by Liz Isaacson
“I guess that’s true,” she said.
“Free time is fun when you’re busy,” he said.
“What do you like to do in your free time?” she asked.
“I’m training for a marathon right now,” he said. “So that’s helped a little. I spend a lot of time running and dealing with what I’m going to eat.”
“I’m surprised you chose Wok This Way,” she said. “I’m not sure what you know about the menu, but it’s not marathon food.”
He smiled at her, and Elise wanted to seize onto that moment and hold it in her palm forever. “And I didn’t even run today.” He chuckled, the deep sound filling the cab of the truck in a way that sent a thrill down Elise’s spine. “It’s fine. I’m doing ten miles tomorrow.”
“That’s incredible,” Elise said. “I can’t even remember the last time I drove ten miles.” They laughed together, and Elise felt the last of the tension leave her body. “So, Gray,” she said. “How old are you?”
He didn’t answer right away, and Elise’s guard went right back up. “I mean, I’m not very old, and it just occurred to me that you might, well, you might be a little older than me.” She glanced at him, her mouth running away with her again. “I’m only thirty, and you said you’ve been a lawyer for twenty, and you’ve got all that sexy silver in your beard, so I’m thinking you’re probably, what? Forty-five?”
The only reason she’d stopped talking was because she had to breathe, and in that moment, her mind caught up with what she’d said.
Sexy silver in your beard.
She wanted to disappear. Melt into the luxurious leather she sat on and slither back to her scary cabin-in-the-dark.
“Your math skills are impressive,” he said. “I’m forty-four.”
Elise nodded, because she didn’t dare open her mouth again. She had no idea what she’d say then. Gray reached up and ran one hand over his beard. “I guess my beard does have silver in it.” He looked at himself in the rear-view mirror as if he hadn’t noticed it before. “You think it’s sexy?”
“Oh, dear,” she said dryly, hoping to play this off as a joke. Could she? “Do you really need to fish for compliments?”
Gray chuckled, reached across the console, and took her hand again. “I think you look great tonight,” he said. “How’s that?”
“Thank you,” she said, pleased he hadn’t made too big of a deal out of her big mouth. “I think you’re very handsome. At least you know what kind of winter coat is appropriate for men your age.”
“What does that mean?”
“Have you seen Colton’s winter coat?”
“Oh, well, Colton. He’s always had a bit of a rebellious streak in him.”
“Has he? Is that what makes a man wear a puffy coat?” She laughed, and Gray joined her. “I like yours better.”
“Noted,” he said. He wore a black and navy parka that only made his chest and shoulders seem that much bulkier.
“Tell me something about yourself,” she said. “I mean, I told you my birthday, how old I am, that I’m scared of the dark, or maybe scared of living alone. Not sure on that. That I think you’re handsome and sexy, and my opinion on winter outdoor wear.” She grinned at him, though she wanted to staple her lips closed. “And all I got from you was that Hunter is almost twelve and that you’re forty-four.”
“Hey, I said I thought you were pretty.”
“Did you, though?” She cocked her head at him, enjoying this conversation so much. “I believe you said I looked amazing tonight. That could be because this is a cute coat and you like my boots. There’s a difference between someone looking good when they get all dolled up to go to dinner and being beautiful.”
“Look who’s fishing for compliments now.”
Elise burst out laughing, eternally grateful this date was going better than the last one they’d tried to go on. She sobered and looked at Gray expectantly, but he didn’t say anything.
Chapter Five
Gray’s muscles tightened and released, and he commanded himself to talk. Elise was waiting for him to say something, and probably something amazing.
“I like to go fishing in my free time,” he said, cutting a glance out of the corner of his eye toward her. “Hunter and I just go out to the river or to Ivory Lake, and it’s peaceful. We’ll stay for an hour or two, catch a few fish, and take them home for dinner. He cleans. I cook.”
“That sounds nice,” Elise said, her voice quieter and less flirty than before. Gray liked both versions of the blonde woman in the truck with him, and he did find her absolutely beautiful. Stunningly beautiful, and he’d have to make sure he told her before he went back to Colton’s that evening.
“It is nice,” he said. “I work a lot—or I used to work a lot—and those fishing trips were really important to both of us.”
“So running and fishing.”
“And with Hunter and my job, that kept my life really full.”
“Sounds like it.” Elise adjusted her hand in his. “You don’t have to tell me, but…what happened to Hunter’s mother?”
“She lives in Florida,” Gray said, the words just there. They came out easier than he’d thought they would too. For how little he dated, especially. Everyone in his life knew about Sheila, and he hadn’t had to explain his situation to anyone in a long time. “We’ve been divorced almost seven years now.”
“And you have custody?”
“Yes,” Gray said. “She left the state and hasn’t been back. She didn’t even contact us for a few years. It’s only been the last couple of years or so that she’s started calling Hunter again.”
“Wow,” Elise said. “Really? I can’t imagine doing that to my child.” She pulled in a tight breath. “I mean, I’m not judging her. Everyone has something they have to deal with, you know?” She squeezed his hand. “I didn’t mean to sound like I knew better than her.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “I understand what you meant.” Gray sensed in Elise a very caring spirit, and no, she wouldn’t leave her son behind without a word, a call, birthday cards, or Christmas presents.
