Page 21 of Really Truly Yours
“Probably not.”
He shakes his head, ruffling a russet wave over one eye. “That’s awful.”
I wholeheartedly agree. Life’s opportunities get handed out rather unevenly.
He squints across the table. “You two are close.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You met with me.”
“I was being neighborly.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “Neighborly?”
I keep saying dumb things, which isn’t my usual problem. Not because I’m oh-so smart or anything but because my natural tendency is to err on the side of saying too little. “Okay, you’re right. We are close.”
“What I want to know is why?”
“What makes you think there’s a why?”
His full mouth smirks. “Well, I doubt you’re into him for his looks or his money.”
I stiffen. “What are you implying?”
An uh-oh crawls across his face as he lifts his palms. “I wasn’t suggesting anything weird. That came out wrong. Sorry.”
If he says so. How could that sudden, puppy-dog face tell a lie?
Grr. You’re a smart girl, Sydnee.
“So, back to my question. Why the closeness?”
I huddle into my sweater. I’m a private person. Some things this man doesn’t need to know. “We just…get along. He’s actually a very funny guy when he feels good. Easy to talk to. And he doesn’t have anyone els…”
Grayson holds my eyes too long for comfort.
“What I’m saying is, he’s all alone.”
He tap-taps the plastic. “You think I’m cruel, don’t you?”
It flitted through my mind. “I have a soft spot for Donny. You have reasons I know nothing about.”
The placard clatters to the table. “You know, he abandoned me, and the way I see it, his leaving ultimately made me lose my brother. Thank the Lord we’ve found each other again, but time was lost. Damage was done.”
The hardness from a few days ago is trying for a comeback. “If you’re still angry, why are you doing this? Buying him the air conditioner?”
He looks through the window where a couple of teens are climbing from a worn-out pickup. “I honestly don’t know. I want to cuss him and run like the wind one minute, and the next…” He drags his hand across his neck. “I guess I just want to do what’s right.”
What’s right. Noble, maybe, but not what Donny is looking for. He wants a relationship.
In truth, Grayson’s ambivalence makes perfect sense. I think we’re all doubleminded a frustrating amount of the time. As far as I can see, my own father brought nothing good into my life.
But he was still my father.
A gangly teen with buds in his ears—work can be such an interference—delivers Grayson’s food without a word, taking the number thing with him. I watch as Grayson unwraps both his burgers, sets the buns aside, stacks the meat, and cuts off a hunk with his plasticware.
I take a quick sip of lemonade and excuse myself to the restroom. The closet of a bathroom is disgusting, yet I linger once I’m there. Grayson Smith is just so…much.