Page 60 of New Girl in Town
“You heard me, Aurora.” He pointed a finger at me through the camera. “It’s been an uphill battle to get us where we were before I left. And do not get me wrong, it has been worth it, but it hasn’t been easy. You know it hasn’t been.”
He was right. Coming off a divorce and having to get used to the idea of dating a younger man had been daunting, and that was just on my end. What had it been like for him?
I sagged forward in my seat. I’d thought about it from my end of things, how my new discovery about Grant’s identity impacted the fledgling feelings I had for him, and all the while I hadn’t considered what it might be like to be in his shoes. Yes, I was livid about being lied to, about finding out who he really was from a television show, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t been hard for the man while he’d tried to win me over.
“I’m sorry,” I rasped, voice hoarse from the sudden clenching of my throat. “I didn’t think.”
His eyes widened in surprise, and he sat up from where he’d curled in on himself. “What?” he asked.
I swallowed hard, the words feeling thick and clumsy on my tongue. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say that.” He shook his head and leaned towards the camera. “I’m sorry, baby. I wanted to tell you so many times.” He took in a shuddering breath. “I didn’t know how to bring it up, not when things were still so new, and then I finally had you and I knew I had to wait. I had to get under your skin like you were under mine. I had to make sure I wasn’t going to lose you over it.”
“Under your skin? What do you mean?”
Grant dropped his head and let out a chuckle. He was still for a moment before he sucked in a deep breath and looked up at the screen. “Baby. You are under my skin so deep, so near my heart I wouldn’t be able to get you out if I tried, and I don’t have the mind to ever try it.”
I felt my breath whoosh out of me in a gasp. It appeared I wasn’t the only one who had fallen quick and hard. I was under his skin, near his heart. That had to mean—
“Oh,” I whispered.
The corner of his mouth lifted in a crooked smile. “Oh,” he said, and then swallowed hard. “As soon as I’m done being a part of the dog and pony show, I’m coming back home.”
The way he said home warmed me through, and I found myself nodding along with his words. Colorado was his home,thiswas his home, not New York. “I cannot wait to come back home, back to you. I have something to tell you that I’d rather not say over a video call.”
My heart flip-flopped in my chest. I knew what he was going to say because it was what I wanted to tell him too, but those three little words were better said face-to-face. I nodded and gave him a shaky smile.
“Okay,“ I said. I could ignore the instincts urging me to run, to not trust what I heard, the ones cautioning me from heartbreak. Grant was worth the risk. I nodded at him and repeated myself, but this time a little louder. “Okay. I have something to tell you, too.”
“Aurora…” Grant’s voice was gentle, and I didn’t miss the familiar way his blue eyes went soft on me. “Sweetheart…” he began, but the sudden banging and crash of his door hitting a wall as it swung open, and the following peals of raucous laughter and excited voices, made me jump in surprise.
Grant whirled toward the sound. “What the hell?”
“Grraaaanttt!” The sound of a woman’s excited voice blared over the speaker and my heart leapt into my throat.
What was a woman doing coming into Grant’s apartment at almost eleven at night? How did she even have the access to get inside if Grant hadn’t given it to her?
I took in the sight of bodies tumbling through the entryway and into the living room where Grant was. It wasn’t just a single woman, but several, along with a handful of men. All of them were young, well-dressed, and beautiful. I tugged at the pink hoodie I wore, which was perfect for a quiet night in but didn’t compare to the bespoke attire the group wore.
“Grant, man! We missed you!” A man with dark auburn hair and a watch that looked like it was more expensive than the entire sum of my possessions came into the frame and clapped Grant on the back.
“I know you said you didn’t want to come out, which got me thinking, so guess what? We brought the party to you,” another man told Grant, waving a bottle of champagne close to the screen.
He opened his mouth to say more before he caught sight of me, and leaned in close to the screen with a leer while he pushed Grant back from the computer. The chair Grant sat in was on rollers, and he disappeared from the frame, replaced by the leering man, who shot me a wink.
“Hello there, baby. What’s your name?”
I pulled a face at his less than smooth pick up line and scanned the scene behind him, trying to catch sight of Grant. The moment we had shared before the newcomers arrival was shattered like fine china on the floor.
Something told me I had caught a glimpse of why Grant had left the city for Colorado.
I saw him moving to push himself up out of the chair, which was being spun around between two laughing men. A woman in a black cocktail dress plopped down on his lap with a bright smile. She leaned in close, whispering to Grant with a coy grin.
On its own I wouldn’t have cared, but the laugh it pulled from Grant had me seeing red. My eyes darted back to the man still leering at me. I had to get out of there, away from them, because even the multiple state lines between us wasn’t enough.
There was the sound of a champagne bottle popping, and another round of cheers went up from the group. The man in front of me shifted until he blocked Grant from view, but I had seen enough. My heartbeat was all I could hear, which was a feat given the instant party that had appeared in Grant’s home.
Everything was amplified—slow and quick, saturated and too sharp all at once—as the familiar feeling of my stomach dropping hit me. The image of Grant and the woman pressed close in his chair gave me a sense of déjà vu.
