Hi. He texted. How is your day going?
Running errands. She wrote back.
He smiled. This was going well already. I’ve been cleaning my apartment.
Ugh. I would not want to trade.
Still ready at 4:00?
Yes. Time for me to head home. She wrote.
He sent back a smiley face emoji and went to get into the shower.
Claire put up her groceries and got into the shower. She hummed to herself as she washed her hair. Nothing in particular, just a catchy little tune she’d heard on the radio while she was out doing errands.
She’d been pleasantly surprised to hear from Grayson in the middle of the day.
Perhaps this thing with them had possibilities.
After her shower, she put on a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and layered with a light sweater. She put on her favorite white canvas sneakers.
Just as she finished her make-up and put on her earrings, the doorbell rang. Grayson was right on time.
As he drove to her mother’s house, he told her about how he’d gone through his apartment and purged everything he didn’t need.
“I did that before I moved into my current house. I can’t stand to live in clutter.”
“It’s a good thing I got it done before you came over,” he said, a horrified look on his face.
She laughed. “I don’t judge. Have you seen Danielle’s room?”
“Actually, yes,” he laughed.
They didn’t talk about the fact that he would be leaving soon or that his real motivation was probably getting ready to pack up his apartment.
Claire thought maybe if they didn’t talk about it, it wouldn’t be what their relationship centered around.
They pulled into her mother’s circle drive. “This is a huge house for one person,” he commented.
“I know. I wonder if she keeps it for Danielle. Danielle loves the swimming pool.”
“I bet she does,” he said.
Grayson tried to ignore the trepidation he felt at driving up to Mrs. Beauchamp’s house. It was the same house Claire had grown up in.
And he was still a little afraid of Claire’s mother.
When they went inside, Claire went upstairs to help Danielle with something.
Grayson was left to follow Betty to the kitchen.
“How are you, Grayson?” Betty asked.
“I’m good.” He was a soldier. He sucked up his fear and surged forward.
“Danielle tells me you’re going to be moving across the country soon.”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Sounds a little familiar,” she said.
Grayson winced. This was why he was afraid of Betty.
“I’m only going to be gone for a year,” he said.
Would you like something to drink?” she asked.
“Water would be great, thank you,” he said.
She handed him a bottle of water. “Grayson,” she said. “I apologize for what I did. I overstepped my boundaries when I hid your letters and calls from Claire.”
“It was a long time ago,” he said as they sat at the kitchen table.
“Nonetheless, I wouldn’t blame you if you never forgave me.”
“I forgive you, Mrs. Beauchamp. It changed the direction of our lives, but Claire and I are who we are now because of it. And Claire has Danielle. Even I wouldn’t change that.”
“You’re a kind man,” she said. “I’ll always regret the way I wronged you and Claire, Danielle notwithstanding.”
“It means a lot for you to say that,” he said.
“If it matters, I’m fully supportive of you now. I know how much Claire cares for you and I’ll do everything I can to make up the wrong I did to you both.”
“Mrs. Beauchamp.”
“Please call me Betty,” she said, putting a hand over his.
“Betty,” he said. “Claire and I are working this out between us and I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that I forgive you.”
“You’re a good man, Grayson Moore. I truly hope that you and Claire can make a go of it this time.”
Claire stopped at the kitchen door when she heard their voices. Their conversation brought tears to her eyes.
She blinked back the tears and took a deep steadying breath. With a smile on her face, she walked into the kitchen. “What are you two up to?”
“Just catching up,” her mother said.
“You look so serious. And here we are getting ready to go to my very first baseball game.”
“You’re kidding?” Grayson asked.
“Nope,” she said. “I’ve never been.”
“I’m glad you told me,” he said. “I’ll make sure you have the whole experience.”
“I’ll get Danielle so we can get going,” she said. And give them time to finish up their conversation.
They ate peanuts and Claire even sipped a beer. Danielle and Grayson ate hot dogs. This was after they had eaten Mexican food at the restaurant on their way to the stadium.
There was so much energy at the game. Claire hadn’t expected that. On television, the game always seemed to move so slowly. She’d never actually been to a live baseball game. That had been Danielle and Noah’s thing.
Grayson had gotten them really good seats. They were close enough – in the lower level directly behind the dugout - to actually see what was going on.
Danielle obviously enjoyed it. She’d even put her phone in her jacket pocket. Danielle and Grayson talked lingo while Claire listened, watched the game, and watched the crowd.
And reflected. She was glad that Grayson and her mother had talked. She felt like things were smoothed over with them now. Her mother seemed to accept that Grayson was back in her life and she didn’t seem to have a problem with it.
On the contrary, she seemed rather contrite about what she had done and she appeared to welcome Grayson back.
It was one less thing preventing Claire from completely forgiving him and moving forward with their relationship.
“Mom look!” Danielle said, pointing to the screen.
