by Liz Isaacson
She was so good to Hunter, and so amazing with him, and as he watched her teach him how to dance, Gray was pretty sure he fell all the way in love with her.
“Now,” Elise said, turning toward him. “It looks like this.” She reached for him, and he had no problem putting his hand on her waist and securing the other one in his. They stepped and moved around the dining room while Hunter watched.
“See how he’s not too far away? You were too far away.” Elise swayed with Gray as she beamed up into his face. “But he’s not too close either. We can look at each other and have a real conversation. It’s not weird. It’s what people do.”
Gray would like to bring her closer, and have her rest her head against his chest, but he didn’t want Hunter doing that with Molly. So he kept the respectable distance as she finished the demo. “And that’s it,” she said, smiling at him. “You can dance with me at my mom’s wedding, if you want to practice.”
“Okay,” Hunter said as his phone chimed again.
“You better answer her,” Gray said. “You don’t want to leave her on read.”
“Yeah.” Hunter bustled out of the kitchen, and both Elise and Gray watched him go.
Then Gray growled in the back of his throat and drew Elise to his chest the way he’d wanted to. “I’d rather dance much closer to you,” he whispered.
She laid her head against his chest like he’d imagined, and they did sway back and forth slowly together. She never did answer his question about her thoughts on marriage—at least not verbally.
“How do I look?” Gray asked Hunter as he adjusted his tie. The boy faced him, and Gray reached for his tie too. “Yours isn’t right, bud.” He smoothed it under the collar on the right, and said, “There.”
“You look great, Dad.”
“Good enough for Elise’s mother’s wedding?” Gray was nervous for some reason. Elise had spent the quick flight telling him and Hunt about her mother, and the words Gray had heard more than any others were “free spirit” and “the nicest person you’ll ever meet.”
They’d gone to dinner with her and her fiancé, Henry, the night before, and everything Elise had told him about her mother had been true. But he was still nervous for this wedding for some reason.
“I guess?” Hunter said, making it sound like a question. “I don’t know, Dad. You look great.”
Gray drew him into a hug, because he’d realized that he didn’t hug his son enough. Hunter hugged him back, and when they separated, he looked up at Gray. “Dad, are you going to marry Elise?”
Gray pulled in a breath as he searched his son’s face. “What do you think about it? Would you like that?”
Hunter took a few seconds, and then he nodded. “I—she’s the best, Dad. I really like her.”
“She loves you, you know,” Gray said.
“She does?” Hunter lifted his eyebrows. “How do you know?”
“I can see if on her face when she looks at you.”
“I think she looks at you like that too, Dad.”
“Does she?”
Hunter shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Gray didn’t have to ask if Hunter loved her. He knew he did. Hunter talked about Elise often, and he wanted to spend time with her. He wanted her to pick him up from school, and he wanted to show her around the farm, and Ivory Peaks, and the suburb where they lived closer to the city. He couldn’t wait for her to meet Molly, and Gray could admit that that one stung a little. After all, he’d been told not to even talk to the girl, because he’d say something embarrassing. But Elise?
Oh, Hunter couldn’t wait to introduce Molly to Elise.
He smiled at the thought, because while he’d been hurt for five minutes, he was also thrilled that Hunter had another opportunity to have a mother. A real mother this time, one who wouldn’t abandon him when things got too hard. One who loved him for who he was, not how it made her look.
Elise knocked as she opened the door. “They’re getting lined up.” She reached for him, and Gray went toward her, slipping his fingers into hers. “Come on, Hunt,” she added. “You’re right by me too.”
She wasn’t walking in the wedding party. In fact, there was very little pomp and circumstance to this wedding. They met Elise’s mother at the end of the hall, and she drew her daughter into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me too, Mom.”
Petra looked at Gray next, and she gave him a hug too. “I’m so glad you came with her.”
“So am I,” he said. “Congratulations, Petra.”
“And you, Hunter,” she said, gazing at him too. Hunter really did have some sort of magic about him that everyone loved. Sheila had been the same way, so Gray shouldn’t be so surprised.
“All right, Mom,” Elise said. “We’ll see you in there.” She led them into the hall where the wedding would take place, and Gray was just glad it wasn’t an outdoor wedding. The heat here in Vegas was strong enough to kill someone if they stayed out in it for too long. At least Gray thought so.
Elise sat on the very front row, and Gray took the seat next to her. Hunter filed in too, and they’d only been sitting for maybe a minute before the soft, classical music that had been playing turned to a drumbeat, which was quickly followed by some keyboard music from the eighties.
“Let’s get married,” came through the speakers, and the preacher said, “Everyone please stand for the bride and groom.”
Gray got to his feet, somewhat surprised to see Petra and Henry dancing down the aisle. Dancing. People laughed and started clapping along with the music as the chorus came on again.
“Let’s get married.”
Once Petra and Henry reached the front of the crowd, they moved into a clearly choreographed routine, complete with facial expressions and a dip-and-kiss that was impressive for a woman Petra’s age.
Gray’s back hurt just looking at her.
