Eleanor & Grey(48)

Shay kept giggling nonstop, completely overtaken by the comedy of errors that had been my morning. At least someone was getting a kick out of it. “I’m not going to lie, I think I really like this girl,” she commented.

“Yeah, well, wait until the day she growls at you.”

“Well, hey, at least you’re working again, you know. It’s just crazy that you’re nannying for Greyson’s kids. I mean, holy crap, Greyson East has children—plural, as in more than one.”

“I know. Isn’t it nuts? They look just like him, too.”

“So, is it still there?”

“Is what still there?”

“The chemistry between you and him from all those years ago.”

I snickered. “You mean that teenage chemistry of hormones and grief? Uh, no. I’m pretty sure I left that in the past with most of my cardigans.”

“I still think you should be rocking cardigans. It was your signature look! No one could pull off those sweaters like you could.”

“Yeah, but you know after they got ruined in my last relationship, I kind of let the cardigan idea go.”

I hadn’t the best track record with dating. Actually, I might’ve had the worst track record to date. For some reason, I always found myself going toward the unhealthiest type of men. Yet the worst of them all was Alex—the therapist. When we lived together, he tried to help me through my personal issues. Even though I hated when he’d go therapist mode with me, I listened. Then, after one night of me crying about missing my mother, he thought he could help me through my issues by throwing out all the cardigans Mom made for me. He told me letting them go was a part of the healing process of grief.

I personally considered if killing him was worth the orange jumpsuit.

That day was one of the top five saddest days of my life.

“So, are you one hundred percent sure there’s nothing there between you and Greyson? Does your heart skip a beat when he walks into a room? Do you two randomly run into one another and he brushes against your arm? Do you trip and he magically shows up to catch you just in time? Do you casually take note of his biceps?”

“Oh, my gosh, Shay, stop it.”

“So, that’s a yes.”

“No, that’s me saying that you’ve been watching too much of Bachelor in Paradise and you have an unrealistic view of what reality is. Greyson is a widower and I am in no way looking for a relationship. There is definitely no chemistry between us. If anything, I’m pretty sure he goes out of his way to avoid me.”

“Oh, yes. Based on my knowledge, you two are right on track for a successful television series. Season one, episode one: ‘The Tale of Distant Lovers’.” I swore I could see her stupidly grinning from ear to ear, pleased with her cleverness.

“I’m going to hang up on you now.”

“Okay, but please keep me in the loop. I need to know when episode nine happens!”

“And what’s episode nine?”

“‘When Lips Slip and Tongues Twist’.”

I snickered. “Goodbye, Shay.”

“Okay, bye! Oh, wait! I’ll pay you five bucks if you growl back at the girl when you pick her up from school.”

I laughed even more. “Goodbye, Shay.”

“Bye!”

As I hung up the phone, I still had a smile on my face. Leave it to Shay to make an uncomfortable situation into a comedy.





My father had been ignoring my calls.

I only knew because he wasn’t totally up on how calls worked on cell phones, and he always sent me to voicemail after the first two or three rings. I kept calling, though, because that was what I did. I kept checking on him even though he never did the same to me.

It was crazy to me how our relationship had devolved over the years, turning into something that was so one-sided. It was hard to believe there had ever been a time we were truly close. Sometimes that fact felt more like fiction, as if I had just made up the time when we meant the world to each other.

I hung up my phone after another failed attempt to get in touch with him, and then I sat down at the table for lunch on Thursday, waiting for Allison to arrive for our checkup date.

“Sorry, sorry, traffic is crazy on this side of town,” Allison said, hurrying into the café looking as perfect as ever.

“No worries. I just arrived about ten minutes ago.”

She took a seat and tossed her jacket off. “Well, I’m glad you weren’t waiting too long, but still, I’m sorry. So, how has it been going so far?” Allison asked.

“I think she hates me,” I said.

“Who hates you?”

“Karla. She hates me.”

Allison laughed, shaking her head. “She doesn’t hate you.”

“Well, she doesn’t like me very much, that’s for sure.”

“She’s just a hard one to crack, that’s all. She gets that from her father,” Allison remarked.

“Greyson is nothing like I remember. It’s chilling, actually, being around him. I mean, I get it, but still…when we were younger, he was a completely different person.”

“If you had met him ten months ago, he’d probably have resembled the boy you once knew. At first, I thought the coldness was just from grief, from dealing with such a tragic situation, but now I wonder if this is just the new normal, if he’s always going to be this way.”