As Claire looked, the image zoomed in and she was looking at herself and Grayson. Grayson was watching the screen, too. In the next instant, there was a heart drawn around them the word kiss over their heads.
Grayson turned and putting one hand behind her head pulled her to him and kissed her nose. Then he pressed his lips against hers and pulled her close into a kiss that could in no way be G-rated. The crowd cheered.
He pulled back and smiled into her eyes. Over the pounding in her ears, she heard him say those words again. “I love you.”
And this time, she said them back.
Chapter Fourteen
The next few weeks went by in a blur. Claire and Grayson became attached at the hip when they weren’t working. When they were at work, they texted throughout the day.
They quickly got into a rhythm. Work during the week, evenings spent at her house, mostly, though sometimes at his. They cooked together, watched movies, and TV, and sometimes they just sat quietly and read, cuddled up together on the sofa.
On the weekends, they got out, had dinner, went to museums, plays, even an airshow. Sometimes Danielle went with them and sometimes they went alone.
Either way, they forged their way as a couple.
Claire stood at her bathroom counter running a flat iron through her hair. They had two weeks left together. She tried not to think about it, but she couldn’t stop herself. It was almost like being on a mental countdown.
She hated it.
She didn’t, however, tell Grayson.
Grayson showed up a little after five o’clock. When she opened the door, he handed her a red rose.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, taking it from him. Smiling, she took it to the kitchen and slipped it into the vase along with the one he’d brought her yesterday. She slid the vase back to the center of the kitchen table.
Then she was in his arms.
“I was thinking,” he said.
“What? You like most of my ideas,” he said.
She laughed against his chest.
“Okay,” he said, “running in the marathon wasn’t my best idea.”
“Hey, I did the best I could.”
“You might like this idea better. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
“Tell me,” she said, under the pretense of being skeptical. In truth, she’d been impressed with his creativity at finding things for them to do.
“This weekend,” he said, nuzzling her neck.
“Yes?”
“We could rent a car and drive up to San Francisco – along the coast. And we could fly back.”
This was unexpected. They hadn’t left the area. In fact, they hadn’t even spent the night together. “And what would we do in San Francisco?”
“We could ride bicycles across the Golden Gate Bridge and spent the weekend at Sausalito.”
A weekend with Grayson in Sausalito. Alone. A whole weekend. “Okay,” she said.
“Really?” he took her hands in his and grinned.
His smile was contagious. “Sure. Why not? It sounds like fun.”
“So… can you leave in the morning?”
She almost automatically said no. But there was nothing going on at the gallery this weekend. Nothing going on tomorrow. Martie could handle the routine. Danielle was busy doing her own thing. “Yeah,” she said, surprising herself. “I think I can.”
“Cool,” he said. “I’ll make reservations.”
While Claire boiled water for pasta and washed salad greens, Grayson sat at the table and, using his iPad, made reservations to rent a car and flight reservations to get them back on Sunday.
“I think the drive down will be nice,” he said, “but I’d rather spend the morning on the island than driving back.”
“I agree. It’s a good idea.”
There were four hotels in Sausalito. He picked the Cavallo Point Hotel. This one looks like it has the best view,” he said, holding the iPad so she could watch the video.
“It looks really nice,” she said. “I’ve only been to San Francisco a couple of times, but I always flew and I never got to the bridge.”
“I’ve been once, but it was a quick drive and I always wanted to get back and bicycle over.”
Biting her lip, she drained the pasta. This was Grayson’s last weekend before he left for Pittsburgh. He been crossing items off his bucket list for the last few weeks. There was no way he could maintain this level of activity week after week. Going to Sausalito was a big one.
He’d said he would be coming back here after the year was up, but something told her he didn’t really believe it.
“It’ll be fun,” she said. “As long we can take breaks. I haven’t ridden a bicycle since I was a kid.”
He hugged her. “We can go as slow as you want to. I just want to spend time with you and make you happy.”
She wanted to tell him that they could stay right where they were and she would be perfectly content. But he seemed to have his heart set on making the trip. She lifted her face to kiss him. “It’ll be fun.”
“Let’s see if I can get a reservation,” he said.
While he was online, his phone buzzed. He let it go to voicemail.
“Do you need to answer that?” she asked.
“Nah. It’s probably a student.” But when it buzzed a second time indicating voicemail, he picked it up and checked it. “Students usually text…” he said. Then grew quiet as he listened to the message.
“What is it?” she asked when he put his phone down.
He shook his head. “Odd. I just got another job offer.”
“What? How? I didn’t know you’d had any other interviews.”
“In San Antonio. I interviewed with them back in April.”
“You should call them back.”
He picked up his phone and paced toward the living room. She could hear him talking as he paced.
He hung up the phone and came back to the table and opened his iPad.
“Well?” she said.
“The person they had hired had to pull out at the last minute, so, since I was their second choice, they called me.”
“You told them you had a job, right?”