The song faded to silence, and they raised their joined hands as if the ceremony had already happened.
Everyone clapped, and a few people whistled and whooped. Gray looked at Elise, who watched her mother with that same love he’d seen on her face when she looked at her son.
“Please be seated,” the preacher said, and Gray took Elise’s hand as they settled back into their chairs.
“I don’t want to dance down the aisle when we get married,” he whispered.
Elise gasped and jerked her attention to him. “When we get married?”
Gray realized what he’d just given away, and he shook his head as the preacher started talking. “Shh,” he whispered. “This is your mother’s big day.”
Beside him, Elise leaned into him and squeezed his hand, and Gray figured he better get a diamond ring and get down on his knees pretty dang soon.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Elise soon learned that Colorado was quite similar to Wyoming. At least the little suburban area where she now lived. People got up and went to work each day. They dropped their kids off at school. They walked their dogs. They worried about their seventh graders going to junior high dances with girls.
The weather was probably a bit milder for this time of year, though the third week of September sure hadn’t brought any snowstorms yet. She’d settled into Gray’s house, which was about a half-hour drive from the farm in Ivory Peaks where he and Hunter lived.
It was less than five miles from Ames’s house, and as she pulled on her running shoes, a sigh of exhaustion stole through her.
She’d been in town for two days before she’d called him to ask a favor. He’d been over to the house in less than ten minutes, dressed and ready to begin her training.
She hadn’t even changed out of her pajamas yet. Ames was a cruel taskmaster, that was for sure, but he had started her off easy.
They walked for the first few days. Then he’d given her the task of running a half a mile during their walk. Elise had thought she might die, and she honestly had no idea how anyone could go farther than that.
Afte
r a few days, he increased it. And kept her there for a bit.
Today, he’d texted to say she was running a full mile.
“Don’t let me die today,” she prayed as she went out onto the front porch and started stretching. That was a very important piece, Ames said.
Hutch joined her, and she plucked his leash from the hook on the back of the pillar. “You’re going to run a mile today,” she told him. “I know you used to run with Gray, and he worked you to death, but it’s been a while.”
She didn’t dream she could ever keep up with Gray—in anything—but she wanted to be able to share something he absolutely loved with him. And that was running.
Ames came huffing and puffing up to her house, calling, “You ready for this?” He had his German shepherd with him too, and Hutch perked right up as he usually did when they got to see Ames and Georgia.
Elise lifted her head and adjusted her visor. “So ready.” She tugged on Hutch’s leash and started toward Ames in an easy jog, and then slowed to a walk. He always let her walk in the beginning, and he recovered quickly as they went down the street.
After the first few blocks, he said, “Okay, let’s go.” He took Hutch’s leash from her and picked up the pace. Elise did too, trying to find this elusive rhythm he talked about. “Stride,” he called it.
“There it is,” he said, and in the next moment, Elise felt it. Her arms and legs simply worked together in sync, and with them, she could breathe in and out without having to think so dang hard about it.
“Wow,” she said. “I’m running.”
“And at a good stride, too.” Ames gave her a grin, but smiling was asking way too much of Elise in this moment.
After what felt like a long time, she asked, “How much further?”
He barely seemed winded, but Elise literally felt like she might collapse at any moment. She was a hard worker, but there was a difference between planting a rose bush or pruning a tree and running.
“Just a bit,” Ames said. “We’re almost there.”
“How close is almost?” She wondered if she could use Hutch as an excuse, but the silver dog just trotted along happily.
“We’re at point-nine-five miles,” he said. “It’s literally less than a block.”
A block. Less than a block. She could do that. She had to finish the whole mile.
“All right,” he said a few seconds later. “That’s it.”
She slowed instantly, but she kept walking. The first time she’d run, she’d stopped completely and bent over, sucking at the air. Ames hadn’t been happy about that—and neither had her calves.
She walked fast too, feeling a power in her legs she hadn’t felt before. Eventually, she felt human again, and she looked at Ames. “That wasn’t so bad.”
“No?” He grinned at her. “Then, great. You can run back home too.” He picked up his pace, but kept going in the direction of his house. “See you tomorrow, Elise.”
“Yeah, bye.” She lifted her hand in a wave, though he wasn’t looking at her. “Thanks, Ames!” she called after him.
He held up one hand in a thumbs-up and kept going.
Elise did not run any of the way back to her house, and she could practically hear Gray’s voice in her head telling her how the breakfast casserole she heated up and ate had just undone all of her hard work on the streets.
But she wasn’t trying to lose weight, and she wasn’t trying to win a marathon. She just wanted to be able to run with Gray on his easy days. Ames had said even those would be three or four miles, and Elise had a long way to go before she could do that.
She showered and dressed, and opened the back door for Hutch. “Be good, buddy,” she said, and he lifted his head from the couch.
Lucky thing got to sleep all day on the couch. She smiled at him, and she’d just opened the door to go into the garage when the door started to lift. She paused, her heart pounding as if she’d just run another mile. She hadn’t pressed the button to open the door.
