3. Greer
Greer
Greer fist-bumped the guard at Tessa’s gated community just before he drove on by.
It had been a tough day of training, just like they all were.
But today he’d gone the extra mile, pushing his body beyond its usual limits and really trying to progress on some of his goals.
His fight against Troy was coming up in just three weeks, and now was the time to dig down deep and give it his all.
And given his body was beyond tired and sore tonight, he knew he’d been successful.
Freshly showered and in a clean, short-sleeved button-down shirt and cargo shorts, Greer pulled into Tessa’s parents’ driveway, contemplating the news Coach Matthews had given them today.
He and Sean had been sparring in the octagon, working on Greer’s boxing skills, when Coach pulled them aside and gave them a few extra days off for the Fourth of July weekend.
Both of them had been stunned. Coach had a reputation for never giving anyone time off.
Sean immediately ran upstairs to tell his girlfriend, Andrea, who had been staying with them for a few days.
The strange thing was, all Greer wanted to do was tell Tessa.
They actually had some plans for the holiday, funny as it was.
Tessa’s parents were celebrating their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and planning a day-long party that extended into the evening, followed by fireworks.
He’d actually been invited to stay at the house for the weekend, given that the whole family was going to be there.
He was really looking forward to that. He liked Tessa, as well as her family. Plus, it meant more time with her, which is something he’d never turn down.
But every time he went to text her, he stopped.
He didn’t want to sound desperate or needy, but he couldn’t think of anyone he wanted to spend his newfound free time with more.
Still, he had to keep the idea firmly in his mind that this was all fake.
Sure, they went out together, but it was because they needed to be seen to keep up appearances.
What would Tessa think about just hanging out in their free time?
Was this relationship more like a job to her?
She punched in and out when required, and did her own thing off hours?
Deep down, he didn’t think so. But to be certain, he had to ask, and that was going to make things awkward. He didn’t want to make things awkward. He only wanted to spend more time with her.
Authentic time.
Parking his black Mustang behind her white Jeep, he got out of the car and ran a hand over the top.
It had been his little gift to himself after his first win, which had netted him more money than he knew what to do with.
He’d invested some of it, paid off some bills, and gave a bit to his mother and brother.
What remained, he used to purchase a Mustang, a dream of his since he was a little boy.
Pulling a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine from the backseat, he was glad for their standing date every Tuesday and Thursday, which usually started with dinner at her parents’ house.
It was important for him to come by, given that Troy had eyes everywhere.
Sometimes the scumbag tried to park around the corner of the guard shack, just a few feet past where his restraining order said he could be, watching folks coming in and out of the neighborhood.
Greer always made sure to give him a friendly little wave whenever he saw him.
And sometimes? A gesture that wasn’t as friendly.
But now that people were starting to catch on to them dating, both of their social media accounts were blowing up.
People would see them out and about and tag them in the photos they took and posted.
Not to mention paparazzi stopping them a couple of times.
He knew it was all getting back to Troy, so he made sure to play it up whenever he could.
He knew he was keeping Tessa safe by doing it.
Plus, he didn’t hate that holding her close was part of the job.
For some strange reason, it felt really, really right.
“Hello?” he called out, knocking on the large, oak-paneled door before he let himself inside.
Popping a head into the kitchen, he set down the wine and flowers on a large, butcher block island before he proceeded to walk through the house.
Directly toward the back, he could see her dad standing at the grill on the back patio.
As he pulled open the glass door to step out, Tessa’s father turned to greet him with a big smile.
“Greer!” he said, motioning for him to come over with the metal spatula in his hand. “C’mon over, I hope you like steak.”
“I can always be convinced,” Greer said, grinning back as he approached the man.
When Tessa learned that he needed to be on a strict diet as part of his training regimen, she made sure every dinner had plenty of options for him.
It’d become so commonplace over the past few weeks that it felt more like a casual family dinner than an adherence to guidelines.
Who knew it could be both?
“Where’s Tess?” he asked, having a look around.
The half-moon stone patio was lined with sweet-smelling flowering bushes, looking out over a meticulously manicured, rich green lawn.
