Chapter 17
I’m not sure how long I laid there sobbing, but my guess is within twenty minutes or so there was a loud knock on my door.
I lifted myself up off the couch and walked over to the door, deciphering whether or not I should open it.
“Mal, I know you’re standing there. I heard your footsteps. Please open the door,” Greyson’s voice said on the other end.
Despite my better judgment, I listened to him and opened it. “Aren’t you too sick to be out tonight?” I asked in a very snide tone.
“I really am sick. I feel miserable. I was laying on the couch and there was a knock at my door. Honestly that moment was the best I felt all day because I thought it was going to be you. I thought you were coming by to surprise me,” he said innocently, walking into my apartment without invitation. He reached out his arm in an attempt to put it around my waist, but I brushed him off.
“So she really was your fiancé?” I asked curtly, cutting right to the point.
“Yes, kind of,” he responded, looking down at the ground.
“Kind of? Did you ask her or not, Greyson? That doesn’t seem like a gray area. Although perhaps you just told her you were going to marry her because you’re not big on asking proper questions,” I said, still fuming about the whole thing.
“Yes, we were engaged. But I want to explain the whole thing,” he said softly, his eyes pleading with mine. “Will you just hear me out?”
“Why did Ben tell me she was dead? Seems like a bit of miscommunication, wouldn’t you say?” I asked sarcastically. “Who says that about someone who isn’t dead? I actually pitied you when he said that. I felt bad for you, like you went through some horrible heart wrenching experience. I feel like an idiot, Greyson. And the kid? Like I said earlier, you know my math isn’t great, but he was around two, right? And you broke up two years ago? You have a kid?”
“No, he’s not mine,” Greyson responded.
“She called him ‘Grey.’ I heard it. So your fiancé named someone else’s kid after you? This is the most distorted story. I really just want you to go,” I said, pointing towards the door.
“Mallory, I’m not leaving until you hear me out,” he said, staring at me with an unyielding glance.
“Greyson, I don’t care about your explanation. I don’t care,” I repeated. “None of it matters. Whatever your spin is on this, your explanation… You lied to me. I’m sorry I didn’t make that one of my ‘rules.’ My bad for assuming that was a standard part of our contract,” I said with a hurtful tone. “We’re done, Greyson. Whatever this was, I’m out.”
“Mallory, please. I’m explaining this to you whether or not you want to hear it. Just sit,” he said, pointing to a chair in my living room.
“Thanks for still trying to boss me around like you have since day one, but I’ll stand this one out,” I said crossing my arms.
“Look, I met her at my mom’s diner. She was a waitress there,” he began.
“I hate this story already, Greyson,” I said, still not interested in what he had to say.
“She ran away from an abusive boyfriend who knocked her up. She had no where to go. No family. She showed up at the diner looking for a job. She was really struggling. I was helping my mom out a bit that summer and I got to know her. She was devastated, all alone with a baby on the way,” he explained, staring at me as he spoke. “The guy was sent to jail for something else, drug charges I think. She would just cry and cry about her baby growing up without a father.”
“So you signed up on a volunteer flier on the diner cork board?” I asked rudely.
“Mallory, it really bothered me. Thinking of yet another kid growing up in the world without a dad,” he said soulfully. “It crushed me.”
“What made it your responsibility? You’re telling me some girl cries to you about not having a dad for her baby, and just like that, you volunteer to do it?” I asked. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear any more of this.
“Mallory, I’m not saying it was a normal thing to do. Or the right thing to do. But my whole life, that’s all I wanted. While every other kid was wishing on his birthday candles for a new bike, or a Nintendo, I wished for a dad. I always felt incomplete. I hated the universe. It wasn’t fair that all the other kids had one and I didn’t. Everyone tried to glaze over it, just because he was fighting for our country. As if that made his dying ‘worth’ it. That didn’t make it any less heartbreaking for me. Who was fighting for me? My mom working sixty hours a week to pay our bills? I mean I don’t fault her for any of that. But I was angry at her. I so badly wanted to fill that void.”
I listened as he spoke passionately about it, but I didn’t feel what he was feeling.
“Mallory, all I could think was that I could give that baby something I never had. I know that sounds stupid. It wasn’t my responsibility, whatever. But it pulled at me. I felt like I was standing on that cliff and it was all I could do to change something wrong in my own life. So I asked her to marry me. I didn’t know what else to do. I just thought if I could make it better, then I should make it better.”
“Did you love her?” I asked blankly.
“Not instantly, no. But I thought I could. I wanted to,” he answered honestly. “But I understand now there is a difference in wanting to love someone versus actually loving them.” He stared at me with intense eyes.
“Well unfortunately Greyson, that’s where we’re at. I wanted to love you. I wanted to give this whole thing a chance,” I said softly.
“How does this change anything?” he asked, full of emotion. “Nothing happened, Mal. It was all over before the baby was even born. About two weeks before she had him, the guy got out of jail. She ran away to California with him, and that was that. I don’t think she even told him about me. I literally never heard from her again. She just left and that was it.”
“Then why didn’t you just tell me about that part of your life in the first place? That seems like a pretty significant event. You never even mentioned it to me,” I said, still hurt.
