Holding You (Love Wanted in Texas #3)(41)

“Besides the hot sex, things seem to be going good between you and Colt,” Grace said as we walked up the driveway to the house.

“Amazing. Perfect. Amazing.”

Grace laughed. “That bad huh?”

Stopping, I turned to Grace as she stopped and stared at me with a goofy smile. “Grace, sometimes . . . well sometimes I feel like I’m living this dream and I’m so scared that I’m going to wake up.” Glancing down, I shook my head before looking back up at Grace. “I pushed Colt away for so long, fought feelings that I had just because of my pride. I guess I’m just scared that this is to good to be true. Like I’m waiting for the floor to be ripped out from underneath me.”

Grace reached out and took my hand as she rubbed her thumb back and forth. “Lauren, what you and Colt share is amazing. The fact that three of my very best friends have found this amazing love makes me so happy for y’all. Honey, you can’t keep worrying about the what-ifs. Look at Will and Alex. Luke and Libby. They are so in love and happy. Sweetie, if it’s meant to be it will be. Enjoy every single day together, Lauren. Each day is a gift so don’t ever take it for granted or think you can put something off until tomorrow because you might not get the chance.”

A breeze blew as I watched it toss Grace’s long hair around. Why hadn’t Grace, Maegan, and Taylor been as lucky as the rest of us? Grace and Maegan were both battling demons they both insisted on fighting alone, and Taylor was so caught up in being the perfect student for her parents, she wasn’t enjoying her life.

“Thank you, Grace. I really hope that your time is coming next. You deserve to be in love and happy. To find the frosting to your cake!”

Grace laughed as she rolled her eyes. “You and your damn sayings, Lauren.”

As we walked back to the house I finally got the courage to talk to Grace about Noah. “Grace, may I ask you something personal?”

“Of course you can, Lauren.”

Worrying my lower lip, I asked, “Grace, why did you push Noah away? Alex and Libby said you seemed to really like him a lot.”

Grace’s whole body tensed as we continued to walk. “I do really like Noah. Or did like him anyway. He’s married now, so it doesn’t really matter.”

Knowing Grace needed to talk about this, I pressed on. “But that doesn’t answer why you pushed him away.”

Grace chuckled. “It’s pretty simple. I was scared of my feelings. That seems to be a common thing in our little group.”

Nodding my head, I whispered, “Yeah, it sure is.”

Grace pushed her hair behind her ear as she inhaled a deep breath and slowly let it out. “When I was in high school I let a guy have almost complete control over me, Lauren. I vowed to never let that happen again. Actually, I vowed to never get lost in another guy again. One night with Noah and I was completely and utterly lost. He brought out feelings in me that I had never experienced before. The way he looked into my eyes was as if I was the very air he breathed. It felt like it was too much too fast. If that makes sense.”

Smiling, I said, “That’s how Colt looks at me.”

Grace glanced over to me with a weak smile. “He does look at you like that. And my brother looks at Libby like that, and Will does the same with Alex.”

“And that scared you, Grace?”

Nodding her head, her face looked distraught. “Yeah, it scared the piss out of me, because I knew I was looking at him the same way. The last thing I wanted to do was open my heart up again. What if Noah ended up breaking it? I’m not sure I could have survived it.”

The wind was picking up and the temperature was dropping. Grace and I both picked up our speed. A cold front had been about to blow through. Glancing back over my shoulder to the north, I saw the storm clouds building. I swear the weather in Texas could change faster than Grace could get to a sale at Nordstroms.

“We better hustle and get home before we get drenched,” Grace said as she attempted to give me a reassuring smile.

It started sprinkling, so Grace and I started running. We were only two houses down from our place. As we ran up to the front porch, we both started laughing. “We made it!” Grace said just as it began pouring.

Before we walked into the house, I took Grace by the arm and asked, “Do you regret pushing him away, Grace?”

Tears formed in her eyes as she closed them. Opening her eyes, she slowly nodded her head. “Every single moment of every single day I regret not taking that last phone call from him. I’ll never know what he was going to say.” Letting out a fake laugh, Grace looked into my eyes. “I know I need to move on. My heart won’t let me though.”

Pulling Grace into my arms, I held her as she cried. It was the first time in my life I’d ever seen Grace Johnson cry.



LEANING MY HEAD back, I let the warm sun beat down on my face. A light breeze was blowing, giving just enough relief from the hot sun. We had been out of school for two weeks and summer was already heating up.

Taylor let out a frustrated moan. “Sometimes I swear, I want to move to Montana.”

Grace sat up and looked at Taylor. “Tay, that’s a great idea!”

Looking toward Grace, Taylor asked, “What’s a great idea?”

Grace jumped up. “Oh my gosh! A road trip! We should totally go on a road trip.”