Page 76 of Dream Mates
“Hey. I thought you were going to the movies?” I sat down on the floor next to her. Where was Wes?
“They went to the movies, since Evan’s on call tonight again.” She leaned toward me, like she was going in for a cuddle, then moved back.
“They left you alone?” My eyebrows rose. Grace wasnotready to be left on her own. If she wasn’t going to be working with WesandSpencer I’d suggest that she postpone starting her job.
Her eyes rolled. “I’m not a puppy, Bren. They went on adate.Spencer asked if I wanted to come with him to his club, but sitting in the golf cart reading romance novels and drinking beer didn’t sound fun today.”
“Okay.” Ugh, they all left her alone?
A sigh escaped her lips. “I should be studying, but,” she made an exasperated noise. “I… what am I doing? They’re gonna know. Everyone’s gonna know.”
Scrunching up her body, she rested her head on her knees, as her voice broke, and her peach scent grew burnt with fear.
I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Come here. If you need Wes to come home, tell him.” I wrapped my arms around her, enveloping her tiny, shivering body with my own.
“I’m fine. Just nervous about starting work.” She sighed and settled into my arms.
Grace really believed she was fine. This was why we had fucking problems.
“It’s okay to be nervous. It’s okay to not be fine,” I whispered.
“Okay.” She closed her eyes.
“It’s also okay to not go to work right away. Spencer owns the company. If you need more time, then let him know,” I added. “There’s no rush.”
“I know. But my family had a business, so I’ve been working since I was useful. It feels weird tonotwork.” Her voice was quiet.
“Now that, I understand.” I nodded.
A tiny smile played on her lips. “Pretty sure putting on a tiny tux and going to a dinner and doing inventory are two different things.”
“Inventory sounds more fun. Those tiny tuxes are itchy. What sort? I started helping with the budgets of various company and foundation projects when I was in high school,” I told her.
“We had a hardware store. Not like the fancy one Evan dragged me to for doorknobs, but the kind where you can buy nails, chickens, and hot sauce all at the same time. My favorite was counting the baby chicks on chicken delivery day to make sure that we got the right amount.” Her eyes sparkled with the happy memory.
Hot sauce? Chickens? At ahardware store?Not that I knew where you could buy chickens around here.
“Also, in high school I helped on the neighbors farm. In undergrad and while getting my PhD, I always had a couple of jobs. So yeah, it’s been weird not going to work. I’m looking forward to starting. I get to use my degree and do really interesting things, but I’m afraid that I’m going to mess up. So many little things are different.” She slumped against me.
“You will mess up. It comes with starting a new job. Or an old one. Terrance thinks I’ve fucked up badly by buying that estate.” I kept my arms tight around her, so that she felt safe.
She peeked up at me. “It will be beautiful. But what if…” Her chest heaved.
Telling her that she was overthinking wasn’t going to help.
“While your fears are valid, no one in this house will let anything happen to you,” I assured, stroking her hair because I didn’t know what else to do.
“Okay.” She went quiet and just sat there with me on the hard kitchen floor until the timer dinged.
Grace made a face, then used me to get herself up off the ground. She’d been leaving off her walking cast and brace, which worried me. All that baking probably wasn’t good for her wrist.
She got the cookies out of the oven, then started moving the others around–the ones on pans went on racks, the ones on racks went in containers, as she became a ball of nervous energy pinging about the kitchen.
“Any more in the oven?” I peered around the kitchen trying to discern what else needed to be done.
She shook her head. “No, but eventually I need to wrap everything individually.”
