Chapter 13 #2
I glance toward the bedroom door, listening to ensure the hallway outside is still quiet. “It’s been... busy.”
“I figured.” Her voice softens. “I wasn’t really mad that you hadn’t answered. Just worried.”
Guilt settles heavier on my shoulders. “I kept meaning to call.”
“I know.”
“You did?”
“You’re you.” I can practically hear her shrug. “You would’ve convinced yourself you needed to finish one more meeting, then one more dinner, then one more conversation. By the time you got back to your room, you’d have fallen asleep with your glasses still on.”
I blink. “You’re annoying.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Silence stretches between us, comfortable in a way nothing has felt since arriving in Connecticut.
“So, what plot bunnies are keeping you awake?”
“Indigestion and minotaurs.”
I chuckle. “Please tell me that’s only a working title.”
“No. The baby is shoving my stomach acid up my throat, so I can’t lie down.” A click of the keyboard comes over the line. “Figurd I’d get some work done.”
I fold one arm behind my head. “What happened to the smuty orcs?”
“They’re staging a rebellion, so I’m working on my side-side-side project.” She hums to herself as she taps a few keys. “Do you think I can give my minotaurs knotting penises?”
“Don’t those have the head of a bull and the body of a man?” At her hum of agreement, I say, “Is it an Alpha minotaur?”
“He…could be.” The tapping of keys quickens. “This is why you’re the best.”
“Because I can give your knotting penises a valid reason to exist on a minotaur?”
“Yep.” She gives an evil cackle. “This is going to be so good.”
“How is everybody?” I ask.
“Oh, where do I start?” I hear footsteps, then a door opening. “Quinn informed Holden this morning that she plans to marry Sprinkles because he’s ‘the handsomest boy on the island.’ Nathaniel spent half an hour trying to explain that dogs can’t get married.”
A laugh escapes before I can stop it. “How’d that go?”
“She asked if we can move to Canada.”
“That sounds about right.”
“She also wanted me to tell you she found another frog.”
“Alive?”
“…Mostly.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I’ll add amphibian rehabilitation to my schedule when I get back.”
“There you go.” She pauses. “See? Already making promises.”
When I don’t respond, uncertainty comes through the line.
“You are coming back,” she whispers. “Right?”
My throat tightens. “Course I am. All my stuff is still there.”
More silence fills the line, and I can sense Chloe restraining herself from pushing for a more solid commitment.
My eyes drift to the tall windows that overlook the dark grounds beyond the Finch estate. Manicured hedges. Stone pathways. Nothing left to grow out of order.
“I didn’t think it’d be this hard,” I admit.
“No?”
I shake my head before remembering she can’t see me. “I’ve traveled before.”
“This isn’t traveling.”
“No.” The word leaves me on a breath. “This is the first time I’ve been back since I started university.”
Chloe’s breath catches. “I know.”
I swallow hard.
“It’s too quiet here during the day,” she continues. “I keep thinking of things I want to tell you, then remembering you’re three time zones away.”
“You live with four other people,” I remind her. “You have plenty of people you can talk to.”
“But none of them are you. They don’t understand,” she says. “Like, I just finished chapter twelve.”
“So you’re stuck in the murky middle of your manuscript?”
“See? You know what the problem is right away!”
“You always start questioning yourself around this point. “
“We hates the murky middle.” She lets out a dramatic sigh. “Every third sentence starts with ‘She’.”
“You should fix that.”
“Why do you hate me?”
“I love you.”
She blows a raspberry through the speaker. “Your love is insufferable when it comes to edits.”
I close my eyes. “I miss you guys.”
On the other end of the line, Chloe sniffles. “We miss you, too.”
Another pause.
“Grady?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t come back because you think we’re waiting for you.”
I frown.
“We’ll still be here, whether you come home next week or six months from now.”
The lump in my throat grows.
“But don’t stay there because you think you owe them a life that isn’t yours.”
My grip tightens around the phone.
“You’ve spent years helping everyone else build the lives they want.” The wobble has left her words now, leaving only the warmth Chloe can manage. “Just... make sure this time you’re building one you’ll be happy living in.”
I stare out into the darkness beyond the windows, where everything here is polished and orderly and contained in its correct box. And for the first time since I landed, I let myself admit that I’m no longer sure where I’m supposed to be.
A muffled voice calls Chloe’s name.
She sighs in exasperation. “I have to go. Holden’s brought me a new concoction to slay my indigestion.”
I clear my throat. “Can’t keep him waiting.”
A beat.
“Grady?”
“Yeah?”
“If I go into labor before you get back, I’m naming the baby Garfield, even if it’s a girl.”
I snort. “You wouldn’t.”
“I absolutely would.”
“You’re evil.”
“I learned from the best.”
The call disconnects a heartbeat later.
I lower the phone to my chest and lie in the darkness for a long time, listening to the quiet house settle around me.
Chloe and Emily both told me to follow my happiness, and I know where that leads.
But will I still be happy if my family disowns me for my choice?
Am I brave enough to find out?