Am I doing this? Am I letting him move in? Pfff. What am I thinking? The man has already moved in and I didn’t notice. I am such an idiot.
“Fine. We live together now. Whatever. I expect you to start taking out the trash and helping do the dishes.”
“Precious, who do you think’s been taking out the trash and shoveling the snow for the past two months?”
He’s got me there. A-freaking-gain.
“Since we’re finally discussing this, we need to talk about the mortgage and bills.”
I stand. “Nuh-uh. I’ve had enough of the adult stuff for one morning. We’ll discuss financial stuff tomorrow.” Or never, I think but don’t say. “I have an Easter egg hunt to get to.”
Grayson studies me for a long minute and I worry he’s going to push it. I check to make sure I have my big girl panties on in preparation for a fight. But, lucky for me, because we all know I’m bound to lose any fight this man starts, he drops it.
“Why are we going to an Easter egg hunt anyway?”
“Because it’s fun.” I don’t say duh, but I definitely think it.
“You do realize they won’t let an adult participate, don’t you?”
Oh, thee of little faith. Oh, thee of little faith.
When we arrive at the Easter egg hunt an hour later, Grayson shakes his head at me when he figures out what’s going on.
“You realize this is cheating, right?”
“Cheating?” What is the man talking about? “I’m not cheating. I’m helping.”
And I am helping. I may have a ball while helping, but that’s not the point. The point is I’m helping young mentally challenged children have an awesome Easter.
“Ms. Langley,” a woman shouts as she rushes to me. “Thank goodness, you’re here. We have some last-minute details to discuss.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s Suzie, Emily. You call me Suzie. What last minute details? We do this every year; we should have it down by now.”
“Wait.” Grayson snatches my hand to stop me before I can follow Emily. “You organized this?”
I blush. He wasn’t supposed to find out! I don’t need to brag about what I do. I don’t do this for me after all. I do it for the kids. In case there’s any doubt, I love kids. And not because I’m a big kid myself. Or at least, my disregard for anything resembling adulting isn’t the only reason.
Grayson yanks on my hand until I’m in his arms where he squeezes me tight. “I always knew you were hiding a big heart under your sassy mouth but this? You humble me, Precious.” My face goes from a slight blush to code red on fire. “God how I love you.”
My ears must be deceiving me. He did not just tell me he loves me, did he? I lean away and search his face. His smiling face greets me as if he has nothing to hide.
“Suzie!” Emily yells to get my attention. The chant is picked up from the group of children waiting for the Easter egg hunt to begin. “Suzie! Suzie! Suzie!”
“I need to go,” I say and try to conceal the relief on my face. I am not ready to talk about whether he loves me or not. No way, Jose. That particular discussion can wait a while. Like maybe a year or two.
Grayson isn’t fooled for one minute. He chuckles and pats my ass. “Go. Go find those Easter eggs.”
Two hours later I’m exhausted as I walk toward Grayson. My knees ache and I think I have a bump on my head. I’m also rethinking giving out prizes for the most Easter eggs found next year. One thing is for sure. I’m wearing protective gear next time.
“Why are there grass stains on your jeans and leaves in your hair?” Grayson asks as he plucks a leaf from my hair.
“It was an accident.”
Accident my ass. I know Denny pushed me on purpose, but when I spun around to confront him, he looked too dang cute with his bottom lip in a pout and batting his eyelashes at me. I couldn’t force myself to yell at him. I am such a pushover.
“What’s next?” he asks.
“You can find a chair and relax. Lunch will be ready soon.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I need to help prepare the food.”
He takes my hand. “Come on then. Let’s go help get lunch ready for the kids.”
Damn it. He needs to stop being so darn sweet and helpful. How am I going to manage to stop myself from telling him I love him when he is helping out the kids? How?