Tucker nodded. His jaw was still tight, his gaze unwavering.
“And you wanted me to meet you here so that you could have an outlet for that frustration that didn’t involve you just … talking to me about it.”
“Grace, please.” He reached for me again, and I stepped back.
“Think about the last thirty minutes,” I said as evenly as I could. It was so hard to speak calmly, because once I opened the door on that thought, on everything that just happened, I felt a maelstrom whip up dangerously inside of me.
The last thirty minutes. The last three weeks. The perfect storm to poke at every bruise inside of me that I’d been overlooking because of how good it was between us.
“Think about them, Tucker.” I pressed a hand to my chest. “You could’ve talked to me. I don’t want to be some convenient outlet, I want to be with you.”
“You don’t think you are?” His mouth hung open, and I saw the first flash of disbelief.
I shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know, Tucker. I know that you’re attracted to me, I know you care about me, but I also know that you aren’t really letting me in. We’re hiding, because of what people might think. Or one person, I guess. One person, and we’re screwing in the dark and locking doors so no one sees. Look at what just happened!”
His cheek ticked as he clenched his teeth together, and he set his hands on his hips. “Don’t cheapen this. That’s not fair.”
“I’m not cheapening anything,” I said fiercely. “I’m finally calling it like I see it.”
“All I’ve wanted is to be part of your life.”
“You are,” he said vehemently. He gripped my free hand. “You are, Grace. You’re such an important part of it. The most important part.”
“Grace is Glenn’s daughter?” I repeated. “That’s how you introduced me to your mother. As Glenn’s daughter. I told you that I love you, and you couldn’t even call me your girlfriend to your mother.”
Tucker blew out a hard breath. “I didn’t know what I was saying, I’m sorry. I just … she basically drove up while we were having sex, Grace. I was a little thrown off. it’s not like I expected her to show up, and it’s not fair to hold it against me that she did. You cannot assume that I wouldn’t have talked to you about what happened after we were done.”
I set my jaw, because I couldn’t argue with that. “You’re right.”
He wiped a hand over his mouth. “I don’t even know how we got here. This morning everything was fine. It was perfect.”
The harsh laugh burst out of my lungs like a bullet from a loaded gun. “It was easy to think so, wasn’t it? I know I certainly did.”
Tucker’s hand dropped to his side slowly as he stared at me, the comprehension dawning on his face that something was very, very wrong. That something was bubbling under the surface, growing hotter and hotter amidst all the other distractions.
He shook his head. “Grace …”
“You lied to me. I tried to ask you what happened at work, and you brushed it off like it was nothing. In the library,” I continued, “you went out of your way to keep that from me, in front of people who already look at me like I’m a … curiosity.”
“No one looks at you like that,” he countered hotly.
“Thank you for not denying you lied to me.” His instant dismissal of one, while ignoring the other made my heart twist.
His face fell.
I crossed my arms over my chest, and it was the first time he glanced away from my face. He saw the protective gesture for what it was, because he looked miserable. “Did you think about what would happen if I heard about this from someone else? If I walked through the Piggly Wiggly and overheard some stranger talking about what an asshole J.T. is for what he did?”
“Of course. Of course, I thought about it.” I heard heat in his voice. Heard frustration. But I could tell from the tortured look in his eyes that he was frustrated with himself too. “I was trying to protect you.”
“Bullshit,” I whispered.
His eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“You weren’t protecting me. You were protecting yourself.” I managed a harsh swallow, utterly proud of myself for the fact that I wasn’t crying, because inside … inside, I was a tangled, knotted mess.
Every instance that we’d remained hidden, even the ones I readily agreed with, suddenly felt like we were secreting away something sordid and wrong.
I loved him so much that I overlooked it. That I refused to dwell on the fact that he was more worried about what other people might think of us, than how all of these separate things might affect our relationship.
Did this stupid, stupid curse somehow blind you to the other person’s faults? Or was I the one to blame for that?
No, I thought, I couldn’t blame some outside force. Not a curse, not Magnolia, not the gossips in town, and not J.T.
It was me. And Tucker.
We were to blame for this.
But knowing it didn’t make it hurt less. Didn’t erase the way that I felt sad and heavy, weighed down with the knowledge that this man chose to hide things from me, things that everyone around me knew.
“Grace,” he said again, from deep in his chest, the single word rife with frustration and longing. This time, I didn’t step back when his hands slid up my arms and framed my face. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” His mouth descended to the top of my head. I gripped the front of his shirt with fisted hands when he breathed in the scent of my hair.
I wanted to kiss him.
Slap him for lying about something so important.
Shove him away and
