Page 5 of Anchored

“What are you doing?” she hisses, giving me an exaggerated frown that does not do one thing to mar the beauty of her face.

I stare like the fucking tongue-twisted idiot I am. No words come out. Not even my scrubs seem to register for either of us because the next moment, she’s out of her chair, her finger extended toward me like she intends to use it as a weapon.

“Maple, darling!” Gracie’s thin voice warbles into the charged silence.

We both look back to the bed to see Gracie awake. Her lined face is set in a confused smile. The woman rushes back over to Gracie’s side while dots start painting my vision.

Maple?

No, no, no. No. It can’t be Maple, the girl I kissed when I was fourteen. Could it? There’s no way. I never saw her again after that summer. After that incredible first kiss that I ruined with my fucking nerd glasses.

Gracie turns her head and her face lights up when she sees me standing there. “Oh! And you brought your fiancé!”

I nearly swallow my tongue, only adding to my current issue of appearing mute. At some point, I assume I’ll need to utter at least a word or two. My lungs ache and I belatedly remember to suck in some air. That seems to fade the spots across my vision, so there’s that. I take one single step into the room, ready to clear Gracie’s confusion before Maple can scoff at the idea of me being her fiancé. Pretty sure just walking away from her without a word twenty-some-odd years ago didn’t help her have a favorable opinion of me.

Except Maple somehow rounds the bed in a flash, slides her arm around my waist, and snuggles into my side. Her perfume hits my senses first, then the warmth of her body. I’ve smelled grapefruit, roses, and cedarwood before, but combined together and attached to the ethereal Maple from my youth is enough to have my lips slamming shut again.

“That’s right, Grandma!” Maple says on a giggle, her head coming to rest against my shoulder.

My arm doesn’t know what to do. It just hangs there behind her back as she squeezes my waist tighter in some sort of silent communication I have zero hope of understanding. My fingers twitch, wanting to touch her, but I’m absolutely certain resting my hand against her lower back and the thin cotton tank top that covers her will somehow be very, very bad.

I emit a choking noise, and somewhere in the back of my brain, I’m slapping the shit out of myself.Get it together, man!I’m not Holt McGrath of twenty years ago, zero experience with girls and afraid he’s a big enough nerd he might never land a girlfriend. I’ve been married and divorced, for fuck’s sake!

“Oh, Maple of mine.” Gracie clutches her bony hands under her chin and sniffles. “I’m so happy to see you in love. I’ve been holding out until I see you two get married. Can’t die until I’ve seen my favorite grandchild set for life!”

Out of nowhere, Maple pinches the shit out of my side. I nearly jump out of my tennis shoes, but the pain does the trick. My mouth quits catching flies and attempts words.

“What the…” I whisper out of the side of my lips, only to be cut off by Maple.

“Grandma Gracie. You’re not dying!” she exclaims, letting me go to rush back over to the bed and lean over her grandmother.

Gracie lets out a long-suffering sigh, looking nothing like the energetic pistol I talked to just two days ago. Shit. I need to talk to her doctor. Minor concussion? She was showing some signs of dementia prior to the fall, but she hasn’t even recognized me today. She thinks I’m Maple’s fiancé? Her mental confusion is worse than the report alluded to.

“Oh, I’m a tough old broad, Maple. You know that, but everyone has their expiration date. The good Lord has given me close to eighty wonderful years. Seems like it’s a bit selfish to ask for more. I just want to spend this last summer with you, see you two get married, and I’ll happily slip away.”

“Grandma!” Maple gasps.

I blink, pulling myself away from my thoughts at the tone in Maple’s voice. She’s extremely worried about Gracie, and so am I. Stepping over to the bed, I put my hand on Maple’s back. She stiffens at the contact. I’m not sure what I can do to make this situation better, but what I won’t do is add to Maple’s emotional distress. So after clutching on to the bachelor lifestyle with both hands in a death grip since my divorce, I put that aside to pretend to be someone’s betrothed. It’s the least I can do after kissing her and walking away without a word all those years ago like an absolute nerd.

Besides, it’s temporary. What can it hurt?

“Let’s see if we can talk to Grandma Gracie’s doctor, my little moonbeam.” My thumb takes liberties and sweeps across her spine. I’m not sure if it’s her or me who shivers.

Wow, that sounded dumb, even to my own ears. Maybe I should have stayed mute. All I can remember is the full moon lighting the night when I kissed Maple and out came the moonbeam endearment from my mouth.

Maple straightens and gapes at me. Then she remembers her part and nods, leaning into me and burying her face in my chest. I wrap an arm around her shoulders and breathe her in, trying really hard to focus on Gracie’s medical issues and not how good it feels to be pressed against her granddaughter’s warm body. I notice a pair of spectacular breasts pressing against my torso that I would swear on my life young-Maple did not have. I notice, but I try not to, okay?

Honestly, I have no idea what I just walked into.

How did I not know Maple was Gracie’s granddaughter?

And why does Maple smell so fucking good?

ChapterThree

Maple

Grandma Gracie greeted me the first time with surprise and the kind of happiness that brought tears to my eyes. No one in my family got that excited when I walked in the room. No one except Grandma Gracie.

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