She’d been afraid to sleep in her cabin alone at night in Coral Canyon, and that fear came roaring back.
As the door lifted, it revealed a truck she knew well. “Gray?” she asked, going down the steps and toward the vehicle.
He’d just gotten out and he paused as he looked at her. “I got in.” A smile overtook his whole face, and he started to laugh. “I just got the email, and I tried to call, but you didn’t answer, so I just came over.”
“Got in?” Confusion ran through her. “Oh. Oh, my heck. Boston? You got in to Boston?”
He laughed again, rushed toward her, and scooped her up into his arms. “I got in to Boston!”
She squealed as he twirled her around, the joy pounding through her with every beat of her heart unlike any she’d ever experienced before. He set her on her feet, his face radiating that same joy.
“I’m so proud of you,” she said, smiling up at him. As she looked at him, Elise felt a very real and a very powerful sense of love.
He bent down and kissed her, and that only solidified everything in Elise’s mind. They belonged together. Now she just needed Gray to realize it and do something about it.
Wait a second, she typed and sent back to Hunter. Let’s go back for a minute. Your dad’s birthday is in three weeks?
Yeah, Hunter said.
We have to do something.
We do?
Of course. Elise shook her head. She was surprised Gray and Hunter had made it this long without her. I’ll make him a cake. We should have a surprise party or something.
Dad hates surprises.
She chuckled, because that sounded so much like Gray. He’d taken on some corporate law consulting in the several weeks he’d been back in Ivory Peaks. He ran a lot, and he drove Hunter to school, and he worked around the farm too.
Elise had found a job at a daycare center as a secretary, and she worked until it was time to pick up Hunter from school. They usually spent the afternoon together, and he’d introduced her to several of his friends. Not Molly, though. Not yet.
She’d been teaching him how to cook, and he’d been showing her and Hutch around the city. Some days, she mourned the loss of Two Green Thumbs, which she hadn’t wanted to try to start up here so close to winter. Gray had never told her how much the rent for the house would be, and she’d decided to let the topic drop.
So while she didn’t have much money, she had enough to pay for her car and her food. And, as it turned out, she needed new running shoes more often too, and Hutch was eating more and more since he went jogging too.
She was up to two miles of running now, though the mornings were starting to get too cold to run. Ames had told her that usually by Halloween, the weather started preventing a lot of outdoor activities.
What do you think we should do? she asked Hunter.
He won’t eat the cake either.
“Dang it,” she muttered to herself. Hunter was right. Gray and his insane marathon dietary restrictions. I can make a meatloaf and mashed potato cake and make it look like a birthday cake, she suggested. What do you think of that?
He’d probably like that.
What will you get him? Want to go shopping sometime this week?
Sure, Hunter said. I usually just get him something stupid like new running socks.
Elise scoffed right out loud. That’s not happening this year. She looked up from her phone, the house around her utterly quiet. For how many people lived so close together, that always surprised her. Gray’s house did sit in the back of the cul-de-sac, and his backyard took up the entire corner.
Hutch lifted his head too, questions in his expression. She reached over and stroked his side, her mind trying to find the perfect birthday gift for Gray. The dog flopped his big lion head back down to the couch cushion.
She’d made him all the quotes for Valentine’s Day, but she’d done that when she had a lot of free time on her hands. She didn’t have that luxury now.
I’ll be thinking of something, she sent to Hun
ter. If you have any ideas for what I can get him, let me know.
Everything Dad wants costs a lot of money.
“And he probably just buys what he wants.” Which was why she’d thought of the running quotes. Maybe she could do something like that again. Even as she thought of it, she dismissed the idea.
I could just ask him for some money, if you want, Hunter said. See what he says, and maybe he’ll give it to you.
It’s worth a shot, she agreed. Now you better go get your chores done, so your dad doesn’t ask what took you so long again tonight. She added a smiley face to the text and sent it.
Hunter didn’t respond, which also reeked of Gray. When the conversation was over, it was simply over. No need to send a thumbs-up or an okay or anything.
Elise stayed on the couch and closed her eyes. What could she get Gray for his birthday? What could she afford?
She got up and went to the drawer in the kitchen where she’d put her sketchbook. If she just let her mind wander, maybe she’d come up with something amazing. The dress she was working on was pretty amazing, she knew that, and she picked up her pencil to continue what she’d started.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Gray swept the last of the dirt and dust from the kitchen out the back door and onto the patio. “That’s it, Mom.” He looked at her and Dad sitting under the canopy, holding hands. “It’s all cleaned up. All finished.”
“Thank you, Gray.” She smiled up at him. “You’re such a good boy.”
Gray smiled back, using the last of his energy to do so. Now that he was back on the farm, he was working more than ever. He’d been telling himself for a week that as soon as the remodel on the granny house was finished and his parents were moved in, his load would lighten.
Then he’d think of the marathon in just seven short months, and he’d recheck his training schedule. He drove thirty minutes one way to get Hunter to the junior high he wanted to attend. He worked around the farm, cleaning up things that had long been neglected in addition to the usual animal feeding, building repair, and equipment maintenance.
