Hold On To Me

by Towers, Terry

  Nodding, I looked from him to her and then back to Grayson. “Yes, I vaguely recall running into her.”

  “Come on over and sit down.” He patted the seat next to him. “You won’t believe where I ran into her.”

  Crossing the room, I sat down beside him and immediately placed a hand on his upper thigh, then looked across the table at Brooklyn, giving her a back off he’s mine look without really knowing it. “Can’t wait to hear it.”

  “Well, I went out for a morning jog as I waited for you to wake up and lo and behold, she was also on the jogging trail. She’s staying with some friends not too far from here.”

  “Wow, that is a coincidence.” I looked from one to the other. Grayson looked genuine; I was betting that to him it was just a random thing. Brooklyn, however. As our gazes locked, I could see something in her green eyes that I was sure Grayson was oblivious to—it was a challenge. She knew about me, she knew there was something going on, and she didn’t give a flying rat’s ass.

  The two of them continued with their conversation, with Grayson occasionally attempting to draw me in, but I wasn’t to be so easily swayed. This woman was definitely attempting to gain his attentions. It made me curious to see how active she was on his social media. Men just didn’t understand women much of the time, many seemed oblivious to the fact a woman was chasing them—what was going on right now was a prime example of this.

  Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to be right. The last thing I needed was to have to compete for Grayson’s affections with a woman with a smoking figure that he held a torch for that spanned over many years. But I’d purposely put on blinders in the past and gotten burned because of it.

  Never again.

  A half-hour later she was standing and excusing herself from our presence. She made sure she got a hug out of him before she left though, causing my hackles to rise.

  “What do you think of her?” Grayson asked once she was out of sight.

  Leaning against the kitchen counter, I folded my arms over my chest and grimaced. “Not sure if you want to hear my opinion so I’m best to keep my opinions to myself.”

  “What do you mean? Did she say something to offend you?”

  I groaned inwardly, not wanting to have this conversation before I could play a little Nancy Drew. “No. She didn’t. But at the same time, I’m not feeling right about her. I don’t even know how to describe it so please don’t ask me to try.” I really hoped I didn’t come off as some sort of jealous, insecure girlfriend. I was doing my best to keep as nonchalant as possible, but I wasn’t feeling right and I didn’t want to pretend I was okay when I wasn’t.

  Stepping up to me, he placed a hand on each of my upper arms and gave them a gentle squeeze. “Look, the thing I had with her was twenty years ago. We may have stayed in contact from time to time but there are no feelings between us and never will be. You don’t need to feel threatened—I promise.”

  I’d heard those words before from previous boyfriends; they were far too familiar to my ears for my liking. But on the other hand he was unlike any other man I’d ever been with and I needed to remember that. Lumping him in with men of my past wasn’t fair, especially when there was something between us that I’d never felt before.

  The first genuine smile of the morning finally emerged on my lips as I looked up at him. “I know.” Reaching up, I touched the side of his face with my hand, then urged his head down so his lips met mine. Just as our lips touched I remembered one very horrifying fact: I hadn’t brushed my teeth this morning and my mouth tasted like ass. If he was willing to kiss me with my dragon breath then it must be love, I mused giving him a quick peck before quickly stepping away.

  “I already have the kayaks ready to go and a late lunch packed. There’s a beautiful little spot a ways down the lake that’s very secluded and peaceful. It’s amazing and the perfect place for a picnic.”

  “Ahhh, that’s sweet.” The other woman quickly faded from my mind as my heart swelled looking at him. “Pulling out all the stops, huh.”

  He winked. “Yes ma’am. Gotta make sure that I made such an incredible impression on you this weekend that if I happen to screw up in the future, I’ll have backlogged brownie points.”

  Laughing, I shook my head. “It’s a good plan and working well.”

  13

  Riley

  “Oh no…” Violet took one look at me as I walked in the door from my weekend with Grayson and shook her head in distaste.

  Closing the front door behind me, I groaned out loud. Coming off an amazing weekend I really didn’t want to come home to such negativity. “What is the problem?”

  Violet slipped her long hair—which was the same shade of brown as mine—over her shoulder and popped a hip. “You’re in love with him already.”

  “What?” My brow creased as I stared at her in disbelief, not because she was wrong—if I were to be honest with myself she was completely on the ball in regard to my feelings for Grayson—but because she’d been able to read my mood so well. “Why would you say that?”

  “Because I know you, Mom!”

  “Hey, what’s going on?” Christian came up the stairs from the lower level and came to stand beside his twin. “Why are you yelling at Mom, Violet?”

  Violet waved a dismissive hand at me. “Because she’s in love with him already and setting herself up to be hurt. In a couple of months we’ll be having to see her gorge herself on Ben and Jerry’s wondering where she’s gone wrong and why she always has to fall for the assholes.”

  Anger welled up within me. I stuck up my index finger. “First off, my love life is my business. Believe it or not I want to find someone to spend the rest of my life with. I’m not getting any younger and it won’t be long before you two go on your way. So I need to try.” I added a second finger to the first. “And secondly, I am your mother, not your BFF so be careful how you’re talking to me. I still have the power to punish you both, even if it’s a matter of cancelling your cell phones.”