“Right.”
San Antonio wasn’t significantly closer than Pittsburgh. Anything outside of L.A. and it didn’t matter.
Five minutes later, he had a room reserved. “I think this room has a good view,” he said. “I’m surprised they had anything available.”
“Me too,” she said.
After dinner, they snuggled a few minutes on the sofa, but they were both eager to start packing. Claire had to call Martie and Danielle to let them know she would be out for the weekend. This was different from her business trip to New York. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been away for a weekend for fun.
As she talked on the phone getting everything set up, she stared at her clothes trying to decide what to take.
After she hung up the phone, she quickly filled up her suitcase with everything from jeans to a sundress to casual pants. When she got to her pajama drawer, decisions became a little trickier. She usually slept in shorts and T-shirt. She wasn’t out to seduce Grayson and even if she was, she didn’t own anything that would fall into that category.
She had a pair of cotton pajamas she’d only worn once. They were conservative enough that she would feel comfortable in them. And not feel like she was trying to be seductive.
Not that she would mind. They had somehow made a tacit agreement not to go too far. The other time, they had been kids with raging hormones and delusions that marriage would follow.
Now, they were complicated adults. Even with tentative plans to stay together, both of them knew, at least Claire knew, that everything was uncertain right now. It was best if they didn’t complicate things with sex.
Having done everything she could do tonight, she decided it would be best if she was well rested. She could finish packing in the morning.
Although she’d been a little reluctant about the trip, she woke early the next morning with a sense of excited anticipation. A whole weekend alone with Grayson.
The very idea quickened her pulse. The fact that it was their last weekend together before he left next week made this trip seem all the more bittersweet.
He pulled into the driveway at eight o’clock in a rented SUV. When she opened the door, he swung her around in a hug that swept her off her feet.
It was like they were two kids getting away for the weekend.
He took her suitcases to the car while she locked up. Danielle had Charlie at her grandmother’s again, so there was nothing to worry about.
They chatted about everything and nothing as they headed north out of town. He took Highway 101 – the scenic route. It would take a little longer to get there, but Claire deemed the view of the coast well worth the extra time.
It was late afternoon when they checked into the hotel. Grayson had been right. They had an awesome view of the bay.
The room had only one bed – a king bed. Something neither of them said anything about.
“What are we doing first?” Claire asked, as she unpacked her suitcase, wondering if she should change.
“I thought we’d just walk around, get something to eat,” he said.
“I should be able to wear this?” She ran a hand along her jeans.
“Sure. Looks perfect.”
She added a light short cardigan, and after freshening up, came back to stand next to him at the window.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m great,” he said, pulling her against him.
“It was a beautiful drive and I’m glad we did it,” she said. “but I have to admit I’m glad we’re flying back Sunday.”
“I agree,” he said. “It’s always fun to start out on a trip, but going home can sometimes be something of a downer.”
Claire la
ughed. “I know what you mean.”
“Ready?” he asked.
They drove downtown and parked. Claire had never been to Sausalito. It was a quaint little town with some tourist shops and restaurants and lots of tourists walking about. They found a restaurant on the water. It had white table clothes and servers all in black. Grayson had been relatively quiet since they’d gotten to the room.
Grayson knew they needed to talk. He knew he’d been putting it off for several weeks, but time was running short.
“Can I order you a drink?” he asked, when the server stopped at their table.
She hesitated a moment. “Sure. I’ll have a cosmopolitan.”
Grayson order a martini. “We’ll have to ride the ferry back after we bike over to San Fran.”
“I hear the ferry is nice,” she said. “Nice views of the bridge.”
The server brought their drinks. Grayson held his up in a toast. “To us,” he said.
They clinked glasses and Claire sipped her pretty pink drink.
“Something’s bothering you,” she said.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “And if it isn’t bothering you, we’ve got a problem.”
She set her drink down. Sat up a little straighter. “You’re leaving next week.”
He nodded. “I’m thinking we should talk about it.”
“We should,” she said.
But they didn’t. They sipped their drinks. Grayson was glad he’d ordered a drink. He’d been dreading this conversation.
“You might as well spit it out,” Claire said.
He chuckled. “I guess there isn’t much to say.”
Claire rolled her eyes. “Grayson Moore you’re not going to get away with that line.”
He laughed. “You’re right. So… I’ve got some money saved to fly over at least once a month.”
Claire put her hand over his. “Grayson no.”
“You don’t want me to visit?”
“Of course, I do. I just didn’t think about…. I don’t want you to spend your savings on the flights. I could buy…”
He cut her off. “No. Don’t even think it. I won’t come if I can’t pay my own way.”
“Okay,” she said, sitting back. “Then I can come there.”
“That’s kind of the same thing. I can’t let you spend your money coming to see me.”
“Then I guess we’ll be talking on the phone a lot.”
Love Again: Love's Second Chance Series Page 14