The road flattened as he came out of the canyon, and he made the required turn to get them to downtown Coral Canyon. “Have you lived here long?” he asked. “Grow up here? Anything like that?”
“I’m from Canada, actually,” she said. “Prince Edward Island. My brother lives there with his wife, and my mom…well, my mom started dating last year—this guy in Las Vegas—and I think she sort of lives in both places now.”
“That’s quite the distance,” Gray said. “And climate change.”
“Right?” Elise trilled out a light laugh that made part of Gray’s soul that had long been dark light up again. He felt like that about Elise completely—that she’d reawakened part of himself that had been dormant for many long years.
“So, what do you think about that?” she asked.
“About what?” He pulled into the parking lot at Wok This Way, noting how there were plenty of parking spaces. Relief rushed through him, because he didn’t want this date to be anything like the last one.
“About long-distance dating.”
Gray flinched, pressing too hard on the brake as he came to a stop in the parking space. He flipped the truck into park and removed his foot from the brake. “Oh.”
“I ask a lot of questions,” Elise said. “Don’t I?”
“A few,” Gray said. “Questions I can handle, Elise. I have conducted a lot of meetings where a lot of questions are asked.” He turned and smiled at her. He couldn’t imagine taking her to dinner tonight and having that be the end of things between them. But what their relationship would look like moving forward, he had no idea.
Slowly, he lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss against her wrist. He didn’t know why, but he felt compelled to do so, just like he’d felt this insatiable pull to hold her hand in the cabin.
He lifted his gaze and met hers. “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “About the long-distance
dating. I think….” He exhaled, trying to buy himself a moment to organize his words. “I think I want to get to know you. I don’t see this being a one-night thing, where I drop you off tonight and we call it done.” He studied her light green eyes, which were so wide and filled with things streaming through them he couldn’t quite decipher. “What do you think?”
“I think I know how to video chat,” she said.
He chuckled and nodded. “I can do that too.” He gave her a smile that felt very flirty on his face. And for him, that was saying something. “So I’ve now told you my age, what I like to do in my free time, that I’m pretty…what’s the word? I’m not unhappy about not being a lawyer anymore.”
“Lost?” she suggested.
“Not really,” he said. “Wes was lost after he retired. I still feel grounded, and like I have a purpose. Maybe I’m just discontent?”
“Ooh, good word.” Elise smiled at him.
“So I’m discontent in my career,” he said. “And you know about Sheila now, and how old Hunter is. And how old I am—and I feel nothing about the age difference, Elise, in case you were wondering about that.”
“I was just going to ask.”
Gray grinned at her. “I had a feeling.” He ducked his head again. “What else? Oh, yes.” He looked at her again, right into those beautiful eyes, that pretty face with all that white-blonde hair framing it. “And I think you’re absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous.” His voice stuck on the last word, and he cleared his throat.
A flush crawled up her neck and stained her cheeks a lovely rosy shade. “Thank you, Gray.”
“Oh, and one more thing,” he said.
“We haven’t even gone inside yet,” she teased.
“Yeah, well, maybe if I get this out, we can just do surface stuff while we eat.”
“Surface stuff sounds nice.” She tilted her head an inch or two and waited.
“It’s just—if I mess up too badly along the way, I hope you’ll be forgiving,” he said. “Just tell me what I’m doing wrong. I haven’t dated in a very long time.”
Surprise filled those sea foam green eyes. “You haven’t?”
“Not for years,” he said, swallowing afterward. “I tried a couple of relationships after my divorce, but they were both complete disasters.”
“Completely?”
“Beyond,” Gray said darkly.
“You or them?”
“Both?” he guessed. He sighed. “I don’t know. I just know it was terrible, and I took a break.”
“How many years?”
“Five?”
She nodded and faced the windshield. “We all have those disasters, Gray. I haven’t dated anyone very seriously for a while either. A date here and there. Innocent flirting.” She gave him a smile. “Now, are we going in or what? I’m starving.”
Gray smiled too, his own stomach starting to complain about this prolonged conversation in the cab of his truck. “Yeah, let’s go eat.”
Hours later, Gray stood on Elise’s porch while she fiddled with the lock on her front door. He’d had the best night with her, and he was unsure of the next step. Should he ask to see her again tomorrow? He had three more days in Coral Canyon.
Should he kiss her?
He could admit he’d thought about it—several times—during dinner. She made him smile and laugh. She was smart and clever, and there was the whole gorgeousness to deal with too.
“Thank you, Gray,” she said, finally turning back to him once the door had opened and golden light spilled out onto the porch. “I’m going to have to talk to Graham about fixing the porch light. I didn’t realize it was out.” She glanced up at the dark bulb there, and Gray could feel her unease.
“I can come fix it for you,” he offered, the words just there, sounding across his vocal cords.
She looked up at him with a perfect brightness of hope in her face. “Really?”
