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“I did too, Grayson. Thank you.”
He leans down to kiss me, and I let him brush his lips against mine, but when he probes between them for entrance with his tongue, I pull away.
He blinks. “What’s wrong?”
I take a deep breath and sigh. “I don’t want to give you the wrong idea, Grayson. I’m involved with someone else. It’s new, but it’s exciting, and the two of us have been through a few things. I don’t want to screw that up.”
He frowns. “You could’ve told me that before I took you to dinner.”
I drop my jaw. “Seriously? You want to go there?”
Maybe he’s not such a nice guy.
But then he rakes his fingers through his hair. “God, no, I’m not that guy. I don’t know why I even said that. It’s just that you’re so pretty, and I haven’t found anyone I’ve clicked with in a long time.”
I cock my head. “How’s that possible? You’re smart, good-looking.”
“I don’t know.” He looks at his feet. “But it’s not your problem.”
“Maybe it is. You want to talk? It might be good practice for me.”
He looks at my door. “I suppose it would be too much to ask to talk in your room.”
I laugh lightly. “Probably not a good idea. We can go down to the lounge. It’s still early on a Saturday night. I doubt too many people will be down there.”
A small smile creeps over his face. “You know what, Maddie? I think I’d like that.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Dave
“Hey,” I tell Maddie on the phone early on Friday, “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”
“I can’t wait to see you either,” she says. “I’ve got some amazing news.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“It’s something I want to tell you in person, Dave. I’m just so excited.”
Her voice is jubilant, and I’m not sure I’ve ever heard her sound quite as happy as she does right now.
I’m happy as well—happy that I’m going to be seeing her tomorrow evening.
Not happy that my uncle is fighting cancer.
He’s heading toward some nasty chemo and radiation, and he and Aunt Melanie have pretty much gone into seclusion.
I’d probably do the same thing if I were him.
I’m not happy about the talk I’m about to have with my father, either, where I’ll tell him I want to leave the position I’ve trained for my whole life and work with my uncle instead.
But all that matters right now is that Maddie is happy about something.
“Whatever it is, I’m glad about it because you sound ecstatic.”
“I totally am, Dave. I just have so much to share with you.”
“And you’re sure you don’t want to tell me any of it over the phone? I could use some good news.”
