“You ready?” he asked.
“Not even a little bit,” I answered honestly.
He chuckled and reached over to squeeze my bare knee. I did my best to hold in my reaction, but I was sure my quick intake of breath hadn’t escaped him.
“Come on, it won’t be that bad. I promise.”
He retracted his hand, and I tried my hardest to forget the way it felt on my skin. I had no room for thoughts like that.
We both got out of his car and Remy walked around to the passenger side, placing a hand at the small of my back and leading me toward the house. My mind toggled between nervousness over meeting his grandpa and totaling up how many times we’d touched today. Neither of which was doing anything but making my heart beat faster.
Remy walked us up a small set of concrete stairs and used a key to open the front door. He ushered me through before following behind, his big body far too close for comfort.
“Gramps?” he called.
Only silence greeted us.
He stepped around me. “Gramps?” he said, louder than before.
Still, there was no response.
I looked up at Remy and found his brows furrowed over wide, anxious eyes. His chest was rising and falling quickly, hands clenched at his sides. He seemed frozen in place for a moment before he took off with long strides through the house.
“Gramps!” He yelled this time.
His movements got quicker and more urgent as he hurried down the hall. I lingered near the door, unsure of whether I should follow or not. Finally, I took off after him, dread building in my chest.
“Gramps!” he shouted again, this time his voice tinged with barely held hysteria.
Remy stopped dead in his tracks when the sound of a flushing toilet reached us from somewhere in the house.
“What the hell is with all the hollerin’?” a raspy voice called from several rooms away.
I glanced at Remy and watched as his shoulders slumped in obvious relief. He ran a rough hand down his face and shook his head. Moments later, an elderly man with sparse white hair on the top of his head, and a potbelly lumbered into the kitchen.
“Gramps, I was calling for you and you didn’t answer,” Remy said.
“Yeah ‘cause I was in the John. What’s wrong with you?”
Remy took a deep breath and leaned a hip against the kitchen counter. “You just scared me is all.”
Gramps waved a liver-spotted hand. “You worry too much. You’ll go gray before your time.”
Remy chuckled once and shook his head again. He turned to look at me and I could still see the worry etched in the lines around his eyes. He’d been legitimately scared there for a moment. It made my chest ache in a way I wasn’t familiar with.
Remy walked over to me and placed a hand on my back again. “Gramps, this is Belle.”
The older man turned his brown eyes toward me. They reminded me so much of Remy’s, I had to fight to hold his gaze.
Gramps smiled wide and walked over to me, his hand outstretched. “Belle! It’s so nice to meet you! You’re so much prettier than my grandson said you were.”
“Gramps,” Remy deadpanned.
I giggled and shook Gramps’ hand. “And you’re more handsome than I expected.”
Gramps’ eyes sparkled as they darted toward Remy. “I like her already.”
“You would,” he responded.
Gramps chuckled and tugged gently on my hand. “Come on in, Belle. Let’s go have a seat in the living room. I was thinkin’ about breakin’ out the old Scrabble board. Do you play?”
I glanced at Remy quickly, but he just shrugged. “Um. Not well,” I said.
Gramps waved another hand as if he were batting my words away. “It’s okay, dear. You’ve got to be better than my grandson.”
“Hey!” Remy called from behind us. “I’m beating you five games to three, old man.”
Gramps shook his head. “And he’s got a horrible memory, Belle. It’s sad really.”
He continued to lead me through the house, and I turned to look at Remy again. He had a disgruntled look on his handsome face, but I could tell it was only skin deep. It was obvious the two men liked to rib each other, and I was enjoying every second of it.
Gramps directed me to sit on an old brown couch while he and Remy set up the small table and gameboard. I sat there watching them work, wondering when the last time I’d played a board game was, and honestly couldn’t remember. This was not how I’d expected to spend my Sunday afternoon, but I couldn’t deny I was already having a great time.
Remy left after that to take care of some things around the house while Gramps refreshed my memory on the rules of the game. By the time we were done with our first round, Remy was back, and he joined us for our second game.
Before I knew it, hours passed as we played game after game. It was clear that between the three of us, I was at a disadvantage, but I’d somehow managed to win the last round. I suspected the two men had gone easy on me, but I’d take the win, anyway.
“I can’t believe you lost to a woman who hasn’t played this game in over ten years,” Gramps said as he collected the tiles off the board.
“You lost to her too!”
Gramps shook his head. “Yes, but I’m an old man. My mind isn’t what it used to be.”
“Bullshit,” Remy said. “I’ve watched you answer nine tenths of the Jeopardy questions correctly almost every night. You’re full of it.”
Gramps looked at me, disappointment etched into his wrinkled face. “You see the way he talks to me, Belle? No respect.”
I giggled while Remy chided his grandpa some more. The two of them were like a comedy act. Constantly poking at each other and cracking jokes. It was clear they had a great relationship, and it made me sad Ryder wasn’t a part of it anymore.
