Keeping You (Destined Love #3)

14. Grayson

CHAPTER 14

Grayson

E ntering Willow Valley always brings with it an array of emotions. I’m looking forward to seeing my parents and Chloe, but every time I’m home, I’m faced with those memories of the past. Those memories I hope to never relive again.

My grip on the steering wheel tightens while I watch Hannah’s leg shake. Neither of us are fully ready for our arrival, but we’re here now.

My parent’s place is just on the outskirts of town. They live in a ranch-style home my dad inherited from his parents. The house is situated on around fifty acres of land. My grandparents used to have cows that grazed part of the land, but when my parents took over the land after my grandparents passed, they decided it wasn’t something they saw themselves doing. My parents have kept up with the extensive garden my grandmother had, though. My dad occasionally makes wine from the grapes that grow on the property. When I visit, my sister and I still go out and pick blueberries off the bushes for pancakes. There is so much out in the garden, I’m not sure how they keep up with it all.

I turn left down the road that leads to the only two houses on my parent’s street, and my stomach starts to turn. In a matter of minutes, I’ll be introducing my parents to my wife. Hannah’s leg starts to shake quicker. The trees that surround both sides of the road abruptly end, and the road forks into two driveways. I turn down the one on the left and follow it until the space opens up and I see both my parents’ cars and my sister’s. She knew I was arriving today, so I’m not surprised she’s home.

Hannah stares out the windshield when I put the car into park.

I reach over and place a hand on her still shaking leg and say, “They’ll love you, don’t worry.”

She half-heartedly rolls her eyes at me and says, “Of course, they will. I’m me. I’m just stressing about the fact that when you inevitably piss me off, I have nowhere to run. I’m stuck six hours from home with you in a town I don’t know.”

I can see the force behind the smile she gives me. I remove my hand from her leg and leave the car. I grab our bags from the back and meet her at the gate that leads to the house. She reaches for her bag, but I wave her off and I reach through the fence to unlock the gate.

The second the hinges creak, I hear my parents’ golden retriever Micky bark. Hannah and I shuffle in quickly as Micky barrels towards me. I drop to knees as he reaches me and licks my face furiously. After a minute, he moves on to Hannah, sniffing around her feet and up her legs.

She looks at me hesitantly, and I say, “He’s friendly.”

She nods and reaches down, scratching him behind the ears. His tongue lolls out as his eyes close. Yeah, boy, I know. Having Hannah’s hands on you is something else.

When Hannah stops, I grab our bags again and walk to the mudroom door. My parents rarely use the front door. You know if someone is knocking there, they aren’t family or a close friend. I push open the door, because my parents never lock it, and Hannah and Micky follow me in. Micky runs through the kitchen, probably to go lie in his usual spot in the sunroom.

I toe off my shoes and leave our bags before walking into the kitchen, where I see my dad and sister sitting at the table. Chloe has a book, and Dad has today’s paper. Mom is standing in front of the gas stove wearing her signature apron Chloe and I made her for Mother’s Day when I was eight. It has our hand prints, and we wrote Best Mom Ever on it.

Chloe spots me first and puts down her book before she’s running at me. I catch her and spin her around. Chloe and I did not get along one bit growing up. We fought constantly, and we never wanted to spend time together. But as we got older, we started getting along better, and now she’s probably one of my best friends.

“I missed you, big brother,” she says as I put her down.

I kiss her cheek and say, “Missed you, too, Chlo.”

She peaks around me, and her face lights up. “You must be the infamous Hannah Mom’s told me about.”

Hannah waves and says, “That would be me. Not sure what I’m famous for, though.”

Chloe laughs and links arms with Hannah. “We’re going to have a great week. I can’t wait to show you around and take you to all the best places.”

“Oh, Chlo, give the girl some time. She’s only just got here,” Mom says before she wraps her arms around me. “It’s so nice to have you home, Honey.” She squeezes me.

“It’s nice to be home, Mom.”

She pulls back, her hands remaining on my shoulders as her eyes travel my entire body and back up to my face. When she seems satisfied that I’m alright, she pats the side of my face before moving in front of Hannah. “Oh, look at you. You’re more gorgeous in person.” Mom pulls Hannah in, and I watch as she stands there, stiff as a board. She’s not used to physical affection from her own mother based on their interaction that I did see, so I’m not surprised by Hannah’s reaction.

“Thank you, Melanie,” Hannah finally croaks out.

I walk over to Dad, and we shake hands as he says, “Good to have you home, son.”

“Good to be home.”

“Well, lunch is almost ready. Why don’t you guys take a seat and Chloe and I will finish getting the table set.”

Hannah nods and eyes the table, unsure of where to sit. I pull out a chair for her, and she offers me a soft smile as she takes a seat. I sit between her and Dad and watch as my mother and sister bustle around the kitchen.

This kitchen holds so many memories for me. Saturday breakfasts, dying Easter eggs, my graduation party, the night I thought I might pass out as Rebecca and I sat at this very table and told them the news. I give my head a shake as Chloe places a plate in front of me. I glance at her, and she mouths, Are you okay? I give her a reassuring smile, and she finishes setting the table as Mom brings over the food.

Mom places a big bowl of cold pasta salad and a plate of barbeque chicken in the centre of the table. I haven’t had Mom’s pasta salad in forever, and my mouth waters at the sight of it. Once everyone is seated, we dig in.

“So what are your plans today?” Chloe asks.

“I thought after Hannah gets settled I might show her around the property. I’d rather not venture into town today, it was a long drive and I’d like to relax.”

