Maisie
. . .
SIXTEEN
Grayson clears his throat, crossing his hands behind his back. He stares at the two of us, and I can’t read the emotion on his face. “Dinner’s ready.”
Nova and I plop on our butts, and I scoot off the bed before grabbing her by the hips and lowering her gently. She immediately grabs my hand, rushing us past Grayson and back to the kitchen.
“Last one there’s a rotten egg,” she screams.
I’m starting to understand Grayson's warning now. As soon as we enter the kitchen, I’m hit with an array of smells that has me moaning under my breath.
“It smells delicious in here. I didn’t know you could cook.
” I look over the table Grayson must have set while I was trying my best not to hack up my stomach in Nova’s room.
There are three place settings at the small wooden table.
One has a glittering unicorn place mat, so I take the one next to it.
“Yeah, someone had to cook for Laine, so I went to the local diner and worked a summer there, learning how to cook all the basics.”
“Mommy is the best cook,” Nova chirps, a giant smile on her face. “And Uncle Gway makes the best pancakes.”
I understand her comment when I take in the smattering of food across the table. Every breakfast food imaginable is present, from pancakes, to meats, omelets, and is that… “Crepes?”
Grayson takes the setting opposite of me, nibbling his lip.
“Yeah, it’s sort of our thing. Breakfast for dinner.
Laine and I used to do it, and my pancakes are Nova's favorite, so it kind of just stuck.” He tucks his hands under the table like this is an awkward first date.
“Sorry; I would have cooked something else if I knew you were coming.”
“Are you kidding? Pancakes are my favorite. Nova knows her shi—stuff.”
Nova giggles, winking at me while putting three large pancakes on her plate. It’s way more than she can eat, but there’s no doubt in my mind there’s plenty to go around. It looks like Grayson cooked for an entire neighborhood.
Did he do that for me, or is this how he always is with Nova? I push the thought aside, not wanting to go there. This is just dinner. He needed to eat. I needed to eat. We both just happen to be eating under the same roof…with the food his hands cooked…for me…like we are some little family.
Fuck, this is bad.
My plate is stacked full of every item he cooked. I’m definitely eating with my eyes right now and not my stomach, but I would feel bad letting so much food go untouched.
When you hop through foster families, you tend to grab as much food as possible when it’s available. Lan and I learned quickly. It seems a little bit of that has stuck.
We eat in silence, neither me nor Grayson partaking in any small talk.
What would we even say? He looks like he wants to kill the pancake on his plate, spearing it with his fork like it personally wronged him.
It makes me want to eat as fast as possible so I can get out of his bubble.
The least he could do is make small talk for Nova’s sake.
I’m starting to wonder if he only said yes to me because of Nova.
Nova, the little ham, decides to tell us jokes for the next ten minutes between bites.
I think most of her food ends up on the table rather than down her throat.
“What did the unicorn say when it fell? I’ve fallen, and I can’t giddy up!
” She doesn’t even pause to let us try and guess, too excited to tell us the answer before she’s belly laughing with a mouthful of food.
My heart twinges, watching this sweet little girl so full of joy, until I look over at Mr. Grinch in the corner, sulking. What is his problem? Besides announcing dinner, he hasn’t said two words. Sure, he’s laughed at Nova’s jokes, but eye contact? He hasn’t looked my way since we started eating.
Do I have something in my teeth? I casually pretend to rub my lip, scratching my teeth in the process. While I’m at it, I blow into my palm to check my breath, since we’ve already established Grayson hasn’t looked my way. It smells fine…I think?
I come to the conclusion Grayson just has a stick up his butt, per usual, and it has nothing to do with me.
I swear, this man's mood swings should be studied. It’s not like I thought we would become best friends or anything after spilling our life stories to each other, but a little eye contact wouldn’t hurt him.
“POP-CORN,” Nova screams, breaking me from my thoughts. I missed the joke, but I still laugh along with her. “I knew you wouldn’t get that one right, Uncle Gway.”
He chuckles. “You got me good, little one. You better eat up so you can grow big and strong like me,” he teases, flexing his arm at her.
Well now, my appetite is ruined, because all I can think about is Grayson’s bulging muscles strangling his shirt. It shouldn’t be so sexy, but I picture his rough hands grabbing me by the neck and shoving me against a wall…
Shit, I need to get laid so I don’t pounce on the man like a dog in heat.