It was a beautiful summer evening with the sun shining down and casting everything in a golden glow, and judging by the made-up table in the corner, they’d be taking advantage of that, eating outside tonight.
“She’s upstairs in her room,” Lyle said as he flipped a steak over. “Plotting.”
“Plotting? That can’t be good,” Greer said, laughing.
One thing that made Tessa different from any other woman he’d known was how incredibly smart she was.
Sure, she was majoring in finance, and there was no question how good she was with numbers.
But she also loved learning in all its forms. She could appreciate something as simple as a tree leaf pattern she saw when they were walking through a park, or come up with a random bit of history she’d learned when they were strolling through the city.
She’d even asked him about fighting techniques, which blew his mind. Most of the women he knew liked the idea of being on the arm of a fighter, but had zero interest in how he did what he did. It proved to him that Tessa genuinely cared.
“Well, I gave her a bit of a task,” Lyle said, turning down the burner and shutting the lid on the grill. “I asked her to pick something up for me outside Plattsburgh.”
“New York?” Greer asked, recalling it was near the Canadian border. “That’s a hike.”
“It is,” he said, his face turning serious. “I wonder if I might be able to convince you to go with her.”
“How long is she going to be gone for?” he asked, knowing that he had some days coming up, but he couldn’t break away from a lot of his training.
Coach had given him and Sean strict instructions to keep up as much as they could on their days off.
Eating right, exercising. They still had fights to win.
“A night or two, tops,” he said. “I just… with this whole Troy situation going on, I don’t want her out there by herself.”
“Agreed,” Greer said, taking his job as her fake boyfriend very seriously. While he knew most of it was to be a showpiece, there had been times when Troy had taken things too far.
And he seemed to stay away the closer Greer was to her.
“I’ll see if I can,” Greer said. “If she can hold off a couple of days, I might be able to.”
“Glad to hear it,” Lyle said, giving him a clap on the shoulder. “I know you’ll keep her safe.”
“I’ll do my best,” he promised.
He followed Tessa’s dad into the house, only instead of gravitating toward a small room off the living room where her mom stood on her cell phone, Greer took the winding staircase that led to the second floor.
On silent feet, he walked down the carpeted hallway all the way to the end, where he knew Tessa’s room was.
Peeking his head in, he saw Tessa sitting on the floor, surrounded by papers all set in neat piles.
“Hey,” she said, looking up and giving him a smile.
Each pile had yellowed sheets of paper covered with lines of cursive writing.
There was a matching envelope attached, and everything appeared to be color-coded with a series of sticky notes.
Deep purple, yellow, and the occasional skinny orange flag. “Sorry, it’s a bit of a mess in here.”
“What is all this?” he asked, stepping into her room, surprised by how dark her blue eyes were. Clearly, she’d been in deep thought, and they sparkled like sapphires when she looked up at him. “I was expecting travel plans, not… letters.”
“Dad must have told you, huh?” she asked as he entered the room. “They’re letters my great-grandmother Alice wrote. Purple is a letter she wrote. Yellow for my grandfather. And orange is something noteworthy.”
“No kidding,” he said, figuring that tracked given how old the letters looked. Afraid he’d disrupt something, Greer took a seat on the floor opposite her, a sea of papers floating between them. “Noteworthy like what?”
“Well, I’m looking for information about a piece of jewelry she had,” Tessa began, her eyes roaming over the piles until she saw one with an orange note sticking out.
“It could be some small detail, like where she’d worn it, or something someone had mentioned about it.
I’m finding that she was a really detailed person, at least if these letters are any indicator. ”
“Tell me about her,” Greer said, the command surprising Tessa. It was almost as if she couldn’t believe he’d be interested in something that clearly made her heart happy.
“Well, I’m afraid I don’t know too much about her, which is why I’ve been reading her letters.” She casually dragged her fingertips against the delicate paper next to her. “My dad was raised by her and my great-grandfather after his parents died in a car accident.”
“I’m so sorry,” he said, not knowing this little bit of family history.