“I’m here for three more days,” he said. “I can come tomorrow.” He wanted to shrug like it was no big deal, but somehow, he knew it was. And Elise did too. Not only that, but Gray was far too old to play things off as not serious when they were.
He leaned down and took her into his arms. “Thank you for going to dinner with me. That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.” He swayed with her slightly, telling himself to get off that porch as quickly as he could. Then he wouldn’t say or do something to embarrass himself.
“Me too,” she said. “Even if I did think you were being pushy this morning.”
He chuckled and stepped back, his heartbeat booming in a way it hadn’t in a while. “Maybe I could take you to dinner tomorrow night too,” he said. “I swear this will be the only time I ask.”
“Mm.” She put both palms against his chest, and though he couldn’t feel anything but pressure, he sure did like her touch. “How about you come here, and I’ll cook? I’ll look up marathon-appropriate meals.”
A grin filled his whole face. “Deal. What time?”
“Six again?”
“I’ll be here,” he said.
“Great.” Elise tipped up and kissed his cheek. “See you then, Gray.” She settled back on her feet before he could truly process what had happened, turned, and went inside her cabin, the door closing behind her.
Gray stood on the porch as the lock clicked, the heat from her lips streaming through his body though she’d only touched him for a moment. “Good-night,” he whispered, wondering if he’d ever been this filled with magic before.
He must’ve been, he reasoned as he went back to the truck and headed back to Colton’s. His brother would be waiting up, despite the way he and Elise had lingered at the restaurant until they were closing.
For the first time maybe ever, Gray wanted Colton to be waiting up so he could ask about the date. Gray was suddenly out of his depth and needed help.
It was all fine and good to put his mother off about dating. Act disgruntled and disgusted at her questions about his love life and why he didn’t want to get married again.
It was easy to tell Colton not to make a big deal out of one date. Easy to roll his eyes when Wes said Gray could do what he wanted, as if Gray knew what he wanted.
His date with Elise tonight proved he had no idea what he really wanted. He’d been keeping himself separate from women for years, because he’d thought that was what he wanted. For him and Hunter. For their safety. Because he was perfectly content with being Hunter’s dad.
“And that hasn’t changed,” Gray told himself as he drove, his headlights cutting a path through the darkness on this mountain. “But this date is a big deal.”
It was, because Gray genuinely liked Elise. A lot more than he’d even acknowledged. They hadn’t mentioned the failed date over Christmas, which suited him just fine. He didn’t need to hash everything out about every situation.
He pulled up to Colton’s and went inside through the garage, finding a light on over the stove and the sound of his brother’s soft snores coming from the couch. He paused next to the island, trying to decide what to do. He could easily sneak past Colton. Did he want to?
He’d want someone to wake him so he didn’t spend the night on the couch. Gray’s back protested just thinking about sleeping on a couch all night. He tossed his keys onto the counter, where they made a loud clanking noise. He sighed as he unzipped his coat and went into the living room.
“Colt,” he said. “You awake?”
“I am,” Colton mumbled. “Yes, I am.” He sat up, and Gray tossed his coat over the back of a recliner. He sat down in it and sighed again.
“Bad?” Colton asked. A moment later, he snapped on the lamp beside the couch, his eyes searching Gray’s face.
Gray kept his face impassive for as long as he dared, then he let the happiness over that night’s date bleed out and curl up his mouth. “It was great.”
A smile burst onto Colton’s face too. “Yeah, it was.”
Gray closed his eyes for a moment, trying to hold onto every indiv
idual moment of the last few hours. Of course he couldn’t, but it was a miracle he wanted to.
“Wait. Was it really?”
“Yes,” Gray said. “It was. She’s amazing, Colton. I’m so out of my league here.”
Confusion pulled across Colton’s eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, she’s witty and fun and clever. I’m a boring, old lawyer. Emphasis on old.” He’d said their age difference didn’t matter to him, and it didn’t.
“Oh, come on,” Colton said. “You’re not that much older than her.”
“How old do you think she is?”
“I—she’s got to be almost forty, right?”
“Not even close, Colt.”
His eyes widened. “Thirty…four?”
“She’s straight-up thirty,” Gray said. “I’m fourteen years older than her.”
“It’s fine,” Colton said smoothly. “You like her, and she’s amazing.”
“I do,” Gray said. “It’s odd, because I do. And she is.”
“I’m so glad,” Colton said, standing up. “Okay, let’s hit the sack. I’m exhausted.”
“That’s it?” Gray asked, alarm pulling through him.
“Yeah,” Colton said. “It was good. Done. What’s there to talk about?”
“What about the fact that I live in Colorado? Or the fact that I have a son? Or that I have no idea what I’m doing? When do I kiss her? What do we talk about once I go home? Should I move here? What about Hunter and his school? What about Mom and Dad?” He stood up too, every worry and every question he’d thought in the past several months since meeting Elise streaming from his mouth.
Colton blinked at him several times, his mouth falling open. “Gray,” he finally said. “You have never worried about stuff like this. You just act.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t know how to act in this situation, Colton.” And he hated that, because he always knew how to act. Always knew what to do. Always knew how to do it.
“You’re thinking about kissing her already?” Colton grinned, and Gray shook his head.
