Page 22 of Shy Girl
Which had truth in it, or I never would have agreed to come with him.
Butenjoying the opportunityseemedsodangerous, like intentionally flirting with fire. Yes, I could enjoy my time with Jayson as a friend. At least show affection enough to keep Victoria and others off his back. My heart would be a ragged mess on the other side, however, when we both went back to our individual lives and I was just Dagny again.
Wouldn’t it be a ragged mess anyway? I would meet my biological father without him knowing it and the only reassurance I had in this entire scenario was that Anthony Dunkin would finally be forced to face me. The mistake he tried to avoid.
In the end, however, Jayson did me a big favor. Bigger than what I did for him, which gave me a twinge of guilt that he felt so obligated to pay me back. Jayson had eliminated all my obstacles to finding Anthony and taken me right to my goal, and he didn’t even realize it.
“You doing okay?”
I jerked, brought sharply out of my thoughts by the mild concern in his voice. When I glanced over, Jayson studied me.
“F-fine. Thanks.”
He seemed reassured by my smile, but not by much. “Ever flown before?”
I shook my head.
“We’ll even out in a minute.” He leaned back, at ease in this world. “Did you have any problems getting the time off?”
“B-bethany was happy to give it to me. Sh-she’s been worried after the . . . the c-crazy woman.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
“W-what happens after we a-arrive?”
“We’ll have a few hours to get settled in our rooms. I called Grady and asked for separate ones for you and me. Then there’s a big welcome dinner on the beach tonight.”
He leaned a little closer and the heady, spicy smell of peppermint moved with him. He hadn’t shaved the night before, so stubble darkened his jawline. I tightened my fingers together as he pulled his phone out of the pocket in front of him.
“Here’s the hotel we’ll be staying at on the island,” he said. “You gotta see this place. It’s unbelievable. They booked out an entire hotel, so no one else will be on that part of the island except the staff and the wedding party. Isn’t that wild?”
“C-crazy,” I murmured.
He angled the screen of his phone toward me and scrolled through a browser he’d clearly pulled up before we took off. Glittering sapphire beaches, white sand, poky palm trees. They slipped by in a blur of color and light and brightness that I couldn’t help but feel a heady excitement for.
“It’s am-mazing,” I said.
He grinned. “A welcome break from real life, for sure.”
My fast joy fell for a moment when I realized just how little I knew about the situation we’d step into together.
“T-tell me about Victoria? W-what happened with her?”
His expression shortly followed suit. Jayson frowned, smudging the delight that sent butterflies all the way through my body. My toes tingled in the aftermath, still. At this rate, I’d never make it through the weekend.
“Victoria,” he said, flicking the consonants off his tongue. “It’s a weird story. We met when Bastian and I first flew out to meet Helene, before Grady proposed. Vik is a train conductor. He had already visited Grady when he drove a train to Texas on some deliveries. Victoria came with Bastian, me, Grady, and Helene to dinner one night, and we hit it off.”
His voice gained the distant quality that storytelling always lent, and I wasn’t surprised to see the story play out across his expression to match his words.
“I stayed for a week, and Victoria and I spent all of that time together. She lived with Helene’s parents for a while after graduating college with her Masters in business or something.” He waved that off with a shrug. “There were no real commitments between us, but we both seemed to feel something. I thought we did, anyway. Turns out that wasn't true.”
His candidness startled me. Rarely did I meet someone this open about who they dated or . . . didn’t date. Then again, maybe it wasmethat kept things hidden so long.
“Wh-what happened?”
He shook his head. “She basically told me off. Said there had never been anything and never would be. As a deputy, I couldn't support her lifestyle.”
My mouth dropped. “You d-didn't m-make enough m-money?”
