Chapter Sixteen
Holly
“So, you swear you’re not mad at me?” Piper leans her hip on the corner of my desk with her arms crossed over her chest as she asks me for the hundredth time today if I’m mad at her.
We haven’t worked together since the week Grayson came in with his arm cut, and besides a few superficial texts, we haven’t had time to talk about it.
I take my time typing out my notes on our last patient and click save before pushing back in my chair, doing my best to keep my expression neutral.
“Mad at you for lying to me about Grayson’s possible infection, so I’d drive seventy-five miles into the middle of nowhere on a Sunday night, crash a family dinner, all under the ruse that a patient I was only supposed to see one time needed my help? ”
She winces, her expression falling the more I go on, and once I’m satisfied that she feels at least somewhat guilty, I let my smile crack.
“I was mad for like thirty seconds, probably. I cursed your name a few times, but then Grayson chased me down and now he’s my boyfriend, so I’d say we’re okay.”
She pushes out a rattled breath, raising a hand to shove my shoulder.
“You should really be thanking me, you bitch, not making me nearly pee my pants! I know it was awkward, but once Harper and I realized the connection, that you were the woman he hadn’t shut up about for months, we had to do something about it. ”
I bite down a smile, still having a hard time believing it myself.
“So, what’s it like, living out the dream of every girl in Copper Ridge?” Piper asks. “What’s Grayson Hart like as a boyfriend?”
“It’s…” Bliss. Bliss is the first word that I want to say.
For a relationship that’s long distance, where we’ve only kissed a handful of times, I’ve never felt so cherished.
We haven’t been able to see each other as much as we want, but I’ve learned Grayson carries some old-school values with him.
He calls regularly and sends me messages simply to say he’s thinking about me.
Or he’ll send a picture of him throughout the day with Chandler standing on his shoulder, or something that he knows will make me laugh.
The late-night phone calls are my favorite, the ones where he’s in bed and his voice is hoarse from talking all day.
He gets a little slurred when he’s sleepy, and he talks freely about his dreams for the farm, about his future.
“All I’ll say for now is that I’m incredibly, incredibly happy. ”
She grins, all wide and cheeky, proud of herself for her meddling, and I throw up a stern finger in her face. “But for the record, it was freaking awkward showing up to that family dinner.”
“But his family was nice to you, though, weren’t they? I can’t imagine them being rude at all, they’re like that typical made-for-TV family minus the secret affairs and backhanded comments.”
His family is wonderful. Warm. Welcoming.
His mom and grandma doted on me during my day on the farm, and even though his dad and grandpa didn’t have much to say, they smiled at every conversation and asked polite and thoughtful questions.
“Everyone is lovely,” I tell her with a pause.
“Except Lukas. I don’t know what I ever did to him, but he hates me. ”
I expect Piper to gasp, to ask what happened and what Lukas said to me, but like everyone else, she seems to shrug my comment off.
“Lukas is … how's the best way to say this…
" Her eyes flick to the ceiling and a hand reaches up to twirl a piece of ginger hair that's fallen from her messy bun as she thinks. “Lukas is a good guy, deep down. He’s just like the rest of the men in the Hart family, there’s not a true mean bone in his body.”
I scoff at that, moving to stand and reaching for the handle of my office door. “That hasn’t been my experience at all. At one point, I thought Grayson was legitimately going to take him outside and fight him.”
Piper reaches a hand up to stop me from leaving the office. “Maybe I should say he used to be like them, but he's been through a lot these last few years, and he's just not himself anymore. He’s missing something.”
My traitorous, empathetic heart aches at that thought. I know exactly what it's like to go through a rough patch, to feel like you're not yourself and wonder how you will ever feel like yourself again. For the most part, I’ve kept my broken heart to myself. I’d never take it out on others.
“It’s probably because of his ex-girlfriend.”
I tilt my head to the side. Of all the times Grayson mentioned Lukas has changed, I assumed it was because of the military.
“Was his ex crazy?”
“Oh, God no, Magnolia is a doll. Just like her name sounds—she’s beautiful, sweet, kind.
” She lowers her voice a little, whispering as if we aren’t alone.
“They were a sight to be seen when they were together. Love literally oozed off of them, it was kind of disgusting,” she jokes.
“Annoying because we were all jealous. They were so mature in their relationship for being just teenagers, kids, really.”
“Well, what happened? Did one of them cheat?” Deployment and long distance would be hard on any relationship, I would imagine. Emotions get neglected; conversations go untold.
“Magnolia is a ballerina, did Grayson mention that?”
I shake my head no.
“She travels internationally, performs all over the world with her dance company. Lukas was also pitching for a minor league baseball team after high school.”
“What?” I whisper-hiss. Grayson hadn’t mentioned any of this when he briefly brought up Lukas. Although he doesn’t strike me as the type to openly gossip about those close to him.
