started until True arrived and I wanted to know how it was possible for someone I didn’t know two months ago to trigger this discovery. And after I’d been on this earth for thirty years, unaware.
“It just doesn’t make sense, dad. I love Noah. I always have. He’s my best friend. But lately, now that True is in our lives, I’m seeing him differently. I want to take care of them. I want them to be happy. I want to know every problem they have before they have it so I can fix it.“
He whistled lowly and the sharp sound reverberating in my car made me grimace.
“Oh, you got it bad. For both of them. How the hell did this happen?”
“That’s why I called you. I just…I don’t know.”
“You always were the overachiever in the family. A boyfriend and a girlfriend,” he finished, more to himself than me.
A reluctant smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.
“Is there any chance he has these feelings for you?”
“No, Noah knows I’m straight. We’ve never crossed that line.”
My dad grunted.
“Well, what do you want to happen? If you’re having these feelings out of the blue, he could be too. Or it could be just because you’re dealing with the same woman.”
“Yea…maybe,” I muttered, turning onto our street.
“Didn’t you say she was in town to write a book? If she leaves, do you think the feelings hold up or are you caught up in the heat of the moment?”
The reminder that True was leaving after her book was done grated on me like sandpaper.
In the delusional recesses of my brain, I’d convinced myself that we would be able to convince her to stay by then.
“I don’t know.” A frustrated sigh rolled out of me because I was no closer to answers than I was before this call started. I was frustrated with myself, not my father for not having answers to questions I didn’t know how to ask.
This was all too…new.
“Give it some time. It’s only been a few weeks, son.” In the background, he told someone to come in and I knew it was my mom a beat later when her heels clicked against their marble floors.
“Are you talking to one of our children?”
“Mhm. Grey, you’re on speaker. Say hello to your mother.”
“Hey, mom.”
“Greyson, honey. What’s this I hear about the resort having a cat?”
I frowned and put my truck in park. “Who have you been talking to?”
It was either Noah or Ms. Annie. Nobody else just had my mom’s number laying around.
“Oh, never mind about that. It’s so charming. Like a little bed and breakfast feel.”
Her voice was thrilled and I sucked in a patient breath.
“Ooh, no, like a Hallmark Christmas movie. And her name is Duchess,” she cooed.
“Who has a cat and where?” My dad asked, trying to keep up.
“The resort, dear. Greyson has a cat named Duchess. Let me find a picture.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. It was definitely Noah. Ms. Annie didn’t know how to send a text message to save her life. She always got me to do it whenever I was near.
Clearing my throat, I fought to regain control of the situation. “The resort doesn’t have a cat.”
I was still wary of guests being potentially allergic. On top of that, I didn’t get any work done when Duchess was roaming the halls. Because she didn’t roam. Now that we’d officially brought her inside to get away from the cold, she sat in my office and stared at me while I worked. And unless Noah came in the office to tell me something, her attention never wavered.
“I’m thinking about bringing her home, actually.” It was the first time I said those words aloud and my mother squealed on the line.
“Oh, that’s fantastic!”
“Noah likes the cat.” And I gave Noah what he wanted. That and I read pets were good for anxiety. If Duchess had the potential to help with some of his anxiety, then I’d feel guilty as hell for being the reason he didn’t have her.
Besides, the cat was kinda cute. She had a staring problem but she didn’t raise hell. I could deal with that.
“Oh, I have to go tell Carolyn about the luncheon tomorrow. Bye, Grey!”
Her heels clicked away and it was just me and my dad on the line again.
“I’ll let you go,” I told him, feeling restless. I should have sat in the sauna at the resort to release some tension once I finished work, but I rushed home because I wanted to see True before she left for her date with Noah tonight.
“I’m not in a rush,” my dad offered as if he’d read my mind.
Silence dominated the line until I found the words.
“I don’t know what it means. Am I bisexual? Have I always been bisexual and didn’t know it?” Why didn’t I feel this for anybody else before Noah? All I knew was that my feelings went deeper than friendship.
My dad cleared a cough from his throat. “Why does it have to mean anything? There are a lot of people out there living life the way they want. That’s between you and the people you love. If you wanna put a label on it once you figure it out, then fine. It doesn’t change anything.”
“Yea…right. I hear you, dad. I’ll give it time. Like you said, I could just be caught up in the heat of the moment. Thanks for letting me rant.”
“You ain’t gotta thank me for that, Greyson. You should call me more. I miss talking to you. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
We ended the call and I walked along the path to True’s cabin. I found her front door unlocked and opened, but when I knocked, I didn’t get an answer.
