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“What?”
“Remember when I went to lunch with Emelia’s father?”
The day Grayson had his heart attack.
Reid would rather not remember that day. She nodded.
“Well, lunch was a test, and I failed. Emelia wants a ring, wants to buy a house and have three children, all two years apart, unless she has twins on the first try.” Pearce covered his face with his hands and groaned. “Here’s the kicker—I don’t need to buy the house or even impregnate her, but I do need to be her husband because she’s not getting any younger and the clock is ticking.”
“Wait,” Reid said. “I thought she was twenty-five?”
“She is.”
Reid’s mouth made an O, and then she quickly shut it. “I’m sorry, Pearce.”
“Me too. I suppose there are more fish out there.”
“There is. Once you stop thinking about us women being fish. We’re not fish.”
Pearce’s cheeks flushed. “You’re right. Anyway, I’m down for hanging out. What are we doing?”
“Mel’s going to meet me at the hospital later. She said dinner, eating ice cream, that sort of thing. I know she’s trying to keep my mind off Grayson.”
“Are we hanging at the hospital?”
Reid shook her head. “No, I’ll stay until Sydney comes back. Then Mel and I will head to my place. Tomorrow, Gilbert will be around, so I don’t necessarily need to go to the hospital.”
“You will, though.”
Pearce wasn’t wrong.
“You’re very kind to do that for him, all things considered.”
Pearce didn’t have to elaborate. Reid knew. Her feelings toward Grayson were obvious to anyone in their path. Most people who saw them together thought they were a couple.
“I don’t do it for him,” Reid said. “I do it for Sydney.”
Pearce nodded. Reid didn’t care if he believed her or not. If Reid didn’t volunteer to stay with Grayson a few hours each day, Sydney would never leave. That wasn’t healthy. Gilbert did his part on the weekends, but with Sydney taking a leave of absence from work, he couldn’t be there every day. The way Reid saw it, Grayson was her best friend—despite her being in love with him. After he made it through this, she’d start to ease herself out of his life. No matter how badly it hurt.
“He loves you. You know that, right?”
Reid inhaled quickly, the statement catching her off guard. She didn’t know anything. Not when it came to Grayson.
“The wheels are turning, Reid. I can see them. Look, I don’t know why he lied about this thing with his heart or why he wasn’t taking his meds. I’ve known for a while, but he said everything was under control. Guys don’t hound each other about this kind of shit. I wish I had, though. Six months ago, he mentioned being a better person. This was something I did push him on, and he said he wanted to pursue a relationship. Another push and he finally admitted it was you he wanted to be with. Saying he was in love with you but feared he’d ruined everything. Whatever that meant.”
Reid absorbed Pearce’s words, unsure what she should believe, him or Grayson’s actions, because actions often spoke louder than words.Over the past six months, Grayson had not shown her he was interested at any given time. Unless she hadn’t been paying attention.
“Anyway.” Pearce stood and stretched. “I’m in for this weekend. Call me with the details.”
“I will. See you later.”
Later, she found herself sitting in a chair next to Grayson’s bed while she waited for Melanie to arrive. Reid flipped through the most recent issue of her favorite magazine. She took the love quiz and found out the strong, manly type with a soft side was the type of man she was destined for. Scoffing, she glanced over at Grayson. He was the strong, manly type for sure, and he had a soft side, but he rarely showed it to anyone. On occasion, when they were alone watching a movie, he’d do something like hold her hand or rub her feet, but then he’d make some wisecrack comment about how they smelled or how she needed a pedicure, and the moment would be ruined. The more she thought, the more their life together replayed in her mind. They’d had a lot of moments together, too many to count, but each time they got close or she had the “dreamy eyes,” as Grayson would say, he’d do a one-eighty.
Reid stood and leaned against his bed. She studied him for a long moment, jealous of how long his eyelashes were and envious because if she ever wanted hers that long, she needed a special mascara or falsies.
“Grayson Caballero, I am mad at you. The doctors say this could’ve been prevented, but your stubborn ass hasn’t been taking your meds. And now look at ya. To make things more complicated, Pearce tells me that you love me. Do you?” She waited for a response that wouldn’t come. “You know how I feel about you. I’ve been in love with you since the day we met.” Reid chuckled slightly. “Okay, yeah. We know that’s not true. Instant attraction for sure, but the feelings were there rather quickly. At least for me.”
Reid held Grayson’s hand. It was warm, thanks to the machines keeping him alive. “And then we ...” She couldn’t bring herself to say the words as her body heated from the memory of the night they had spent together.
