Any wind puffing up my sails from his surprise call died a quick death.
"Right," I said. Mental adjustments were harder when you were cursed apparently, because I dropped my head back and willed away anything other than the reason he was calling. "Umm, what did we need to talk about again?"
He chuckled. Why did it have to sound so sexy and wonderful when he chuckled? I stifled a groan, spearing my hand into my hair and tugging until I felt the sharp sting of pain.
"How we want to do this without kissing every person in town and also raising a ton of money."
My lips curled. "Ahh yes."
"Did I interrupt anything exciting when I called?" he asked.
I sighed. "You have no idea."
"Yeah?"
"Oh yeah. Downloading the pictures I took on the hike. I doubt I caught anything worth keeping before my ankle decided to twist itself."
"That does sound exciting."
"Mmhmmm." I chewed on my lip. "What about you? What are you doing?"
Honestly, I could not have sounded more awkward if I tried. But there was something terribly intimate about being curled up on my couch in the dark, with the sound of his voice in my ear. There wasn't a single part of me that didn't wish he was there with me.
There also wasn't a single part of me in denial about the feelings that Tucker had coursing through my body.
Floodgates were unleashed, the wall was knocked down, any other clever analogy that my love-addled brain could think up.
"Just driving around. Felt like I needed some fresh air."
I snuggled into the corner of the couch and took a deep breath. "I-I saw Magnolia at the Piggly Wiggly."
Loaded silence met my quiet statement.
"Did you now?" he asked after a beat.
I swallowed. "We didn't talk long." I smiled. "Long enough that I had to beat off some of the town vultures though."
Tucker groaned. "That place is a breeding ground for bored minds to run wild, I swear."
"Seems like it." I leaned my head back again and pried the appropriate words up my throat. "I'm sorry to hear about you two."
Oh look at that, I didn't die saying them.
In the background, I could hear the wind rushing in through Tucker's truck, the sound of his tires on the road. But he didn't say anything for a long moment. Then the truck's engine went quiet, his door opened and closed.
"It was the right thing to do," he said, when he finally spoke. "For a lot of reasons."
I moved the phone, briefly miming that I was banging it against my forehead when I did. The very last thing I wanted to do was talk about Magnolia, but I thought about what Levi said about getting to know him.
As I tried to think of what I could ask next, Tucker's voice came through the speaker.
"Grace?"
If I was on death row, and they offered me the choice between a perfectly seared eight-ounce filet mignon as my last meal, or hearing Tucker Haywood say my name one more time, I was certain I'd choose the latter.
"Yeah?"
"Don't scream when I knock, okay? I don't want to scare you."
I bolted upright just as three raps sounded quietly on the door.
Chapter 41 Tucker
Maybe I was the world's biggest fool, showing up like I did. My truck drove there without a second thought as soon as I heard her voice, a decision I hadn't even registered making.
But the second I saw the way she looked when I told her I was there, I'd never known such surety in my entire life. The blinding smile that lit her face knocked the breath from my lungs, and if there hadn't been a window between us to lessen the impact, it may have sent me to my knees.
There was no question in my mind that Grace was the impetus behind ending my relationship with Maggie, no matter what happened next. There was no possibility to leave those feelings unexplored, not when I saw the way her eyes lit, saw the way her cheeks lifted, and the shape of her lips changed because of that smile—the very first one that was meant for me.
Someone that beautiful shouldn't be allowed to walk free in the world, I thought. She leaped from the couch and all but tossed her laptop on the small kitchen counter in the middle of the converted garage apartment as she came to open the door.
My heart skipped impatiently over the normal rhythm when the lock clicked, and the barrier between us swung open. Grace leaned against the door frame, an amused grin tugging at the corner of her lips.
"What are you doing here?"
I shoved my hands in my pockets, so I didn't do something stupid, like tug her face up to mine. "Would you believe me if I said I wasn't entirely sure?"
Grace dropped her chin and laughed under her breath. When she lifted it again, she took a step back. "You better come in, before my aunt and uncle wonder who I'm sneaking in here at night."
The breath that left my lungs was deep and slow, laden with relief and anticipation. For what, I wasn't sure. But even the thought of time spent with her—just her, even if all we did was talk—was enough to have my skin tightening over my whole body.
My eyes adjusted to the dim light of the studio apartment. It was simply decorated, with more space to move around than I thought there'd be. A gray couch against one wall faced a television screen mounted straight across the room, a low console underneath it holding a couple of framed pictures that I couldn't make out. The kitchen was tucked into the opposite corner of the couch, one long stretch of counter that was uncluttered except for a coffee maker.
On the walls were framed photos, and immediately, I guessed that she’d taken them.
A kitchen island
