Perfect Embrace by Kaylee Ryan
Chapter 26
Grayson
I’m wide awake when I hear my front door open. Pulling up the security app on my phone, I see my mom and Christine’s car in the driveway. After climbing out of bed, I use the restroom and throw on a shirt. I peek in on the girls who are still soundly sleeping and make my way to the kitchen. It’s just before eight in the morning and my parents and my ex-in-laws have invaded my house. This is my mom’s doing I’m certain.
“I should call the cops,” I say in greeting.
“Oh, hush. We both have a key.” Mom waves me off.
“You doing okay?” Christine asks me.
“I am.”
“You look tired,” Mom comments.
“I haven’t been to bed yet.” Technically I was in bed, but I wasn’t sleeping.
“What can we do, Grayson?” my mom asks.
“You two have done so much already.” I walk to Christine and wrap her in a hug. “Thank you for the letter.”
“That was all Holly,” she says, tears welling in her eyes.
“Mom, thank you for being you.” I release Christine and pull her into a hug.
“So, you’ve pulled your head out of your ass then?” This from my dad who I didn’t know was here.
I turn to see him and Marty carrying in two bags of groceries. “What’s going on here?” I ask them. “And yeah, I’ve pulled my head out of my ass.”
“Good. Where’s Laken?” Marty asks.
“She’s not here.”
“Why not?” Dad asks.
“I haven’t talked to her yet.”
“Ha!” Mom cheers. “That’s twenty.” She holds her hand out to Dad.
“What?”
“I bet your mother you would have gone to Laken last night.” He shrugs. “I lost.”
“I had the girls.”
“And?” Marty asks. “They love her as much as you do.”
I nod. “I just needed some time. I felt… raw and exposed.”
“All the more reason to run to the woman who makes you feel that way.”
“I needed some time.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? We’ve got the girls handled. Go get your girl,” Dad tells me.
I open my mouth to argue, but I’ve got nothing. I know I need to talk to Laken. I let my fear and guilt push her away and was cruel to her. I know that I broke her heart, just as I broke my own.
“You all have the girls?”
“Please, do we have the girls!” Mom scoffs.
“Go, Grayson. Follow your heart,” Christine says softly.
I nod before turning and racing to my room. I rush through a shower and throw on some clothes. It’s Friday, and I should be at the station. Thankfully we have a lot of volunteers in our small town, and I’ll just be across the street if we get a run. Quickly, I type out a message to Canaan.
Me:I’m not going to be in today.
Canaan:Going to get your girl?
Me:Something like that.
Me:I have my cell. If we get called out, I’ll be there.
Canaan:We’ve got this covered. I’ll call if we need you.
Me:Thanks, man. Sorry about yesterday.
Canaan:Remind me of that when I need my head pulled out of my ass.
Me:LOL. Will do.
Sliding my phone into my pocket, I make my way back to the kitchen. “The girls are still sleeping.” We were up late last night going through pictures.
“That’s fine. They’ll wake up when they smell breakfast,” Marty assures me.
“Thank you. All of you. The girls and I, we’re lucky to have you. I don’t know what I would have done the last three years without the four of you.”
“That’s what family is for, Grayson. Now, go. You have some apologies to make and a girl to woo.” Christine smiles.
“I love you. All of you. Thank you,” I say again, and rush out the door.
It doesn’t take long to get to town. I park in front of One More Chapter and turn off the engine. I sit here for a few minutes before climbing out. Laken has every right to kick my ass to the curb, but I hope like hell she doesn’t.
When I pull open the store door, the cool air conditioning hits me. “Welcome to One More Chapter,” a voice that is not Laken’s greets me.
“Leni?” I ask, walking up to the register.
“Hi, Grayson.”
“Where’s Laken?”
“Do you really care?”
I nod. “I deserve that,” I admit.
“She took the day off.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll just go on up to see her.” I move to the back of the store.
“She’s not here, Grayson.”