“Tomorrow, Incahoots is having a big thing. We should go. It will be nice for you to get out and see some people from high school,” Chloe says.

Hannah furrows her brows and asks, “What’s Incahoots?”

“It’s a local bar and just about the only place in town to do anything after 10 p.m.,” I say, and she nods.

“What are they doing?” Hannah asks, seeming genuinely interested.

“Half off beer and nachos, and they have a live band coming in.”

“Sounds fun,” Hannah says.

“Yeah, Grayson, sounds fun. You guys should come.”

The last place I want to be is a bar with all the people I went to high school with, drinking and with a complete lack of filter. When I told Hannah everyone knows everything about everyone, I wasn’t lying. The people in this town are the only ones who know about everything that went down my senior year, and I’d like to keep it that way.

“Yeah, we’ll see how tomorrow plays out,” I say, and that seems to satisfy my sister enough that the conversation can move on.

“I thought we could grill up some steaks for dinner tonight, maybe some baked potatoes the way you like, and some corn on the cob. How’s that sound, Grayson?” Mom asks.

“Sounds good.”

“Hannah, you’ll have to tell me some of your favourite foods so I can whip them up this week.”

Hannah wipes her mouth with her napkin and says, “Oh, it’s fine, Melanie. I’m good to eat anything, and please tell me how I can help out.”

Mom waves her off. “You’re all good, honey, don’t worry about it. But please get me that list. I need to know you feel welcome here. We’re family, after all.”

Hannah is quiet for the rest of lunch. Chloe offers to help Mom with cleanup and dishes while Dad goes back to work and I get Hannah settled.

“Your old room is all ready for you two,” Mom says as I wheel the suitcases through the kitchen.

At the base of the stares, I pick up the bags and lug them up. I don’t have much time before Hannah realizes we’re sharing a room for the next week. Which also means there is likely only one bed.

Opening the door to my old bedroom and turning the light on, I try to look at the room from Hannah’s perspective. I have old hockey posters up and a Vancouver Cyclone’s flag hanging over my bed. The sheets are black and match the comforter. My old desk still sits against one wall beside the closet. The room is fairly empty of things. I didn’t leave much behind when I moved out between donating things and what I took with me.

When I turn around, Hannah is standing in the doorway looking around the room, and when her eyes land on me, she bites her lip. Fuck. I wish I was the one biting her lip. I want to hear her moan for me as I pull it between my teeth.

Her eyes bounce between me and the bed, and I can see the thoughts racing behind her eyes.

“I can sleep on the floor,” I say.

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I can be an adult if you can. We can share the bed, put up a wall between the two sides.”

I look over to the bed. Sharing a bed with Hannah and not being able to pull her into me and hold her is going to be pure torture, but it will be better than sleeping on the floor. After weeks of sleeping on the couch, it will be nice to sleep in an actual bed again.

I nod and roll the bags up against a wall. “I’m just going to use the washroom and then we can go for that tour if you’re up for it.”

“Sounds good,” she says, and I make my way into the hallway.

When I return to the bedroom, I find Hannah sitting on the edge of the bed, evaluating the room.

“You ready?” I ask.

She nods and stands before following me downstairs.

I call out, “Taking Hannah on a tour,” as we slip back into our shoes and leave the house.

“You always been into hockey?” Hannah asks as we walk towards the garden.

Micky follows us, sniffing around and doing his own thing.

“Yeah. My dad got me into it at a young age. It hooked me, and I never let it go. I played through high school, and when I got to university, I played on an intramural team.”

She nods. When we near the large planters full of strawberries, Hannah sucks in a shocked breath behind me. I turn and see her staring at the garden, jaw dropped and eyes wide. I chuckle. Growing up with all of this was normal for me. I forget Hannah grew up in the city, meaning she didn’t get to see large amounts of fruits and vegetables growing so close to home.

I walk over to the closest bush and pull the biggest ripe strawberry I can find and walk over to her. She watches me hesitantly as I lift it to her mouth. She licks her lips before she opens and takes a bite of the strawberry. The moan she releases as she pulls away goes straight to my cock. Her tongue trails across her lips, picking up the stray strawberry juice. I hold back a groan of my own.

I bite into the remaining strawberry, allowing my teeth to slowly sink into it before pulling away the stem and throwing it into the dirt below the bush. Hannah’s eyes are locked on my lips, and I follow her lead, licking them slowly just as she did. She holds her breath as she watches. I lick the remaining strawberry juice of my fingers, and she shakes her head and turns to face the garden again.

I follow behind her as she examines the plants. She picks at the blueberries and raspberries as we pass them and stops to look at the lettuce, cucumber, and peas. When we’ve made our way through the garden, I take her towards the pond. It’s just past the strip of trees that separates the garden from the pasture the cows used to graze. It’s a perfect place in the summer. During the peak of the day, part of the pond is covered in shade when you want to escape the heat while the other is in direct line of the sun. You can spend the whole day out here if you wanted to.

The minute she spots the water, Hannah is running to the edge and toeing off her shoes before stepping into the water. I sit in the grass, Micky lying beside me as I watch Hannah stand in the water, head tipped back enjoying the fresh air. Out here, it’s just the sound of your thoughts, the flow of the stream not far from here, and the birds in the trees.

When Hannah turns and looks at me, it’s with a smile spread wide across her face and no stress or worry in her expression. It’s in that moment I vow to do everything in my power to make sure she spends as much of her life feeling like she does right now.