Maybe I’ll break out the trusty toy tonight; it should do the trick enough to hold me over.
I can always hit up Outlaw and find a nice cowboy to scratch the itch…
even if I already have one in mind, sitting right across from me.
I sneak a look over at him between a bite of food and almost jump out of my chair when I find his eyes fixed on me.
Well, that’s a new development. He studies my face, tilting his head to the side as he shoves a ridiculously large bite of pancake in his mouth, licking the remaining syrup off his fork.
My legs squeeze under the table, and I focus back on my food while Nova shoots off another joke. Did he know I was thinking about him? He was studying me like my feelings were written across my forehead.
“This is amazing,” I say around a bite, looking at him in the corner of my eye.
He responds with a grunt. A fucking grunt. Apparently, we are back in the stone ages before language was a thing. This should be fun.
“What have you and Nova been up to?” I’m trying to fill the awkward silence, not that Nova has taken notice. She’s too busy pretending to feed her unicorn stuffy sitting on the chair next to her like a human.
“Puzzles,” Grayson shoots off, not helping hold the conversation.
Men.
“Okayyyy,” I respond, dragging out the word.
This is getting really awkward, and I’m starting to get the feeling me being in his house makes Grayson uncomfortable.
I’m not sure why we can’t be two civil humans, but, apparently, Grayson has chosen the route where he’s pretending I don’t exist. He did tell me we can’t be anything, but I didn’t know that included friends too.
At this point, I’m just plain irritated.
I feel dumb letting them talk me into joining dinner and ruining their night.
I hate being a burden. Mix anxiety with jumping around foster homes that felt like they didn’t want you there, and a person feels like a nuisance.
I’ve worked hard to get to a place where I feel okay leaning on others occasionally, but it isn’t easy.
One unplanned dinner with Grayson is about to unravel every bit of work I’ve put into myself.
I won’t let him do it.
I start up a conversation with Nova, turning my back to Grayson. Two can play at this game. If he hasn’t learned I have claws at this point, that’s his fault. I can hear him push food around his plate, clearly listening in on our conversation, but he keeps his lips sealed.
When we finish eating, I decide to kill his bad attitude with kindness.
If there’s one thing about me, I'm always going to do my share. Grayson cooked, so I’ll clean.
My chair shuffles back as I collect mine and Nova’s plates.
I walk over to a perplexed Grayson, taking his plate off the table to stack with ours.
He was definitely going for another bite, but it was worth the look on his face.
There’s plenty of more food for him to eat on the table if he really wants it, so I don’t feel as bad.
I head over to the kitchen sink, plugging the stopper to fill it with warm, soapy water.
While it fills, I’m reminded of the first time I saw Grayson.
It was right here, at this very sink. I stare out the window I caught him looking at me through, looking over the dark trail Chesney drove us on to get to my cabin.
His eyes were what caught my attention, gripping me like a snake latching on to its prey.
He has a hold on me I’ve never felt before.
There was so much emotion in his eyes that night.
Full of so many things, I couldn’t make them all out.
But if there was one thing I saw, there was a story within them, just like mine.
Pain recognizes pain, and boy, was I right.
I’ve thought countlessly over his and Laine’s childhood.
What they’ve both been through, Laine even more so.
Grayson gave up his childhood to take care of his little sister.
He still seems to be doing that now, and even though I want to be pissed at him for whatever pissy mood he’s in, I just don’t have the energy to fight him.
If he wants to hide from me? So be it. I won’t be some fish waiting around for the first hook to attach itself to.
“What are you doing?”
I startle, dropping the fork I was washing into the sink. Bubbles fly up, and one lands on my boob, leaving behind a wet spot. “Doing the dishes,” I respond, holding it up to him. “I know it’s a pretty new concept, but I really feel like it’s going to be the next big thing.”
He doesn’t laugh. Buzz kill.
“Why?”
I recoil, confused on what he wants me to say. Is he mad at me now for doing his dishes? Can I do nothing right by him?
I throw my hands up, bubbles floating along with them. “I don’t know, Grayson. Maybe because they needed done, and I’m trying to help out. You made me dinner, so I’m cleaning. End of story.”