“Like I said, they had this movie-type love. What are the odds that two people from a podunk town like ours are talented enough that they can make their dream a reality? They made long-distance relationships look easy. They both traveled the country to do what they loved. When Magnolia would have a break over winter, she’d go stay with Lukas for a month or so.
During his off-season, he’d fly to wherever she was dancing and stay with her.
It lasted that way for quite a few years.
I think Lukas was around twenty-one or so when he injured his shoulder, and his career ended overnight. ”
I gasp, crossing my arms and leaning my back against the office door for balance. “So, then what happened?”
“Lukas moved back to Copper Ridge to recover, needed surgery. His baseball career was over, but Magnolia went on with her life. He had surgery on his shoulder, recovered, stayed on the farm for a bit, helped out where he could. Then one day, he joined the military.”
“Wow.” I let her words sink in for a minute. If they had made it work when they both were living out their dream, I don’t see how the military would be any different. The time spent in person is less, but they had been used to long distance.
“He was almost done with his stint in the military when they broke up. He was deployed, no one had heard from him for a while. Then one day, he e-mailed his mom to say that he was fine, alive, but that he and Mags called it quits. Any follow-up questions we asked were ignored. There’s been no explanation.
After a literal lifetime together, twenty something years of knowing one another, ten years dating, it was over, and he went silent about it.
I really think the family doesn’t know, because Harper would’ve said something to me, I would think. ”
“Do you think one of them cheated?”
“Honestly, no. I don’t think either of them would ever. I don’t know what went on. Lukas returned home after the military, which was this last winter, and yeah, now he’s the Lukas you’ve met. He isn’t the same Lukas that left. And Mags doesn’t come home at all, I don’t think.”
Even though Lukas has been a complete ass, and his attitude has caused some anxiety when I think about spending time with Grayson, I feel for him.
I couldn’t imagine being with someone for that long.
Copper Ridge is a small town. They grew up together as kids, became friends, and then dated for years.
What could have happened? What would have caused a seemingly fairytale relationship to come to an end?
Piper snaps out of it first. “Anyways,” she says. “I’m going to miss you around here. Come to the breakroom with me; I have a little surprise for you.”
“A surprise? You didn’t have to get me anything.”
Piper leads as we make our way down the small hall.
The sky is dark and the doors are locked, both signaling the end of my last shift at this urgent care.
I’ll return to the ER next week, to my previous job, and if I’m being honest with myself, I’m not at all ready.
I haven’t let myself dwell on it too much, refusing to shift my mindset from this more relaxing, slower-paced life that I’ve come to appreciate.
“Don't get your hopes too high,” Piper says over her shoulder as we reach the entryway to the breakroom.
“It's not like I've thrown the ultimate surprise party with sparklers and Magic Mike dancers, but I did bake you some cupcakes.
Full disclosure, they started out as apology cupcakes, but now that you're not mad at me for setting you up with possibly the dreamiest guy on the planet, let's change them to ‘I'm going to miss you’ cupcakes.” She gestures to the small two-seater table tucked in the corner and there’s an array of cupcakes, each of them individually frosted, and lined up to spell the words ‘I'm sorry.’ “Think of it as: I’m sorry to see you go.”
A laugh bubbles out of me, and I sling an arm over her shoulder to pull her into a hug. “Honestly, I’m going to miss working with you so much. Any chance you want to travel to the city for ER shifts?”
She puffs out her cheeks at the thought of that. “No, thanks. As much as I'd love to keep working with you, I already don't like the commute I have, and even though I'm a nurse, blood and guts and mangled body parts aren’t my favorite part of the gig.”
She hands me the cupcake with the letter M on it and takes the letter I for herself, leaving the word sorry sitting on the table.
“Looking forward to going back?” Piper asks, peeling off the side of the wrapper and eating half of the cupcake in one bite.
I peel my wrapper just the same, taking a smaller bite, and practically moaning when I taste that it's funfetti. “They've been holding my position for me for the last few months, and I’m grateful for that. I owe it to them to go back.”
She pauses, working her throat in a dry swallow and licking the frosting from her lips before she speaks. “That wasn’t my question. I asked if you are looking forward to it.”
I focus on peeling the rest of my wrapper off the base of my cupcake.
I take my time eating it in smaller bites, savoring the taste and willing myself to ignore the twisting movement of my stomach.
I roll the wrapper into a ball and toss it into the nearest trash can.
“You know, Grayson asked me the same question.”
“Well?” Piper prompts, taking the ‘R’ cupcake off the table. “What did you tell big boy Grayson?”
With a shaky exhale, I breathe out a pursed breath and give her the same answer I gave him when he asked me a week ago over lunch. “I’m scared.”