Page 21 of Always Been Yours

I know he means his daughters. Or when he tore his ACL and was probably forced to find a new dream. Or maybe both.

Yet that husky voice wraps me like a vice for the second time now. It doesn’t even bother me that he used my full name this time. How could it when he says it in that voice that belongs in a bedroom, whispered directly in your ear?

I’m about to ask what his dreams are now, or evenwhothat dream involves regardless of the alarms flashing in the corners of my mind. I know it isn’t fair to demand answers from him when I can guarantee that I’ll refuse to answer anything he asks me, partly from self-preservation and partly from spite.

Lexi walks inside a moment before I was about to embarrass myself, and I’ve never been so thankful to see her perfect—albeit smug—face before.

Slowly, she asks, “What’s going on here?”

“Nothing. Are you ready to leave soon?”

With her signature shit-eating grin that’s growing by the second, she nods and turns back outside. Presumably to start the goodbyes.

I take a step toward the door, offering Grady a weird closed-mouth grin. It probably looks more like a constipated grimace, but it’s all I have in me right now.

“Vivi?”

“Hm?” There are a few feet of space between us now, but I still feel too close to him. It’s suffocating, like he takes up the entire room and his cologne is the only air available.

“When is a good time to meet this week?”

I don’t say anything, but I take a step toward my purse. He doesn’t follow me, instead watching from the island. I pull my tablet out and open the planner app. I could use the calendar app but this one is as customizable as a physical one. It holds almost every minute of my life.

I quickly scroll through the next week, looking for any sort of availability I can swing that’s not the first thing tomorrow.

With classes beginning on Wednesday, I know that the later into the week, the less time I’ll have. I just… I’m not going to be ready tomorrow. Not after tonight. Not after everything he told me. Not after the expectant glint in his eyes as he waits for an answer.

But this isn’t about me. This is about the students, and the school, and the promise I made.

So, I’ll spend the night mentally preparing and show up tomorrow.

“It’s last minute but tomorrow at eleven works the best for me.” Just because I wake up early doesn’t mean I like having to rush my morning routines on the days that it’s not necessary. “I have two free hours. Not that I think it will take that long, but we won’thave to worry about running out of time either.”

“Eleven works for me. Let’s meet at the school. I have some things to finish up.”

I wonder whatthingshe means, but I give him a thumbs up and another closed-mouth smile before turning quickly on my heel and walking outside.

“That was interesting,” Lexi says from the driver seat of my CrossTrek, never letting her eyes leave the road. She’s the safest driver I know.

“I guess so.” I give her a noncommittal shrug, connecting my Bluetooth. I usually wouldn’t bother for the short drive, but I already want to drown out her curious voice.

“What were you guys talking about?”

“When?”

“In the kitchen?”

“We were doing the dishes.”

She pauses, contemplating her next line of attack. “What were you talking about when you finished the dishes?”

“When we’re meeting for the fair.” Not a total lie but not the part of the conversation I know she’s asking about.

She knows it too. The large breath she huffs out is a dead giveaway of her frustration and I can’t help but smirk in response.

“God, you’re fucking annoying sometimes, do you know that?”

“Your fault for taking in a pathetic little stray ten years ago,” I tease.

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