Forever Curves - Piper Sullivan Page 0,29
call me?”
She shrugged. “Auntie Luna calls you Mr. Lucky.”
I snickered and he glared at me. “Definitely not that. We’ll figure it out, I guess.”
Right. That was my cue to remove myself from this situation before things got out of hand, or more out of hand than they already were. “I should get going.” I stood abruptly but seeing Grant and Mariana together gave me a glimpse of a future I could have, but wouldn’t. Not with this man and his daughter, anyway.
“No!” Mariana stood and came to my side. “We didn’t finish our chocolate yet.”
Dang it, she was right. “But your dad is here now and he’s got a much bigger capacity for chocolate than I do and you don’t want to miss out on that.” She didn’t look soothed, not even a little bit. I dropped down so we were eye to eye and sighed. “You and Grant need some time together, to get to know each other. Alone. Together. You know?”
Mariana shook her head, pigtails flying wildly around her head. “I don’t think he likes me.”
“That’s exactly why y’all need to get to know each other. Learn his favorite pizza topping and your love of cheese and chocolate. You’re gonna live together so you have to know each other, Mari. Okay?” She nodded and I wrapped my arms around her. “You know my name and it’s in your dad’s phone if you ever need to talk. Okay?”
“Okay. Bye, Brenna.”
“I’ll see you later, Mariana.” I stood and took a step back until my gaze collided with Grant’s. He was still stunned and now he had a wild-eyed look of a cornered animal. “Good luck, Grant.”
“You’re leaving?”
I nodded. “This has been a shock and Mariana needs you now.” And I needed to save myself from this complicated situation.
“But, what about…us?”
And that look right there, the slightly confused and scared expression told me that escape was my best option at the moment. Grant hadn’t given any indication that he wanted more than whatever the hell we were doing together, and the first time he mentions us and an us is when he’s had his life flipped upside down. “We’re still friends, Grant. I just think that you need to adjust to the changes in your life. I’ll see you around.”
He wanted to say more, I could tell by the determined set of his jaw, and I urged my feet to start moving, to put more distance between us before he convinced me to settle into a life that he didn’t really want. Not with me anyway.
So yeah, I made my escape and I did it quickly, marching across the backyard in the same hasty path that Luna had taken a few minutes earlier. Only instead of being sad like Luna, I was disappointed as hell. Things were going well with Grant, at least I’d convinced myself they were, but the appearance of Mariana brought home the truth.
We were just screwing around. There was nothing serious between us, no potential for a future relationship and I’d been fooling myself about that. About what I really wanted from Grant and most of all, about what he was willing and able to give.
That little girl had just saved me a world of heartache and I vowed to keep my promise to her. I couldn’t be anything but her friend, but I would be that for her, for as long as she needed me.
Grant
I stood in front of the coffee pot, waiting for it to brew my third cup of coffee for the day. It was barely past noon and still, I couldn’t manage to keep my eyes open, to focus on anything other than the fact that I hadn’t seen Brenna since the party. Since the day I found out that I had a seven year old daughter and she walked away from me with a sad smile on her face.
I missed her. Unbelievably, I missed her. I made sure that I never let a woman ever become so important to me that I missed her when she was gone, and here I was on a Monday afternoon, missing Brenna. Her smile and her laugh, those weird southern sayings she liked to drop like bombs. And most especially that twang that had become so familiar to me.
Did that mean that kids were a dealbreaker for her? I didn’t know because she didn’t say and for the past few days, she hadn’t said a damn thing. It had been complete and total radio silence from