Page 86 of Always Been Yours

Grady gives me the happiest, most charming smile I’ve ever seen on him. “I’ll get you at six then.”

I nod and turn back toward the desk. Grady stays and helps me clean off the remaining ten, even though we don’t have much more to discuss about the fundraiser today. He walks me to my car and places a soft, chaste kiss to my lips. It’s perfect for this moment.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Grady

Leaning back in my chair, I’m happily taking in the view around me. I brought Vivi to Clear Horizons Brewery for a quick dinner. She has a goofy smile as she sets our drinks and appetizers up for an Instagram story. Once she finally arranges the guacamole and bacon cheese fries in what she deems appropriate, she takes a quick snap as she moves the phone from her drink and the food up to the drink in my hand. I don’t have social media, but it doesn’t bother me at all if she wants to post about me. If anything, it brings a strong sense of satisfaction.

“Do you have a lot of followers?” I ask, her seriousness making me curious.

She snorts out a laugh. “No, I only have like fifty. I keep my account private. Nothing I post is serious. There’s a lot of food, and sometimes things about books I’m reading. I post the worst photos of myself. Sometimes my siblings and Lexi as well. It’s just for fun and only for me.”

I smile, somehow loving the fact that she doesn’t take things like that seriously. She sees it as another way for her to be goofy and enjoy herself. And it’s not that I’m judgmental of people who douse Instagram, not at all. This is just a veryVivithing, and I love it for that reason alone.

“Can I scroll through it?”

“Sure,” she hands me her phone. Just like she said, there isn’t anything serious on her page. The most recent post is from last Monday. I recognize the little bandana she wore because I thought it was freaking adorable. The one before that is of the doughnuts I brought her a few weeks ago. I didn’t realize she took the picture. Clicking on it, I see a comments from Lexi and Calypso that make me laugh but keep scrolling. Right before that is from a couple of weeks ago when she went kayaking with Asher for the afternoon. She has an array of photos of her siblings that seem to be taken in surprise. Most of the ones of Lexi are of her laughing, head tipped back and smiling. I click on one of them and read the caption,the only way I want to remember her.I don’t try to hide the grin as I look through some of the other photos. The beach. Books. Brighter Daze. Dinners and lunches. Flowers. Close ups of her eyes and random shots of the horizon while she’s out on the water.

It’s such an honest look into the life of Genevieve over the last few years and I don’t want to give it back. I almost want to create an account for the first time in my life so I can analyze every single post.

Reluctantly, I hand her the phone back.

“You don’t have any social media.” She’s stating the fact, not asking a question. I quirk a brow at her.

“Have you tried to search me?”

Giving me a noncommittal shrug, she says, “Maybe once or twice. For research purposes.”

“What was the research?”

“You always want the guy who broke your teenage heart to turn out ugly.” My head tips back in laughter. She says it so confidentlythat I actually question if that was the reason.

Holding out my arms to the side I ask, “And? Am I hideous?”

“No, Grady. Fortunately for you, you’re definitely not hideous.” She gives me a small smile, her cheeks turning the lightest shade of pink.

“Would it have been easier for you to ignore me if I was?”

She stabs another fry, holding it up to her mouth. “Oh yeah, it was what I was really hoping for.”

I lean back in my chair and give her a cocky smirk. “You knew that I’d be hard to resist?”

“Ugh.” She affectionately rolls her eyes. “More like I knew you would stop at nothing to get what you want.”

“And you were just so sure that I’d want you?”

“Obviously. And clearly, I was right.” She waves her hand in my direction. “You’re like, obsessed with me,” she teases.

I shake my head, chuckling at her exaggeration. Even if it really isn’t too far off from the truth anymore.

I wanted to stay close to the beach, in hopes that we’ll have some time to walk around before we have to meet everyone else. I hadn’t had much time to take the girls down more than a couple of afternoons during the summer. But the beach has always been my place with Vivi more than anything.

And even though we both know we’ll be cutting it close on time, she agreed to go anyway. So here we are, walking across the shore for the last ten minutes.

“This is definitely in the top three things I missed about livinghere,” I admit.

“What would be the other two?” she asks quietly, just loud enough to hear over the waves. We’ve been walking in silence for a majority of our trek.

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