Chapter 26 – Dean
Isaac came into my office and rested his back against the wall, studying me. “What happened to your tie?”
“It was strangling me, so I put it in timeout.” I pointed over to the chair in the corner where I’d thrown it. The tie had landed perfectly, a fact I was prouder of than my reason for throwing it.
“Do you have time to play racquetball during lunch?” Isaac asked.
“You only ask me that when I’m driving everyone nuts.”
“You’re in here muttering to yourself. Connie already rescheduled your eleven ‘o clock appointment. She said for me to take you out of here by any means necessary.”
So, this was an ambush, not a friendly invitation. Good to know. “Fine. I’d love to play racquetball.”
“I already called the gym and reserved a court. I’ll see you there in thirty minutes. I have to leave right after for an appointment with Freedom Locksmith.”
“Okay, thanks.”
I finished writing up the assessment I’d been working on and sent it to Connie to read over. Among the many hats she wore was proofreader. Then I shut down my computer and walked out. “I’m forwarding my calls to you,” I told her on my way past her desk.
“That’s probably for the best,” she said with a smile. “Go hit things until you feel better, dear. I don’t want to know what this is about. I just want my sunshine back.”
As if it was that easy. Grace was so good at freezing people out. I’d texted maybe twice in the six days since I’d last seen her. And when I’d finally checked in again and asked if she and Piper might want to make dinner with me tonight, her answer was, “It’s not a good night for it. Maybe this weekend.”
Translation: Slow your roll . Her enthusiasm for hanging out with me post-kiss was overwhelming.
I always left a gym bag with clean clothes and an extra set of athletic shoes in the trunk of my car. I never knew when a client might want to meet up that way. A lot of people worked through their lunch hour, but they didn’t mind company for their daily workout.
Isaac beat me to the gym. He was waiting by the front desk with our racquets and a canister of racquetballs when I walked up and scanned my I.D.
We got changed, talking about work stuff until we were in the racquetball court. Then Isaac pointed his racquet at me. “Let me guess. She let you get close to her, and then she ran as fast as she could in the other direction?”
“I don’t want to talk about Grace.” I moved to behind the service line and started the game, hitting the ball so hard it flew straight to the back wall without bouncing. A faulty serve.
Isaac picked up the ball and tossed it to me, and I tried again. It was a good serve, but Isaac was ready for me. We played a full game to fifteen points before Isaac put the ball in the canister with the other one and tucked the canister in his pocket. It stuck out, looking stupid, but I got the message.
“So, this is what we’re doing?” I asked. He was going to force me to talk about my relationship with his sister. By definition, he was the wrong person for this. “You’ve got the power stance going on and everything.” He had the audacity to stand there staring at me with his arms crossed and his feet spread apart like he was staring down a boardroom full of twitchy investors and it was his job to reassure them with nothing but his confidence.
“Yes, this is what we’re doing. Would you rather talk about this with Connie?”
“I’d rather not talk about it at all. The situation is in flux, and I’m grumpy. It’s not a reason to kidnap me and make me talk about my feelings.”
“I realize that. But I know you, and I know Grace, and you two have traits that are like runaway trains heading straight for each other. Maybe you don’t need this, but just in case you do, let me say it.”
“Fine.” I waved my racquet at him. “What do I need to know?”
“Do you remember when you told me to make changes to Beautiful Blooms whether I had Grace’s permission or not? You told me not to let her wait me out.”
“Yes. I said you had to treat it like you might get hit by a bus tomorrow. The business needed to get turned around, and you were waiting on her to be on board with it. Meanwhile, the shop was stagnating. I said just do it now.”
“Right. Well, throw that advice out the window.”
That was not what I was expecting him to say, and he smiled, seeing my surprise.
“Grace is not a business plummeting into the ground, and she doesn’t want to be rescued.”
“Yeah. I’m aware. She told me I have damsel-in-distress syndrome.”
Isaac laughed. “That sounds like Grace.” He tossed his racquet from hand to hand. “I guess what I’m saying is, she’s expecting you to treat this like anything else in your life. She’s the exciting new project that’s consumed you. You’re going to give it your best effort, study the pros and cons, and then walk away when you’ve decided it’s not worth it. And you won’t look back. That’s what she’s preparing herself for, with more armor than you can imagine.”
I frowned. “That’s not me at all.” And that better not be how Grace felt because it made me sound awful.
“I know. But I have to ask. Are you really, truly, serious about her?”
“Yes.” I could say it without hesitation. She was all I could think about, and that wasn’t a new thing. The intensity had ramped up since finding out our chemistry could blow up a science lab, but she was so much more to me than that.
“You’re in this?”
“Well, I can’t force her to fall in love with me, but I’d sure like to make it happen. She claims she can’t love anybody anymore.”
Isaac rubbed his shoulder, looking thoughtful. “When we were kids, we had this drawer that broke, and my mom taped over it so we wouldn’t accidentally open it and pull the whole drawer out. It eventually got fixed, but we were so used to not using it, we never put anything in it again. Grace feels that way about relationships. She’s operating like the drawer is still broken.” He smiled. “I think she’ll come around, though. For you.”
“Okay, but—”
He held up his hand, cutting me off. “The bad news is, there are no shortcuts. There’s nothing you can do to fix it right this second, which is why you’re so squirrelly. Get over your action-based, troubleshooting instincts and just chill. Be the guy she needs, day in, day out.”
“Is there good news?”
“Yeah. She’s secretly a softy. Also, Piper thinks you’re pretty great.”
I smiled. Didn’t I know it. On both counts. If anything, I was the least risky guy Grace could ever date as a single mom, because I wasn’t some guy being introduced to Piper. Piper was already a part of my life, and that wouldn’t change, even if Grace decided to permanently go back to pretending I didn’t exist.
Isaac got a ball out of the canister and bounced it on his racquet. “Big picture: Grace is waiting for you to give up. So, just prove to her you won’t.”
I let out a long breath. “Okay, that’s not the worst advice you’ve ever given me.”
“You’re welcome. One more game?”
I nodded. Perhaps I did need to calm it down and have a little faith. We played one more game to fifteen points, and because Isaac had trashed me in the first one, I made sure to win the second. Then I showered, changed, and headed back to the office, giving Connie a genuine smile as I passed her desk.
She had ten messages for me to return, but first, I opened up my text thread with Grace. I didn’t know what conflicting plans she had for tonight, but I could at least let her know what other nights I was free. I sank into my desk chair and sent off a new text.
Dean: Friday or Sunday night is good for me. I was thinking of barbecuing hamburgers. I haven’t used my grill in a while.
She sent me back a thumbs up a few seconds later. Followed by… nothing. Isaac wasn’t even a little bit wrong about Grace’s defense system. It was firing on all cylinders. I thought back to what she’d said in frustration: I just can’t keep resisting you. Those weren’t the words of someone who was indifferent, no matter how much she wanted me to believe otherwise.