Page 44 of Return to Us
“He was an idiot, and again, I was showing him the error of his ways.”
“I’m not denying that, but you were none too happy.”
He moves just a bit closer. “You were there to calm me.”
“I did that a lot,” I add on, nudging him playfully.
“You made things better.”
“So did you,” I say, my voice barely a whisper.
There were many nights that I would sneak out and meet Grayson by the overlook point. It was nestled back in the woods between our houses where the rich met the poor and we were in the middle. There were no houses around it, and it gave us a view of the world that couldn’t see us. We were equals there, and we could see the stars that felt so close we could just reach out and grab them.
Grayson would go there when he needed to be himself, and I would go when I needed to escape my family.
We were just two kids who needed each other.
“Jessica!” Amelia calls out, making me turn.
“I’ll be right there,” I say as I wave.
The moment we were sharing seems to pass, and I wish I had been brave before and told him the truth.
But it won’t change anything.
Grayson and I will always be the past, and that’s part of what I’m mourning. The girl who had big dreams and loved the sky before everything crashed.
“I should go.” My voice cracks a little.
He nods. “She likes you.”
“I like her too. She’s great, and I’m happy for you, Gray. I’m happy that you have her and she has you.”
Grayson reaches up and catches a piece of hair that has blown in my face, tucking it behind my ear. “And what about you, Jess? Are you happy with how things turned out?”
No. Not even a little. I miss you, and I hate that I do. I thought of you when I thought I was dying.
“Things are how I hoped,” I lie, not willing to make things awkward for us.
“Good. You better get back with the very wet sand because Melia is eyeing us, and that’s never a good thing.”
I turn to her, my legs feeling unsteady as I walk away from him. I fight every look back at him, to see if he’s watching me, and I keep my eyes forward because no matter how much I may wish I could go back, I can’t. I need to remember that.
* * *
“Is Amelia asleep?” Delia asks Grayson from where she’s cuddled up with Jack on the couch. His arm draped around her shoulders as she rests her head on his chest.
The two of them baffle me. Neither feel anything for each other than friendship, but you’d swear they were more. He says that Delia is just a girl who he likes being around and there is nothing but a sense of comfort. There’s always been something about him, though, something that says there’s someone who he’s not willing to admit feelings for.
But, then again, that was a long time ago, and I don’t know this new Jack very well.
Grayson looks at them and then to the only spot for him to sit—beside me. He nods. “She’s out like a light. She had a busy day.”
Jack laughs. “Yeah, the sea air and building an entire village of sand castles and houses will do that.”
“We did very well, thank you,” I chime in.
“You did. I am impressed.”