  “Hey! Wait! Why am I being punished? I was standing up for you, Mom!”

  I sighed. “I apologize, Christian. I didn’t appreciate being attacked by your sister upon entering the house.”

  “I think she’s just concerned, Mom. We want the best for you and you deserve the absolute best. Not some jack-off.”

  The tension within me began to fade. “He’s not a jack-off, he’s a very good man, the weekend sold me on him. Even though it’s none of either of your business, but yes, I do think I love him. He doesn’t know so we’re going to all keep this to ourselves for now.”

  “Let me see his social media,” Christian said. “I didn’t get to get a look at this guy yet.”

  Knowing they wouldn’t let up until I caved on the social media front, I pulled my phone from my handbag and looked for his profile. Searching through his posts, I smiled, seeing that he’d posted about our weekend. The smile faded slightly as I began to see the amount of likes, hearts and comments on his posts by Brooklyn.

  “What’s wrong?” Violet asked, both twins were on me and staring down at the small screen with me, not sure where the issue was.

  I shook my head, not wanting to allow my paranoia to spill over to the kids. I wanted them to like him and introducing to them a potential threat to my happiness was not a good idea. “Nothing, just surprised he posted our weekend together. I haven’t even had a chance to think of that yet.”

  “Well then I guess it’s not like he’s trying to hide you.” Christian gave Violet an elbow to the ribs. “See, perhaps you’re overreacting. It’s not like it would be the first time.”

  Violet ran her tongue along her lower lip as she looked at the pictures he’d posted and then began to scroll through other pictures and comments. “So this guy is only home half of the time?”

  “Yes.”

  “Uh-huh. And who’s to know what he’s doing when he’s not with you and at work?”

  I laughed. “I’m pretty sure he’s working and sleep
ing when at work. That seems to be all he ever does, at least when he’s not on the phone with me.” The notion of him finding a woman while at work made me laugh. The male to female ratio was not on his side, that was for sure. I’d be more concerned about his off time when he was back in the city, though I didn’t voice that out loud, and the only thing that concerned me was Brooklyn.

  She was up to no good.

  “Who’s this Brooklyn person?” my daughter asked, clicking onto her name and pulling up her profile. She was silent for a few minutes while doing the Nancy Drew investigation I’d planned on doing myself—privately.

  Damn she was perceptive.

  I shrugged, waving a dismissive hand at the screen. “Some girl from his past. Not a big deal.”

  “She’s liking and commenting on everything he posts.” Violet’s eyes narrowed as she read some of the comments. “That’s girlfriend behavior, or behavior of a chick that wants to be with him.”

  “Some people are just like that. Mass likes and smileys and all that.”

  Violet looked up at me, her brown eyes revealing that she was unconvinced as she raised a brow at me. “I’d be careful of that one. She’s out to get your man if you don’t stake your claim.”

  That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. The last thing I wanted was for my paranoia to be warranted. “It’s nothing. We’re not teenagers. Things like that don’t happen with people our age.”

  She shrugged. “Suit yourself, Mom, but if he’s as wonderful as you claim he is then you need to make sure you stake your claim or someone else will. I’m not entirely convinced on him yet so it’s no skin off my butt either way.”

  “You need to trust me.” I looked up at Christian, bringing him back into the conversation. “You both do. I’m not a child and I know this is something special so have some faith. Now if you two are done with the inquisition I’m going to excuse myself so I can go get a nice long bubble bath with some awesome-smelling oils and forget about this nonsense conversation.”

  Stuffing the phone back into my purse, I grabbed the handle of the suitcase and made my way back to my bedroom. Opening the door my eyes spotted the array of opened show boxes on my bed. For crying out loud. Violet and I wore the same size shoe and she loved raiding my massive shoe stash. It’s not that I cared, really, but I did have a couple of rules: first don’t ruin my shoes and second put them away where you found them. Was that too much to ask?

  Normally I’d have yelled for her and given her a solid lecture while she cleaned the mess she’d made of my room, but not today. I wasn’t interested in continuing the conversation we’d just had; it was easier to just put it all away myself.

  Once the shoes were put back in their respective spots and my suitcase was empty I grabbed my towels and headed for the bathroom. A nice peaceful aromatherapy bath was just what I needed to clear my mind of all the silliness.

  Running the bath, I turned on the jets and sprinkled some salts and a bath bomb into the water. Stripping down, I stepped into the bath and sank down into the suds while the water was still filling the tub—it was close enough in my opinion.

  I was about to begin play of one of my favorite search and find games when a friend request popped up on my screen. Curious, I closed down the game and opened my social media account. The friend request was from Brooklyn.

  “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” I grumbled to myself, unsure as to what to do. On one hand, if I accepted her then she’d have complete access to me, but by the same token wasn’t the conventional wisdom to keep your friends close and your enemies closer?

  “Screw it.” I pressed accept and her friend page opened up for me.