“I don’t know. I try to pretend it never happened, I guess. Ben helped me with that. It was really hard on me so we just joked about it, like the best way to deal with it was just to pretend like she died. Like there was a finite ending to the whole saga. She was gone, and that was the end of that story.”
“Well then why is she back? Does this story possibly get worse?” I asked.
“Not worse, per se. But it’s,” Greyson hesitated, “interesting.”
“Seriously? So there is more to it? She wasn’t just dropping by to say hi? To reminisce about the good ole days when you offered to be her baby’s dad?” I inquired, still with a slight edge to my tone. This whole thing was unbelievable. Greyson always talked about the unexpected as if it was a good thing, but this was anything but good.
“Well, she came to ask something of me. I didn’t say yes, so don’t freak out,” he said cautiously. “She got accepted to some fashion institute in France. I guess it’s a big deal.”
Greyson paused, as if he was judging my reaction to this little bit of information. “So,” I said, urging him to say the rest. “She came by asking you to go with her?” I continued, rolling my eyes. “Just say what you need to say.”
“No, of course she didn’t ask me to go. But she needs a big favor. In order to take Grey with her, she would need a lot of money. She would essentially have to ‘board’ him somewhere there if she wanted to take him because the living quarters at the institute aren’t exactly kid-friendly. So she either needs the money to afford taking him there, or,” Greyson paused. “Or the alternative, she asked if Grey could live with me for a year while she took the opportunity,” he said.
“What? This woman you haven’t seen for two years came by with a baby you never met asking if you wanted to keep him? For a year? Who does that?” I shrieked. “This whole situation is wrong on so many levels. No normal person would do that.”
“I know, I agree. I guess the kid’s dad
is locked up again, and will be for awhile. She said this is the only chance she has to really change her life. To make it something different than the path she’s been on,” he said sincerely.
“What’s all that sensitivity in your voice? What exactly did you tell her, Greyson? You wouldn’t consider her offer, would you?” I asked sternly. “It’s completely psychotic.”
“Honestly, I didn’t answer her. I raced out of there so fast, trying to catch up with you. I asked her to go and told her I would call her tomorrow. I told her I had something more important to deal with at the moment,” he responded, studying my face.
“So you two are still going to talk about it tomorrow? So she thinks it’s a possibility?” I asked squarely. “So which is it, the kid or the money?”
“Mallory, I know it’s crazy. And stupid. And totally selfish of her. But I don’t even know this woman, what if she makes a worse decision? Like what if she just drops the boy off with someone he doesn’t know?” He genuinely looked conflicted.
“Oh my gosh, you’re really thinking about this? He doesn’t know you, Greyson. The kid has never met you. And the money? You’ve been working your ass off to save for that new building you want. You’d be willing to give all of that up for this bat shit crazy woman who doesn’t know how to make proper life decisions? Look, I don’t even want to talk about this anymore. I don’t know why we’re still talking about it at all,” I said, waving both my arms around as I spoke. “First off, that whole story start to finish makes me think you’re crazy. And the fact that you would even consider either side of her proposal? That makes you completely psychotic.”
“I never said I was considering it,” Greyson interjected, interrupting my tirade. “I’m just trying to be open and honest with you about this whole thing. About why she came here and what she wants.”
“Open and honest? Are you really choosing those words right now?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
“Mallory, I’m sorry. I’m really trying to fix this,” he said honestly.
“Don’t even bother, Greyson. Let’s just call this off. I have a lot on my plate right now. I’ve got to submit my dessert bid for the downtown art festival coming up. I have a big event next weekend to prepare for so I’ll be chained to the bakery all week anyway. It’s late and I’m really tired. I just want to go to bed. I have a really early morning,” I said, my voice trailing off as I tried to think of other excuses.
“Dinner. Tomorrow night. I don’t care how late it is or how busy you are. I will meet you whenever you get done with work,” Greyson replied, reaching out and touching my arm. “I will end this whole thing with Brianna tomorrow, I swear. I’ll actually do it tonight. I’ll tell her no. Dinner tomorrow night, Mallory.”
“The last time you ordered me to dinner I never showed up. Are you looking to relive that scenario?” I asked dryly.
“I’m not walking away from this,” he responded sincerely. “I promised you the best three week relationship of your life. And given I made you cry today, I’m clearly not doing a great job. I just want to fix this. We can have dinner and I will tell you anything you want to know. You can ask me anything and I will answer every question in full detail, I swear. I have no reason to hide anything from you, I know that. I just thought it was way too soon for some of the crazy stuff, especially since that stuff doesn’t mean anything to me now. But I’ll give up any secret I’ve ever had, I promise.” Greyson leaned down and softly kissed me.
“I’m not sure. I still don’t feel good about any of this,” I answered honestly. “I just feel stupid. Let down, embarrassed. This is too much drama for me. Why don’t relationships just work for me?”
“This will work, Mallory. Just give me a chance. I’m really trying here. Just go out to dinner with me tomorrow night and if you still hate me by the time it’s over, I’ll let you go,” he said, staring into my eyes as he put his right hand on my hip.
