Page 73 of Waiting For You

“Yeah, but he might not see it that way, and fuck, I don’t want to ruin anything between us before he goes off to college. Then he won’t ever want to visit.”

Part of me wants to say,what about me?What about us? Aren’t you worried about ruining things between us?

But I don’t. I bite it back because I get it. Joshua is his son. He will always come first. He should always be a priority. But shit, I want to come first every once in a while. I want to be someone’s first choice.

“When will they be here?” I ask.

“Tomorrow, around noon. They want to travel to Marquette with us. You okay with staying an extra day here and then we can head out?”

I shrug, trying like hell to keep my disappointment at bay.

“Of course.”

Grey sighs, reaching out and pulling me into him. His lips are in my hair, his hands clutching me to him.

“I’m sorry about this. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’ll be fine,” I say, lying through my teeth. I’m not sure I will be fine, but there’s no reason to say anything now. Joshua is coming and that means this happy little bubble that we’ve been existing in is about to burst.

I just hope that when his son shows up, Grey remembers what we were like, how good it was between us.

“You look worried,” Grey says, reading me so easily.

I shrug, placing a mask over my face, burying those feelings so damn far inside of me, even I can’t feel them anymore. I don’t want to stress him out. I just want us to enjoy our last free evening together.

“I’m not worried about a thing,” I say, forcing a smile on my face.

And then I make myself believe it.

Everything will be fine. Just fucking fine. I’ll will it into existence.

ChapterSixteen

Grey

“Goddamn. How do you put up a tent?” Joshua asks, eyeing the heap of canvas on the ground. He has his hands on his hips, his eyebrows meeting in confusion. “Looks complicated.”

I stare at my son, happy and content that he’s here. But also, I’m trying like hell to ignore how sore my ass is. Quinn railed into me last night, and then again this morning. I feel like he wanted me to be sore so I wouldn’t forget about him. I know he’s nervous and trying to hide it. But I could never forget him, and it will be damn near impossible to let him go. I can already feel his absence and it’s only been thirty minutes since Hailey and Joshua rolled into camp.

Damn, I’m excited to have them here. But I am going to miss Quinn’s hands on me.

There is no way in hell I’m going to risk doing something that would jeopardize any of us. It’s not worth it. I can be mature about this. I can be the adult.

I glance over at Quinn who is chatting with Hailey, helping her pull the tent rods out and piece them together.

“Maybe you could learn a thing or two from Quinn. Seems he knows what he’s doing,” I say, and Joshua rolls his eyes at me.

“Yeah, well, maybe I’ll just let them get it set up. They seem like they have it handled. I think I’d just mess them up.”

I throw my arm around him and he lets me give him an awkward side hug.

“Glad you’re here,” I say. “We both are.”

He glances up at me as my arm falls to my side. He looks a little like me, but more like Karen. He’s thinner than I was at his age, with a runner’s build and a tangle of black curls on top of his head. Joshua also has Karen’s disposition too. He’s full of passionate emotion and attitude, whereas I’m just…not. It’s what drew me to Karen in the first place. She was just so full of fire and life, and she was my best friend in middle school. I, of course, was too young to know how people could change and how things could end so badly.

“I’m sorry I bailed last minute. Hailey made me realize it was a shit thing to do,” he says, worrying his lip between his teeth. “But I’m glad Quinn could tag along. He’s always down for an adventure.”

I look over at Quinn and he must feel my eyes on him because he turns and our gazes lock.

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