But if I ignored the hollow feeling in my heart, I could see how this was what I wanted. I spent my day laughing and sweating with my best friends. I got to watch dozens of people enjoy my food. Better yet, I was getting a bigger paycheck than I ever thought I’d get. Life in Fairhope wasn’t expensive, so the salary I was earning here was enough to let me live like a queen if I wanted to.
My mentor had responded to my email the other day. He said I was welcome back if I wanted, but I’d surprised myself by turning him down. I didn’t feel like I needed an escape plan anymore. The worst had happened already, hadn’t it? Greyson and I had gone nuclear, just like I’d feared. But I was still standing, and I still had my own restaurant. And tomorrow, he was leaving.
I gritted my teeth. Even after everything, it felt wrong to let things end like this. He and I barely spoke anymore. It was all stiff glances and avoiding eye contact with us. If he really needed to get a message to me, he sent it through Gabby. And to my surprise, he hadn’t made any signs of wanting to hook up with her. He was just as stiff with her as he was with me.
I needed to at least say goodbye. I set down my towel and headed into the lobby. Greyson was cleaning out the coffee mugs and setting them on a dishwashing tray.
“Hey,” I said.
He froze, then turned to look over his shoulder. It had been getting chilly this week, and he had on a thick white sweater and blue jeans. He looked like he belonged right there–taking care of the inn and getting it ready for tomorrow’s visitors. But I knew his heart was already somewhere else.
“Hi,” Greyson said.
“You fly out tomorrow, right?”
He nodded.
“I know things didn’t really go the way either of us thought they would, but I wanted to say thank you for giving me this job. No matter what else happened, this has been a dream of mine, and I’ll always be grateful for the chance you gave me.”
He paused with his back to me, head hanging for a few moments before he turned. “You’re welcome. You deserve it.”
I gave an awkward smile and gestured back to the kitchen with my thumb. “Well, have a safe flight I guess.”
He didn’t answer right away. “Katie and Matt decided to move out here.”
“What?” I asked. For some reason, his statement made my stomach drop. “Seriously?”
“Yeah,” he shrugged casually but his eyes were still distant–almost haunted. “I guess they got a taste of small town life and now they’re hooked.”
“So the kids will be here? That’s good. I mean… Well, it’s not good. But I would miss them if this was forever.”
He nodded slowly. “We haven’t ironed out the details yet. But they will have school soon. I can’t fly them home all the time.”
“Has your grandfather figured out who is going to take your place?”
“He thinks he can do it,” Greyson said. “The doctors said he recovered well from the pneumonia, but he’s still got arthritis that’s only going to get worse. I’m honestly hoping Gabby can eventually take it all over for him.”
“Where did you find her, anyway? She seems young.”
“My company has a running list of applicants. I wanted someone young and hungry, like you.”
I licked my lips. “Trying to replace me, are you?”
“No. I’ve seen what you do here. I don’t think I could replace you if I tried.”
I smiled at my shoes. “Well, thank you. I should go finish cleaning up, I guess. Um. Bye, Greyson. There were times when it was nice to know you.”
He chuckled dryly. “Right back at you.”
As soon as I got in the kitchen, my stupid eyes started to water. Why the hell was I crying? I was still mad at him. Still pissed, in fact. I had a nightly ritual where I closed my eyes and imagined a few different ways I could kill him at work the following day. I was that mad.
So why was I crying after saying goodbye? Maybe it was just because it’d be harder to fantasize about murdering him from now on?
I sighed. That wasn’t it and I knew it. The same foolish part of me that had been too quick to jump to wanting a happily ever after with Greyson still wanted him to come to his senses. I still wanted him to fight to save what we had. That’s why I was crying. I was crying because I saw it in his eyes. He wasn’t going to fight for us. He was going to walk away and do everything he could to forget we ever happened.
Why did nobody ever talk about how much it sucked to love someone who didn’t love you back? I wiped my tears away and turned out the lights.