As I sat there, I realized I hadn’t felt so content in a long time. With the handsome, sweet, attentive, and caring man to my left, and his welcoming and wise-cracking grandpa on my right, I felt at home.
Which was what set off warning bells in my head.
I wasn’t home.
I wasn’t a part of this family, despite how they’d treated me all afternoon. I was an outsider, and I needed to keep it that way. For the sake of my sanity, I needed to excuse myself from this situation before I started believing I belonged here. Before I started thinking my place might be beside Remy.
Looked like I was going on that date after all.
Chapter 21
Remy
“Are you seeing someone, Belle?”
I shot Gramps a warning look which he ignored.
She glanced quickly at me before turning away. “Um. No.”
“You just went on a date this week,” I spoke up. The instant the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them.
Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink before she looked at me again, her eyes narrowed. “Yes, but I’m not seeing him.”
“So, you’re playing the field. Keeping your options open,” Gramps said.
She turned back to him and shrugged, her cheeks darkening further. “I guess you could say that.”
“Smart girl,” he said with a nod. “You wait until you meet a good one and don’t settle for anything less.”
She smiled, although it looked a little forced.
“You know this one over here didn’t even start dating until he was in college?”
“Gramps.”
My grandfather turned to me with his bushy eyebrows raised. “What? It’s true.”
I sighed and shook my head knowing I wouldn’t be able to stop him even if I tried.
“We thought for a long time that maybe he just wasn’t interested in girls. Kept expectin’ him to bring home a fella, but that never happened either.”
I rolled my eyes. “I was interested in girls, they just weren’t interested in me.”
Belle snorted. “I find that hard to believe.”
My heart jumped in my chest, but I kept my features schoole
d.
“He’s right,” Gramps continued. “He had to take the neighbor girl to prom because she was the only one who would talk to him.”
Belle giggled, and despite the depressing subject, that sound lightened the mood considerably.
“So, what changed in college?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I started working out.”
Her eyes darted to my arms and skimmed down my torso before she looked away just as quickly. “I can imagine that would do it.”
My chest inflated and my biceps flexed without my permission. How did just a glance from her do that to me?
“Yeah, once he stopped lookin’ so scrawny, the girls were linin’ up to go out with him,” Gramps said.
“It wasn’t quite like that.”
Gramps shot me an unimpressed look. “So, it wasn’t you who had three dates scheduled for one night back in your junior year at Brown? Am I remembering a different grandson?”
I could feel my face heat as Belle’s eyes landed on me again. “That was an accident.”
Gramps scoffed. “Yeah, what a tough life, huh?”
I blew out a deep breath and got to my feet. “While you two keep talking shit, I’m going to go see what we’ve got here for dinner. I’m starving.”
Gramps waved me away. “Good. Go. I have more embarrassing stories to tell Belle here.”
“I’m sure you do,” I muttered as I walked out of the living room.
Truthfully, despite the most recent conversation being at my expense, I wouldn’t have changed a second of the day. Belle fit in just like I knew she would. It was clear Gramps was already smitten with her and it seemed like she’d been having a good time too.
It was like she was meant to be here. Like she’d slipped into the empty slot in my life effortlessly. Almost like it’d been vacant and waiting for her. Now, I just had to figure out how to convince her of that.
I snorted.
I was sure that would be easier said than done by miles.
I opened the fridge and ducked down to take a look and found it depressingly sparse. I should have stopped at the store on my way, but I’d been distracted by Belle. Our conversation had been deeper than I’d intended to go on a Sunday afternoon, but I wasn’t sorry about that.
I liked giving her those pieces of me. Even the ones that hurt. It felt right to let her in, and she understood like I knew she would. Our past experiences had been similar in a lot of ways, but there were clear differences too. The most glaring of which being that the loss of her father hadn’t been her fault.
I shut the refrigerator door, and with it, the thoughts that had just surfaced. I was having a great day, and I didn’t want to ruin it with memories of my past. I’d have plenty of time to flagellate myself later. I always did.
When I walked back into the living room, Gramps had an old photo album open between the two of them. I stood there and watched for a minute before they noticed me. My chest warmed at the sight and I planned then and there to make it a more regular thing. Belle was supposed to be a part of my life in this way and I intended to make that happen.
“There’s nothing much in the fridge so I thought I could order something. What are you in the mood for, Gramps?”
He waved a hand at me. “I’ll eat whatever. We should let our guest choose.” He turned to Belle. “What do you feel like havin’? There’s a really good Mexican place downtown that delivers.”
Belle glanced at me before looking back at Gramps. She slid the photo album off her lap and wiped her palms on her jean shorts. “Oh. Um. Actually, I need to get going.”
I took an involuntary step forward. “What? Why?”
She looked up at me again before fixing her gaze somewhere to the right of my head. “I have plans.”
“What kind of plans?” I asked, the words tumbling from my lips before I could stop them.
She turned to me with a glare and opened her mouth before closing it again. Finally, she took a deep breath and said, “I have a date.”
Those four little words were like needles pricking my skin. They weren’t big enough to do much damage, but they still stung.