“Where is she?”
“She and Justine drove to Yellowstone County. Justine had a maternity photo shoot, and Tucker didn’t want her driving up by herself.”
“What?” I ask. Immediately my past comes roaring back. Holly and her sister.
A girls’ trip.
The phone call.
Their screams.
The crash.
Reaching for my phone, I pull up her name, and the call goes straight to voice mail. “No. No. No.” I try again. Straight to voice mail. “Laken, come on, baby,” I whisper as I try her number again.
Fucking voice mail.
“Leni, call your sister.”
She opens her mouth, but the look on my face stops her from saying whatever it was she was going to say. Instead, she picks up her phone and dials Laken. “Voice mail.”
“No. Not again. This is not happening again,” I say, my hands gripping my hair.
“Grayson, maybe you should sit down,” Lenora suggests.
“Sit down? You want me to sit down? The woman I love is out there not answering her phone, and I don’t know if she’s safe. I don’t know—” I swallow hard. “—if she’s been in an accident.”
Understanding flashes in her eyes. She might think that she gets it, but she has no idea. I lost the love of my life, only to realize I could love again. My heart can’t take losing Laken.
I won’t survive it.
“Grayson, I’m sure she’s fine. I’ll call Justine.”
I hold my breath as she dials her phone. “Hey, you all doing okay?” she asks. “Good, Grayson is here looking for Laken.” She listens to whatever Justine is saying. “Okay. Be safe,” she says, ending the call. “They made it safely. They just got to the studio. They’ll be home later this afternoon.”
“Why didn’t she answer?”
“I don’t know, Grayson. Maybe she needs a minute? Did you think of that? You broke her heart, tore it to shreds when you ended things. Maybe she just wants a day with her best friend to not think about the pain?”
“I love her.”
“Then prove it.”
“I’m trying to. She’s not answering her phone.”
“Look, I’m sorry for all that you’ve been through. But this isn’t the same thing. She’s okay. I’m sure her phone just died.”
“What studio?”
“What?”
“What studio?”
“I don’t know, and I wouldn’t tell you if I did. You’re just going to have to wait until she gets home.”
“Lenora.” My voice sounds haunted even to my own ears.
“Grayson, you owe her today. Let her get away from the pain.”
“I can’t lose her.”
“Then you have to fight for her.”
I nod, defeated. “Can I stay?”
“Here?”
“Yes, here. I want to be here when she gets back.”
“That’s not until later this afternoon.”
“I know, but fuck, I don’t know what else to do, Leni. The last week has been pure hell. The guilt,” I confess. Then I find myself talking. I tell Lenora everything. From the girls being sick, to their request for Laken to be their mommy, the fight at the station, the letter, and even this morning with my parents and Holly’s arriving at my place, telling me to come and get my girl.
“She loves you. She loves your daughters.”
“I know she does.”
“So, tell me, Grayson. If your girls were standing here asking you if Laken could be their new mommy, how would you answer them?”
“I’d tell them that they have to ask her. It’s not my choice. It’s Laken’s. Does she want to be that person for them? I’d like to think so, but that’s not my choice.”
“You know my sister well enough to know she’s going to deflect that question for you to answer.”
“I do.” I nod. “That’s when I’ll ask her to love us forever. I’d ask her to marry me.” That’s when it hits me. I have a few hours to burn, and I know exactly how I’m going to do it. I look up to find Lenora watching me closely. “I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
Her slow smile tells me she approves.
“If she comes back before I do, call me. Please.”
“I will.” She’s quick to agree.
“Thank you!” I rush out of the store and to my truck and point it toward Billings. I need a ring and one big-ass apology.
I’m on the outskirts of town when another idea hits me. I call my mom. “Hey, Mom, I need a favor.” I go on to tell her my plan, and she agrees. She and my dad, as well as Christine and Marty, will make it happen. They want this for me and the girls as much as we want it.
We want Laken. Forever.
