Page 124 of Broken Dreams
I force a smile. “I must have been pretty memorable then.”
“You absolutely are.”
Ask me to stay. Ask me to try.
But he doesn’t. Just like he didn’t last night. I silently begged him to but then he urged me to go.
“I have something I need to tell you,” he says with eyes shining.
Maybe he is going to ask me or tell me his feelings are deeper than whatever this arrangement is.
“What?”
“I got an email from Mateo.”
“Oh,” I say, taken aback. “What did it say?”
“He’s going to give me the investment. They’re drawing the paperwork up now.”
“Grady! This is amazing,” I say, genuinely happy for him. I know how much he wanted this and how hard he’s worked to show them whatever they were looking for in regards to his plan.
“I honestly can’t believe it.”
“I can. You’re so smart and I knew you would do this.”
He leans in and gives me a sweet kiss. I pull back, a little shocked since we really haven’t had any affection other than holding hands here.
“Thank you, Addy. You helped a lot. If it weren’t for you approaching them on our first date, I don’t know that I would’ve gotten a second look.”
I shake my head. “No, no way. You were going to get this money. I was just by your side, that’s all. This is all you.”
“I think you played a part, but I appreciate you saying that.”
I smile. “So much good news all around. I swear, weddings are magical. I don’t know if it’s the hope that two souls have found their other half and will find happiness forever or if it’s just that they’re surrounded in love, but I love them.”
Grady smiles. “You look so beautiful when you smile like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like everything is going to be okay.”
My eyes soften. “Aren’t we living proof of that? We’re alive after feeling pain. We’ve endured grief that many can’t fathom. We’ve learned to laugh again, smile, and live. It’s not perfect, but it’s life.”
And God, I wish he would open himself up enough to share it with me. We could be so good together. This investment and my possibly moving back to Oregon changes everything, though. He is going to be starting a company as a single father, building the house on his land, and he’s made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t want a relationship and wants this time with Jett to be just them as they navigate living together for the first time since he was born.
Then there’s this idea of taking our grassroots foundation and it becoming something none of us dreamed of. Which is exciting, but also terrifying.
“I just wish I could feel it the way you do.”
“I wish you could too,” I confess. “I want nothing more than for you to feel it.”
“I do when I’m with you.”
“That was very sweet.”
Grady turns us and his thumb makes swirls on my back. “What are you going to do about moving back to Oregon?”
“I don’t know,” I admit, not sure what the right move is.