I’d thought we’d been having a good time. That I’d been able to show her another side of me. I’d thought we’d have dinner with Gramps and then go home together, but I guess I’d been fooling myself.
Just when you think you have a handle on a woman like Belle Garcia, she’ll do something to prove you never did.
She stood up and smoothed the legs of her shorts. “I’m going to run to the bathroom real quick and then I’ll call an Uber.”
She crossed the room and walked right past me, her vanilla perfume filling the air. I stood there, my mind racing and my shoulders deflating, completely at a loss.
“That was just a battle, Son. Not the war.”
I turned to my grandpa, not caring that the disappointment had to be all over my features. “It’s like every time I take one step forward with her, we then take two steps back. I’m not getting anywhere.”
Gramps shook his head and leaned back in his recliner. “You got her here, didn’t you?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, ‘cause she wanted to meet you.”
“Why would she want to meet some old man she knows hardly anything about?”
I shrugged again, my eyes falling to the hardwood floor between us.
“She wanted to get to know me because she wanted to get to know you, Rem. She just did it in a roundabout way.”
I shook my head and squeezed my eyes closed. This shouldn’t be so hard. She wasn’t mine, and I needed to stop forgetting that.
“She’ll come around, Son.”
I glanced up at him. “How do you know that? How do you know she won’t just keep running? That I won’t eventually just chase her away?”
He pursed his lips and eyed me seriously. “You might not see it, but I do. The way she looked at you, the way her features softened whenever you spoke. The way she watched you as you left the room. It’s all there, Son. You just need to find a way to get it out of her.”
I sighed. “I’m not sure I know how to do that.”
“You’re a MacAlister. You’ll figure it out.”
I blew out a deep breath. “I wish I had the confidence in this situation that you do.”
He waved my words away. “She reminds me a lot of your grandma. Stubborn as hell, but with a heart bigger than she knew what to do with. You’ll see. Just don’t give up. I never did.”
Don’t give up.
Those three words swirled in my head, battling the indecision and confusion. I just hoped Gramps was right.
We both heard the toilet flush, and I stood up straight. Gramps nodded once at me. “Go on and put some doubt in that girl’s head. Make sure she’s thinkin’ about you tonight.”
I took a deep breath and went back into the kitchen to wait for her. A few moments later, she walked out of the bathroom, her steps faltering and her eyes widening when she found me there waiting for her.
She bit her lip and looked down at her feet before meeting my eyes. “Thanks for bringing me here today. I had a really good time.”
I nodded once. “So did we. You should come with me again next Sunday.”
She bit her lip again and shrugged. “Maybe.”
I took a step closer and her eyes widened again. “Can I give you a ride? I don’t want you to have to take an Uber from so far out of the city.”
She shook her head fast. “No, it’s fine.”
“But I brought you up here. I should bring you back.”
She raised a dark brow at me. “You want to drive me to my date, Remy?”
I swallowed once but shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
She scoffed. “As if that wouldn’t be awkward as fuck.”
I shrugged again. “I’d do it for you if you asked me.”
Her eyes darted to mine again, but this time, they held. We stood there in my grandfather’s kitchen, a thousand words being passed between us but none of them spo
ken out loud. It wasn’t until her phone chimed that she finally looked away.
“My Uber’s here.”
I nodded once and watched as she walked past me toward the living room again. Before she could get far, I reached out and wrapped my fingers around her arm. She stopped short, her eyes landing on my hand before meeting my eyes.
“Be safe, okay?” I said.
Her honey-colored eyes darted between both of mine before she nodded once. “I will.”
I squeezed softly. “I’ll see you when you get home.”
The corner of one of her pink lips curled into a small grin. “Okay,” she said softly.
I let her go and watched as she walked back into the living room to say goodbye to Gramps. When she passed me again, I pasted on the best smile I could manage but I could feel it was thin. She gave me a little wave and then she was gone, taking all the progress I thought we’d made tonight with her.
Belle
When Remy told me to be safe, I bet he hadn’t been talking about me falling asleep in my tiramisu.
“Then I told my client that Benjamin Franklin once said an investment in knowledge pays the best interest, but my firm would double that.”
I pulled my lips into a pathetic excuse for a smile while my date, Dennis, continued to drone on. Since I’d given up following his lame ass stories, I instead focused on counting how many times he blinked in a minute. This guy must have owned a butt load of Visine because I only got to four in sixty seconds.
The waiter walked over then, and I sat up straighter, glad to have someone else to focus on besides no-blinking-Dennis.
“How’s everything going? Can I top off your coffees?”
“No! That’s okay,” I said quickly. “I think we’ll just take the check.”
Honestly, I shouldn’t even have agreed to dessert, but I was dreading going home.
And by dreading, I meant eagerly anticipating, but since that wasn’t appropriate, I was trying to do everything I could to delay it. I thought that maybe more time would lessen the need I had to see Remy, but it wasn’t working.
Beyond Beautiful (Love in Providence Book 2) Page 18