“True!” I called through the screen door. Nothing.
I knocked again.
“Red!”
Nothing.
I opened the screen door and walked in, expecting to hear the shower or music coming from her room while she got ready. Instead, I found every room empty.
Retracing my steps to the front of her house, I checked to make sure I hadn’t hallucinated seeing her car. Even if she was gone, why had she left the door unlocked?
I pulled the knot of my tie loose and walked outside, taking a left to head to the back of her house.
She wasn’t on the side or behind it, so I walked a few feet into the clearing behind her cabin.
My shoes crunched over the dead leaves on the ground while my head was on a swivel.
I wasn’t scared. My gut told me she was fine. But I still wanted to know where the hell she was.
“True!” I stopped walking to listen for a response. All I got in return was an echo of footsteps coming from my right.
So, I went right.
The footsteps stopped every few feet and I stopped too to call her name, but never got an answer.
Why couldn’t she hear me? I didn’t even know if it was her.
Now that I was past the clearing, I couldn’t see shit. The leaves had fallen from the trees but they were still too close together for me to see anything other than tree trunks unless I was a few feet away.
The next time the footsteps stopped, I moved in that direction in a light jog.
Finally, I saw a flash of red hair and relief flooded me. Until she started running away from me.
What the fuck? I knew damn well she didn’t know these woods well enough to be running through them.
“True!”
Notebook hanging loosely from her fingers, True broke out in a sprint.
No matter how many times I called her name, she wouldn’t turn around. She ran like she was being chased and my heart drummed in my chest while I tried to catch up with her.
“I have bear spray!” she screamed over her shoulder, refusing to look back and see that it was me and she wasn’t in danger.
When I got close enough, I slowed my steps and threw my arms around her shoulders from behind, careful not to tackle her to the ground.
But she panicked when she felt the weight of my arms on her and tried to wrestle free from my hold until we were both on the ground, panting.
“What the hell, True?” I groaned, rolling away from her.
“Ohmygod, Grey! You scared the shit out of me. I thought you were a coyote or something chasing me.”
Dusting the debris from the ground off my suit, I stretched my neck and stood up, extending my hand to help her.
True’s fingers gripped mine and she let me pull her up. Then she reached up and tapped something near her ear.
Fucking headphones.
She started rambling. “Sorry, I was doing a writing exercise and listening to music. I didn’t realize the person calling my name was the same one behind me. I thought it was a wild animal and one of y’all was trying to warn me to get out the woods.”
“You were running in the wrong direction.”
I tried to keep the irritation out of my voice, but she could have gotten hurt. If it hadn’t been me…
True gulped. “I know that now.”
I snatched my glasses off my face and pinched the bridge of my nose. Then I used my handkerchief to clean them and pushed them back in place.
“What kind of writing exercise, True?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.
“I found it in one of my craft books. It said to walk outside and write down everything you saw. Start with the smallest thing and make it big by describing every detail about it. I needed a break from my desk and I was…” she trailed, rubbing at her forehead in embarrassment. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have been listening to my music so loud.”
“It’s ok. I’m happy you’re okay.” I pulled her into me, kissing the side of her head. Then I stepped back and looked her over from head to toe.
Her pupils were blown and her lips were a breath apart, letting out startled puffs of air as she looked at me.
Her chest heaved and she kept dropping her gaze to my hands.
“What?” I tilted my head to look at her.
“Nothing. You scared me, that’s all.” She swallowed again, averting her eyes but they went straight to my hands. I smirked.
“If you’re scared, why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because I’m glad it was you.”
“Hmm.” I smoothed a thumb over her lips. I was fucking obsessed with her mouth. “You like being chased, Red?”
“Why? Are you going to chase me again?”
My thumb pulled at her bottom lip until her teeth were bared and I smiled at how easily she let me handle her. “Never without your consent.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I won’t do an actual chase scene without your consent. Just like everything else, it has to be because you want it.”
Interest flickered in her eyes before she leaned into my touch. “Hi, Greyson.”
“Hey, True.” I caressed her cheek, loving the way her skin felt against my palm.
“Do you know how to get us back home?”
Any remaining frustration left my body at her needing me. I nodded. “Yea. Come on, Red.”
When we got back to her house, she tossed her notebook on her desk and rushed to get to the shower.
“Don’t forget to pack your laptop and leave it at our place.”
She paused outside her bathroom and raised a brow at me. “Why?”
“Because you’re sleeping in one of our beds tonight and I don’t want you to have the sudden urge to flee in the middle of the night.”
True rolled her eyes at me and closed the door to shower. I went to grab her laptop from her desk. Just in case.