Page 86 of Heartbreak Hill

“Oh. Can you take me to school tomorrow?”

“I don’t live there, sweetie. Remember, I live near your grandparents.”

“Wif Weid?”

Reid covered her mouth when she heard Lynnea say her name.

“Yep, with Reid.” Grayson reached for her hand. “Where’s your mom?”

“Outside.”

“Okay, let me talk to her.”

The phone jostled and then went silent. “She hung up,” Grayson said as he stared at the black screen. “Nadia mentioned she was a little troublemaker.”

“Is Reuben not nice?”

Grayson shrugged. “He’s fine. Young. Filling the parental role right now. He moved from Arlington to Boston to help Nadia. He’s not the problem—Gemma is. The girls are very opposite and butt heads.”

He stood and took Reid with him. “Where are we going?”

“Uh, to bed, because neither of us are tired.” Grayson winked.

“Oh.”

Instead of allowing her to walk, he picked her up. “When I tell you that you’re the most important person in my life, I mean it. Am I upset by the call? Yes,” he said as he carried her to the room. “Do I want to love on you right now? Also yes.”

They fell onto the bed together. Reid scooted onto her side. “You’re going to go there, aren’t you?”

Grayson said nothing.

She ran her fingers through his hair. “I need you to do something.”

“Anything.”

“I want you to tell Nadia, and tell her the truth, Grayson. Either call her before you go or tell her when you’re there. In private. Tell her what you think and how you came to this conclusion and what her girls already mean to you. As much as I love you, you’re being incredibly selfish. They’re grieving. Nadia lost her husband, and those little girls lost their father. I know you feel a connection, and Lynnea does as well. However, what if you just happened upon them at a time when they were susceptible, and looking for someone to cling to?”

Reid sat up and added, “Have you thought about what happens if you don’t have Rafe’s heart?”

To her surprise, Grayson nodded. “I think about it daily, but then I think about those girls and ... it’s so hard to explain, Reid. Do you know how you felt when I had the heart attack, and you didn’t know whether I was going to make it?”

She nodded.

“Take that feeling and magnify it. Before I met them, I dreamed of faceless beings and woke up crying, and I couldn’t explain it. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what until I saw them. And then I realized there wasn’t anything wrong, just missing this piece to make me whole.”

“But not complete?”

Grayson ran his fingers down the side of her face. “You make me complete, Sully.”

“I hate knowing there are secrets out there. She needs to know that you believe you have her husband’s heart. Not telling her is deceiving her. It’s deceiving the girls, and it’s honestly setting them up for more heartbreak.”

“I can give you every excuse possible, like it’s too soon or it might be too much for Nadia to bear. Honestly, I think you’re expecting me to say those things.”

Reid nodded.

Grayson sighed. “I don’t know if I’m ready to say those words to her, but I will.”

“When?”

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