  Curious as to what the former love of Grayson’s life was all about, I began to navigate through some of her photos. One thing that did make me happy was that Grayson didn’t give her profile the amount of attention she did his. Aside from a random, non-intimate comment or random like there was nothing of interest to be found. Even if I hadn’t wanted to friend her, I was immediately glad that I had, if nothing else then to ease my own mind.

  It was strange though. I’d have to keep an eye on her for sure, but as I clicked out of the social media and clicked onto my game, I felt a sense of ease.

  14

  Grayson

  What in the hell? The woman was off her rocker, she had to be. And she was a fucking psychologist? Jesus Christ! Looking at the instant message that Brooklyn had just sent me made me shake my head. It had been a long day and I was only halfway through the shift. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong today, and now this bullshit.

  Brooklyn: When you get home how about we go out and discuss our future together.

  What future? Sleeping with her a couple times years ago had been such a bad idea. What in the fuck had I been thinking? But in my defense that had been years ago—close to five to be exact.

  She’d been texting me quite consistently since we’d run into each other at the lake house close to two months ago. It had seemed harmless, at first, but now she was getting over the top and pretty crazy. What in the hell was going on was beyond me.

  Staring at the screen, I had no idea what to do about this. I wasn’t an asshole, the last thing I wanted to do was hurt anyone, especially someone who thought we had some sort of relationship. I hadn’t even seen her outside the time at the gardens and when I’d run into her on the jogging path. I was starting to think perhaps it hadn’t been a coincidence.

  Oh shit… After the gardens she’d contacted me, and I’d told her I was going to the lake house for the weekend. She’d never been there before, but she knew the approximate location. How was I to know that the girl would go all psycho over this? You’d think shrinks would be able to recognize inappropriate behavior in themselves as well as others, wouldn’t you? Fuck my life.

  If Riley caught wind of this, she’d be out the door and never look back, I knew that without a doubt. She was like a frightened rabbit. One false move and she’d be gone and that was the last thing I wanted. She was such a special woman, with way too many scars to have to bear. I wasn’t about to add to her collection—no fucking way in hell I’d do that.

  “Hey Fitz, are you the one I need to see if I have an issue?” I looked up from my phone to see one of the apprentice welders staring down at me. Flipping my phone over facedown, I motioned for him to take a seat on the other side of the lunchroom table. I couldn’t even have my fucking lunch in peace. This had better be good because I was already agitated.

  “What can I do for you?” I’d seen the kid around but didn’t know his name. The name printed on his hard hat read Sandburg.

  “Can you go to management and let them know that there isn’t enough butter on the bread of my sandwiches?”

  What? Frowning, I gave my head a shake. Maybe I was high on the oxygen I was inhaling earlier when I had my mask on while working, because there was no way in fuck someone was going to ask me to go to management over something as ridiculous as that.

  Rubbing my chin, I eyeballed the kid, who I would guess to be perhaps twenty-three; not much older than my daughter who was seventeen. “Let me get this straight, you grabbed a sandwich or two or three or whatever from the cafeteria before being bussed out here and when you sat down to eat you discovered there was no butter on these sandwiches?”

  “Ohh. There was butter. Just not enough butter.”

  My jaw clenched and I shot a couple of guys at the next table a look when I heard them snicker, though I knew why they were laughing. The welder before me was green and still had an idealized vision of this worksite. Part of the reason we got paid as well as we did was because we lived at camp and ate shitty-assed food, which sometime fell short in the butter department. It was part of the gig. “You realize there’s a hundred workers under my care.”

  He nodded.

  “And not one time in the past year I’ve been doing this job has someone come to me complaining about the lack of generosity of the kitchen staff in regard to butter on t
he sandwiches.”

  The kid shifted on the bench across the table from me.

  “Do you know why they wouldn’t have complained?”

  He shook his head. “Not sure. It’s an issue though.”

  “It’s because they’re more focused on getting the fucking job done and not dying doing it.” I shouldn’t be taking my anger out on the kid, but at the same time this was a serious job site, not a kindergarten, and I sure as hell wasn’t his mommy. “So if you have a valid complaint, I’ll be happy to forward that to management and rectify it; such as a paycheck issue, safety violation or anything of relevance. You’re living at a camp, eating cafeteria food; this isn’t a fucking five-star restaurant. If that is all, I’m sure your foreman will have something for you to weld or whatever. So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go back to having my lunch.”

  The kid opened his mouth to speak and then snapped it shut again. “That’s all. Thanks.” Getting up, he took off for the exit.

  “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” I grumbled under my breath, grabbing my ham and cheese cafeteria sandwich and taking a bite. I was like a grumpy old man today, maybe those forty-two years were starting to wear on me.

  Not enough butter on the bread my ass…. It could have used more mustard though….

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  Riley

  Riley: You are not going to take a taxi! I’m picking you up.

  Grayson: That’s not necessary.

  Riley: I know it’s not. But I’m going to do it anyhow. No arguing.

  Grayson: LOL. Then in that case I really appreciate it. Perhaps you’d like to stay over the night and then there’s something cool we could go to the next day.

  I frowned, searching my brain for activities that were happening over the coming weekend. It was the end of the summer, and in a city the size of the one we lived in with a little over a million people, there was always something going on. It could be any number of things really.