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Looking over at me, Grace said, “Noah! My grandparents live on this street!”
My stomach dropped at the idea of Grace being so close to me for all those years. “What?”
Putting my signal on, I turned into the driveway that led to the house my mother and father had raised my sister and I in.
“Holy hell. They live one block away, Noah! One. Block.” Putting my car in park, I looked at Grace. “I wonder if we’ve ever seen each other? Like when we were little.”
Just then a memory flooded my mind. “Hey, you didn’t happen to be the little girl who pushed me off the swing and I got up and pulled her pigtails, were you?”
Laughing, I shook my head as Grace’s smile faded.
“That. Was. You?”
“Huh?” I asked as I saw the pissed off look move across Grace’s face. “Wait. Are you serious, Grace? Because I totally had a crush on that little girl.” Letting out a chuckle, I kept talking as I thought back. “She used to come to the park with her older brother and grand—”
Pressing her lips together, Grace gave me a look while she slowly tilted her head. “That was me, Noah. That was me! You pulled my pigtails, you asshole. How could you pull my pigtails? I went back to my grandparents’ house and cried for hours!”
My heart started feeling funny as I took all this in. I used to go to the park every Saturday and look for the little girl in pigtails. “You cried? You punched the hell out of my chest, Grace. I couldn’t breathe right for days!”
Smirking, Grace said, “Good. You deserved it. Why would you pull my pigtails?”
Shaking my head, I quickly looked around, as if I needed someone to save me. “I don’t know. That’s what little boys do when they like a girl.”
“And do they also push you into the sandbox?”
Closing my eyes, I let out a laugh as I took in the memory. “Holy shit . . . I remember that day.” Opening my eyes, I couldn’t help but start laughing. “I can’t believe that was you. I loved you then, Grace.”
Grace’s face turned from hard to soft. “What?” she whispered.
Reaching over, I placed my hand on the side of Grace’s face. “I had the biggest crush on you. I compared every girl in elementary school to you. I’m pretty sure middle school and high school too.”
Leaning her head into my hand, Grace licked her lips before talking. “I liked that stupid little boy too. I hated him for pulling my pigtails, but I use to get butterflies in my stomach every single time my grandparents took us to the park. I would pray so hard to see you.” Closing her eyes, Grace smiled softly. “I can’t believe that was you.”
Grace opened her eyes as I leaned over and gently kissed her lips. “Fate, Grace. It was fate that led you to bumping into me again at A&M, and then the coast.”
“Fate,” Grace whispered as she pressed her lips to mine.
A loud knock on the window had both of us jumping. Turning, I looked to see my cousin Grayson standing there with a smirk on his face.
“Son-of-a-bitch,” I said with a smile. “It’s my cousin. He told me he was coming in from Colorado, but I didn’t expect him until next week.”
Grace smiled as I quickly got out of the car and reached for Grayson’s hand. “What the hell, dude! I wasn’t expecting you until next week.”
Grayson reached for my hand and shook it. He looked great, but then Grayson always looked great. I was sure he had to work out constantly to maintain the shape he was in. Especially since he worked his way through college as a male stripper.
“Holy hell, it’s you!” Grace said as she walked up to me.
Grayson turned and looked at Grace and smiled. “Wow, small world.”
Looking between Grayson and Grace, I tried to connect how they knew each other.
Grace nodded her head and laughed. “Sure is.”
“How did y’all meet?”
“We all went to Durango for a girls’ trip last summer. We kind of had a bet going on between us girls and Lauren found herself Grayson here. He did a little show for the bar.”
Turning back to Grayson, I raised my eyebrow as I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. If Grace saw my cousin naked, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel. “Not that kind of show, I hope. Not sure I like the idea of the woman I love seeing my cousin’s junk.”
