Page 63 of Yours, Always
“Samantha, what are you doing here?” he asked, glancing over to see Prudence still in line for lemonade.
“I’m here for you, silly.”
“What do you mean? I’m here on vacation.”
“I came with Nadia. She said we could scout out locations together, really get into our roles as lovers, immerse ourselves in the script. I think it’s a perfect idea.” Samantha threw her arms around his neck and started reciting the monologue from the script.
Greyson knew he needed to get her off him, knew he needed to find Pru, but he was frozen, he couldn’t move. Samantha kissing him was like a bucket of cold water. Then he heard the gasp. He turned his head and saw Prudence there, a look on her face that cut him to the bone. She’d tripped and was on the ground. He called her name and she stood to run. He tried to go, but Samantha wouldn’t let him.
He threw her arms off him, with more force than he’d ever used in his life. She’d tried to grab him again and he blocked her arms. “Listen to me, Samantha,” he seethed. “We are nothing. We have never been anything. We had lunch once, and Nadia wanted me to take you to an award show, for publicity only. I fired Nadia already and I never want to see you again, and if you’ve ruined my relationship with the woman I love, youwillregret it. Go find Nadia, wherever she’s skulked off to, and get the fuck out of Amber Falls.”
He turned and left a sputtering Samantha, running to where he’d last seen Prudence, but Prudence was nowhere to be found.
It was like a bad dream he was living over and over in his head. He’d come to Prudence’s house, their home, but it was dark. He’d called and texted, but her phone was off. The next stop was Annabelle’s, dark also. Then he’d finally gotten Annabelle’s text and gone back to Prudence’s, hoping she’d come home. Knowing she wouldn’t.
Was her opinion so low of him that she’d think he was stringing her along while he had another girl in California? He swore she knew him well enough to know the real him, not the person that was portrayed in the gossip magazines.
His phone buzzed and he practically fell off the bed leaping for it. Annabelle!
You’re on, Delta Force. Meet us at the parade. 10am.
Greyson’s heart started pounding, more nervous than he’d ever been. He had an hour to figure out what to do, and dammit, he was going to win Prudence back.
* * * *
Prudence followed Annabelle around like a lost puppy. She’d never fully appreciated the word melancholy until today. Unhappiness wafted off her. Annabelle walked through the crowd at a brisk pace, stopping only to snap quick pictures of the parade floats, the participants and the growing crowd. It had cooled significantly overnight, a cold front sweeping through, and she shivered, feeling the chill in the air. An apt analogy if she’d ever heard one.
The parade had now started, and Annabelle and Prudence were walking, slowing occasionally to watch the floats as they passed. Annabelle stopped cold when the Amber Falls Bee float started to go by. “Are you fucking kidding me with this?” she yelled, one mom turning to give her a look and gently move her child away. Annabelle lowered her voice. “Can you believe that bastard?” She pointed to Sebastian Locke, wearing jeans and an Amber Falls Bee T-shirt, standing in the bed of his truck waving to the crowd and throwing out candy. The truck had replaced the flatbed and a blue and silver Bee sat on a pedestal, the same color lettering on a banner hanging over the side of the truck, advertising the weekly and monthly rates of the newspaper. “When did he get time to make an entirely different float? And why is he smiling? He hates this stuff. He tells me repeatedly how much he hates this stuff.”
Prudence hid a smile, her mood lifting slightly. “I think he’s enjoying himself.”
“Ha! That’s what he wants you to believe, before he pounces and rips out your entrails, still looking perfect in those tight jeans.”
Then, Sebastian saw Annabelle and if it was possible his smile got even wider as he gestured to both the truck and the bee. The float was now directly in front of them. He took a piece of candy and expertly pinged it at her, hitting her square in the forehead.
She glared daggers at him, raising one hand to flip him off while raising the other and snapping a picture of him. Their eye contact broke, and the float moved on.
Annabelle grabbed her hand and pulled her along. As she dodged yet another child with a candy bag, her thoughts returned to Greyson. She knew that none of this felt right, both what she saw and her reaction to it. Why hadn’t she stayed, why was her first instinct to turn and run? She told Greyson in the maze—was it only five days ago?—that she was prepared to fight for him, to fight for them, then she’d turned and ran at the first predicament they found themselves in. Sure, the predicament was him kissing another woman, and the other woman just happened to be a fellow movie star—the tall, thin and impossibly perfect Samantha Crane.
Her fight or flight had kicked in, and why the hell fight didn’t win out, she still couldn’t understand. If anything, she should’ve decked Samantha Crane in her perfect little face. Prudence smiled for the first time since yesterday, but it faded away as she ran through what she saw once more in her head. She started to think thatmaybeshe’d overreacted, kissing notwithstanding. The more she played back in her head what she saw, the more she thought there could have been an angry expression on his face. Maybe. An expression that didn’t say he was happy to see Samantha. Had he tried to remove Samantha’s arms as she’d clung on for dear life when she kissed him? Had he jerked back, anger on his face when she wouldn’t let go? Maybe. Maybe?
Oh, God. I’m such a fool. She saw Annabelle watching her intensely, then she snapped her picture.
“Go get him, Pru,” she said, jerking her head to her right where Gabe and Greyson were standing on the sidewalk across the street a few blocks away.
Prudence turned, Greyson was scowling at something Gabe was saying and shaking his head. She yelled his name, then started running. Of course, the high-school marching band was standing still, playingTequila, drowning out her yelling. Nonetheless, she continued to yell, running into the street when she was across from him. She knew when Greyson saw her. His scowl disappeared, and he started running toward her, meeting her in the middle of the street, in the middle of the still playing marching band, its members moving to the music.
He picked her up, in front of everyone and hugged her, swinging her around in a circle. He hugged her like he was never going to let go. Then she was back on the ground, his hands were on her face, kissing her, pulling her close to him. The crowd was starting to take notice and were cheering on from the side lines, and the band finished with a flourish, shouting “Tequila!”
Prudence was surprised to still find herself in the street, in the parade, the band now playingEye of the Tigerand marching on around them. Greyson grabbed her and pulled her to the sidewalk, waving to the still cheering crowd, the consummate showman. He brought her around to the seating area behind Finnegan’s and led her to a bench, sitting with her next to him.
They sat for a long moment until Prudence broke the silence. “I have so many things I want to say, but first…why did you do it, Grey? Why would you use lines from a script to tell me how you felt?”
“I just had a concussion, Pru. I couldn’t think straight, then when you got into bed with me those were the only words I could think of at that moment to explain my emotions.” He shook his head. “I should’ve told you later they were from a script, but the last thing I ever wanted to do is make you doubt how I feel about you. Everything that happened after that, I’ve meant every single word. Just because I was an idiot and quoted from that damn script doesn’t make what I said any less true.”
“And Samantha Crane? That was all just…” She waited for an explanation.
“I honestly have no clue. That girl is her own special brand of crazy, I swear.” Prudence raised an eyebrow. “I swear!” Greyson repeated. “I actually talked to Gabe about needing to tell you about this.”