Eleanor & Grey(17)

Everything.

I’d think about it all.

I kept making lists of different things we could do together. Different ways to keep her mind busy. Different ways to have her around me.

Eleanor was beginning to be my first thought in the morning, and the last thought before my head hit the pillow at night.

I didn’t know it was possible...

I didn’t know how quickly your heart could begin beating for someone who had been nothing but a stranger a few weeks before.





7





Eleanor





Finally I decided to show Greyson the dragonflies. We met in the parking lot of Laurie Lake, and when he arrived, I swore he was more handsome than ever before. He was just wearing a white T-shirt and dark jeans, but to me, he looked amazing.

“Hey.” I smiled.

“Hey,” he replied, and then he hugged me.

He walked straight up to me, wrapped his arms around me, and hugged me.

Yup.

He hugged me.

Our first hug.

He did it so effortlessly, too, as if hugging was our normal way of greeting. I hugged him back, and probably held on for longer than I should have, but I didn’t care. It seemed like he didn’t care either, because he held me tight until I let him go.

When I pulled back, I cleared my throat and wouldn’t even look at him because I was so nervous. What did the hug mean? Did the seconds we’d held on mean more than a normal friendship hug? Did he get nervous, too? Was I overthinking every single second of every single day since Greyson East had put himself into my life?

“So, where are the dragonflies?” he asked, breaking me away from my dramatic thoughts.

I cleared my throat and rubbed my left hand up and down my right arm. “Oh, this way. Come on.”

We walked through the more popular park areas where people were having cookouts and playing volleyball. The lake was always packed during the summer days. Raine didn’t get many warm days, and we made it our mission to soak up the sun as much as possible.

When Greyson and I reached the hiking trail, he was determined to pet every dog that crossed our path. Each time he discovered a new pup, his eyes would light up as if it were the only dog on the whole planet, and he’d turn to me and say, “Look at his nose, Ellie! Oh my God! He’s smiling.” It was as if he’d just discovered his new best friend—until the next one came along.

The way he loved animals made it even harder for me to control my ever-growing feelings for the guy.

Can you just not be so perfect, Greyson? That would be great, thanks.

When we were about halfway down the trail, I nodded to my left. “Okay, now we have to cross through the trees.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You’re not trying to take me out into the woods to, like, kill me, right?”

I laughed. “Don’t be silly, Grey. If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve done it ages ago.”

“Well, that’s comforting.”

We went through the trees, and the branches hit us repeatedly. It took about three minutes of getting scraped up from rough foliage before we approached the clearing, and when we did, Greyson smiled ear to ear.

“Wow,” he said, staring out at the body of water. Compared to the actual lake, it was tiny, but seeing it isolated made it look massive, especially when there were only two people around it. There were some large logs, which was where Mom and I always sat and talked. Wildflowers were fully in bloom, and the grass was the greenest it would be all year.

“I know, right?”

I led him over to a log, and we sat down beside each other.

For a while, we were just quiet, looking at the natural beauty that surrounded us. Greyson didn’t say much, but his grin spoke loud enough for me to know he didn’t hate it.

Then, a dragonfly flew right past us.

“I see why you love it here. It’s peaceful,” Greyson said.

“Yeah, plus being near water helps my mom with inspiration for her artwork.”

He raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Your mom’s an artist?”

“Yeah. She’s been doing it all her life for fun. She’s amazing.”

“And that’s like, her job?”

“Well, she’s a nanny by day, artist by night. She could do it full-time if she wanted to, but she’s really in love with being a nanny.”

“That’s pretty neat.”

I frowned. “Yeah, I guess.”

“What is it?”

“It’s just that she recently stopped nannying for her last family. And she hasn’t been painting as much as normal,” I told him, shifting around on my seat. “I think she’s getting too drained from chemotherapy to do it.”

Greyson’s smile slowly faded. “I’m sorry, Ellie.”

“Yeah, me too.” The less she painted, the more her illness became real in my mind. But, I tried my best to shake off those thoughts. If I slipped down that rabbit hole of sadness, I wouldn’t come back from it. “What about your parents? What do they do?” I asked, changing the subject.

He shrugged. “My dad’s the CEO of a whiskey company, and my mom’s always traveling for fun. They aren’t around a lot. I haven’t seen my mom in a few weeks, and Dad just comes home sometimes and sleeps. Most of the time he stays at the apartment he has in Chicago, though, instead of driving home.”