Eleanor & Grey(38)

Still. No. Words.

“Well, I mean, do you want to ask me anything about the nannying position? I know this is probably weird, but I really would love the job—like, really love it. Life has been pretty crazy lately, and I could really use this position. I don’t want to give you my sob story or anything, but—”

“Thank you, that’s all,” he said. His voice was low and deep with a newfound smokiness to it. He definitely wasn’t a boy anymore, that was for sure.

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I have everything I need.”

He was so dry with his words that I truly wished he had kept with saying nothing at all. He spoke in such a monotone way that it was almost as if he weren’t really even there.

I gave him my forced smile, and he responded with a grimace.

He turned away from me once more and went back to staring out the window.

Gosh, this was so awkward.

There were a million questions running through my mind, a million things I wanted to ask him. How had he become the CEO of his father’s company? How long had he been married? How was he dealing with the loss of his wife? Oh, my gosh, he lost his wife…

Oh, Greyson. I’m so, so sorry.

I stood there for a while, uncertain of what to do. It seemed as if he wasn’t going to say anything else to me any time soon, and the way he stared at me as if I had never meant anything to him kind of stung. So, I cleared my throat. “Well, okay. I’ll get going now. It was really nice to see you again, Grey. I hope everything…works out…” I dragged out my words and waited a few seconds to receive a reply, but nothing came, so I nodded. “Okay, well, goodbye.”

I turned toward the door, opened it, and felt my whole body relax. I hadn’t known how tense I’d been inside that library. I was certain I had completely forgotten how to breathe for a few seconds.

How was that even possible?

How did I run into Greyson East after sixteen years only to have him look at me as if there hadn’t been a time in our lives when we’d meant so much to each other? How had he not felt the things I’d felt in that intense moment?

And how could someone stand so tall while being weighed down by so much heaviness?

Claire looked at me, surprised. “That was quick. How did it go?”

“That was…an experience.” I gave her a sad grin. “Thanks for the opportunity, but I don’t think I’m what he’s looking for.”

“Oh. Well, I’m sorry to hear that. I was hopeful.”

“Yeah, me too.”

I thanked her one last time and walked out of the house, taking my nerves and disappointment with me. I pulled out my phone to let Shay know about the failed interview then I heard the sound of heels click-clacking against the ground.

“Eleanor! Eleanor! Wait!”

I turned to see Claire rushing my way.

“Yes?”

She was breathing heavy. “It’s yours.”

“What’s mine?”

“The job,” she said, standing up a bit straighter. “I just spoke to Greyson, and he told me to cancel the remaining interviews for the day because the position is yours. His assistant, Allison, will be in contact with you via email and will be the one to show you around Greyson’s home over the weekend. And—”

“I’m…wait, what?” I was completely baffled by her words, because there had been nothing whatsoever that’d just happened during my interaction with Greyson that pointed to me landing a new job. “I’m hired?”

“Yes, sweetheart.” She grinned. “You’re hired.”





23





Greyson





I stared through the windowpane of the library as Eleanor walked out of the house. Claire was still speaking to her, updating her on being hired for the position, and when they embraced, I turned away for a second. When I turned back, Eleanor was climbing into an old beat-up car. As she turned it on, the engine sounded like it had been a chain smoker in a past life, and she drove off in that death trap.

Eleanor Gable.

I hadn’t thought of her name in years, except in passing. Now, though…now she was cruising through my mind, flashbacks of the kids we had been when we’d first found one another infiltrating my thoughts.

She had stood in the library as if she knew me.

That was crazy to me. I didn’t know if she was still the girl she had been back then, but I was so far from the boy she’d once known.

Life has a way of changing us, some for the better, most for the worse.

I was the latter.

Claire came back into the library, a bit out of breath but smiling. She was always smiling, even on the hard days. I looked away from her and turned back to the windowsill. The hardest thing in the world was looking at Claire’s smile, because it matched her daughter’s so much.

“I have a great feeling about this, Greyson. I think Eleanor is going to be a really good match for the girls,” she commented. “Did you know she lost her mother at a young age? That could be helpful for the girls.”

I didn’t reply. There wasn’t much to say, and I wasn’t one to engage in conversations that didn’t matter. Eleanor was the nanny. It was a done deal. There was no need to rehash it over and over again.