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Gracie smiled through the tears. “No, not yet.” Not yet. Why did she say that? She’d never planned on getting married or having kids before.
“Are you at least happy then? I’m sure…” Her grandmother seemed to choke up, her breath hitching and she sniffed loudly. “I’m sure you went through some tough times. Foster homes and the like.”
“Yeah, it was hard,” Gracie said softly. Tears spilled freely down her cheeks, and she swiped at them with her fingers. “Really hard. But I’m okay.”
“Are you happy, though? You never answered that. I want to believe that you’ve been happy since I lost you. That you’ve grown up well, that you’re healthy and went to college. And now you have a good career and you’re living in a nice house. Do you have a nice car? Your mama was always obsessed with cars. Cars and clothes.”
Her grandma’s questions and comments made her both smile and worry. They were so simple, so direct and to the point yet difficult to answer. What could she say? There were so many things she wanted to tell her, but she didn’t want to bombard the poor woman after contacting her so out of the blue. “I’m…I’m happy yes. I have a good job. I live in Queens, so I don’t really need a car.”
“Queens? Oh my word, do you work in New York City?”
“I—I do.”
“How fancy are you? My darling child, you must come and visit me soon. Send me pictures, something. I want to know what you look like, what you do.”
They spoke a bit more, Gracie getting her grandma’s email address, promising to send her pictures of herself and to visit her soon. Her grandma even went as far as to tell her she loved her before hanging up.
Gracie hadn’t the guts to do that. She hardly knew the woman, despite the fact that she was her grandma. She couldn’t throw around the love word so casually.
She’d never told anyone she’d loved them. In her entire twenty-six years of existence, not a single soul had ever heard those words pass her lips.
Opening up her photos folder on her laptop, she scrolled through them, looking for a few she could send to her grandma. She found one of her and a handful of her fellow employees standing in the lobby of the Worth building, including Hunter. He stood just behind her, smiling broadly, wearing one of his usual, sexy suits. Looking gorgeous and confident, the sight of him filled her with so much joy it almost hurt.
Are you happy?
The question her grandma kept asking rang in her head. No, not really. Yearning for something she had no right to have, someone she could never truly value and treat right. She wasn’t a whole person but a mere half. Shallow and going through the motions, unable to love, unable to exhibit any sort of real emotion. She’d been sleepwalking through life and for whatever reason, tonight, this moment, had finally woke her up.
Reconnecting with her grandma could help her. Show her roots, where she came from, give her purpose beyond doing a good job and making enough money to live. Maybe it would make her stronger, able to face and deal with the tumultuous emotions that constantly swirled within her.
She needed to make changes to her life. Reconnecting with the family she lost so many years ago was the first step. If she could learn how to deal, maybe, just maybe she could open up her heart to others and finally let them in.
If she was lucky, maybe she could eventually let Hunter in…
Chapter Ten
Two weeks later…
“What did you do to Gracie Hayes?”
Hunter went still at the mention of her name. Glancing up from his computer screen, he met Alex’s scrutinizing gaze. “What are you talking about?”
He was amazed at how calm he sounded, how in control he appeared. Deep inside his nerves rioted, his heart kicked up about a thousand notches, and he swore he was this close to breaking out into a cold sweat.
“Becky sent me an email first thing this morning. Gracie’s asking for a leave of absence for an undisclosed amount of time.” Alex’s expression was pointed. “I figured her request had something to do with you.”
His heart sank. Believing that everything was settled between them, he’d never mentioned her wanting to transfer from his department again. She hadn’t talked much to him at all, if he was honest. Not another mention of her wanting to back out of attending the spring launch, either.
“I’ve been on my best behavior,” Hunter finally said. And he had been. He hadn’t done or said anything remotely inappropriate toward Gracie. As he’d sworn from the start, he’d kept his word.
It had nearly killed him to ignore his feelings and pretend he didn’t care about her, but damn it, he never went back on his word.
“Tell me. Is there a reason you need to be on your best behavior when it comes to Gracie?” Alex cocked a brow. “I had no idea there was anything brewing between the two of you.”
“There’s nothing going on between me and Gracie.” At least, not anymore. She’d made that more than clear.
“So why does she want a self-imposed sabbatical, ‘effective immediately,’ and I quote.” Alex asked.
Disappointment simmered low in Hunter’s gut, along with a fair dose of frustration. What the hell? Did she hate him that much that she needed to get away from him as soon as possible? He believed she was over it. Over whatever had transpired between them that made her so damn jumpy when she was around him.