“Why are you always so sure of yourself?” I asked. He genuinely seemed so calm and collected all the time, even when I felt completely rattled.
“I’ll come by the bakery at six-thirty tomorrow night. If you’re still busy, I won’t say a word. I’ll just wait. I’ll wait around as long as you need me to, even if you’re still working at eleven o’clock,” he said sincerely. “I never meant for any of this to hurt you.” He kissed me again, and I felt a surge of electricity course through my body. Unfortunately I couldn't decipher if the surge was invigorating, or if it was slowly electrocuting me and taking me down.
Chapter 18
The next morning I was in the bakery a little before six o’clock and Addie arrived shortly thereafter. She could tell by my puffy eyes I had been crying the night before. I reluctantly told her the whole story, reiterating how unsure of this whole relationship I was.
“You and Griffin just clicked instantly, right? You spent time together, fell in love, mushy mushy. Now you’re engaged and you’re always glowing and happier than ever. I just don’t understand this whole thing with Greyson. It’s like everyday we go from zero to eighty miles per hour. Some days we coast and it’s amazing, and the other days we crash into a turnpike,” I said dramatically.
“Well, let’s think about this,” Addie said objectively. “You’re a pretty intense person, right? I mean, you’re fun and carefree and all that, but you’re also pretty direct. You’re focused, you know what you want, and you have a very busy schedule, especially since the bakery’s been open full-time,” Addie explained matter-of-factly. “So think about Dillon for example. He was so blasé about everything, right? That didn’t work out with him, and instead of going from zero to eighty miles per hour, you guys were stuck in a school zone going about twenty-five. Sure, it was easy and safe. Months went by and there was no drama, right?”
“Yeah, for the most part. He just constantly whined about me working too much,” I said, rolling my eyes as we mixed up large batches of brownies and cookies. “But otherwise it seemed easy. He didn’t boss me around like Greyson does.”
“Exactly. But easy didn’t work for you either. You were complacent. But with Greyson, when you talk about him, you seem much more passionate,” she said whimsically.
“Yeah, except that passion is more like anger half the time,” I retorted.
“There’s a very fine line there. Think about it. It takes just as much emotion from you to love him as it takes to be mad at him. The fact that you have such strong feelings either way has to mean something. You cried over him last night and you’ve only been together a week. You were with Dillon for months and you didn’t even shed a single tear when he broke it off. So the fact that Greyson can stir up that much feeling from you… I don’t know, it’s kind of romantic in it’s own way,” Addie said thoughtfully. “Maybe we should have Megan come in for lunch. We can get her take on it,” she said as she poured brownie batter into several large baking pans.
“Yeah right. Her advice would be to dump him and start dating his best friend,” I said with a smirk.
We worked throughout the morning and around noon a small white van pulled up in front of the bakery. A red-haired guy, probably in his early twenties unloaded some bags of food out of the van and brought them in.
“Lunch delivery,” he said casually, setting the bags down on the counter. I could smell the food immediately, and it smelled delectable.
“Addie, did you order something?” I asked, a little confused.
“It’s from Luca’s,” the guy said. “Here.” He handed me a small white envelope and walked out of the bakery as Addie and I thanked him. There were at least seven different containers in the various bags, so we called Megan to come over and join us for lunch.
As Addie started spreading out the food, I opened up the envelope.
Inside was a small note card with five simple words written out on it. Don’t give up on me. That was it. Short and I suppose relatively sweet. This guy sure knew how to get to me.
We sat around eating the delicious food. There
were a couple of different kinds of pasta, some roasted vegetables, and some chicken parmesan. Megan and Addie gushed about what an amazing cook Greyson was, and I had to agree. He really made amazing food, and I was proud of him in that moment for the business he had created. If this was what his customers were getting, he was absolutely worth the jobs he got. I rehashed the entire Brianna story to Megan, and as I suspected she had little advice for me. She always jumped ship at the first sign of catastrophe, but she did point out how obviously smitten I was by this guy and that perhaps I should at least stick it out for the full three weeks. After thinking about everything last night, I wondered how I would make it any longer than that. Once the novelty of our ridiculous agreement wore off, I wasn’t sure there was enough left to keep us going.
Fortunately we wrapped up in the bakery just before six, so I had enough time to run upstairs to my apartment to take a quick shower. I dried my hair as fast as I could and put on some light makeup and a light blue cotton a-line sundress. I ran back down to the bakery around six-twenty-five, determined to make it seem like I had been at work the whole time. I didn’t want him to know that I put any specific effort into my appearance for tonight; that would go to his head for sure. Instead I felt more comfortable with him just thinking I always looked this good and refreshed after a twelve hour day at work.
I thumbed through some of my upcoming contracts and orders, and sure enough Greyson knocked softly on the bakery door at exactly six-thirty. I opened it, happy to see him dressed up in a grey button down shirt and some black pants. He looked more handsome than usual, his blonde hair perfectly combed and his skin glowing with his usual tan.
“Thanks for opening the door,” he said softly, stepping inside the bakery. He gave me a kiss on my cheek and it felt genuine and sweet.
Six Rules: Book Two in the SIX Series Page 10
