“If you want to.”
With his hands in the pockets of his jacket, Greg shrugged. “I’m game if you are.”
“You two,” Clara said as Ryan put his arm around her. “You have got to learn to make a decision.”
“You guys coming?” Wes asked as the other four moved toward the door.
Greg looked at Taylor with an apologetic lift of his eyebrows before he nodded. “Yes, sir, I think we are.”
“So, Greg,” Wes said directly across from his friend at the restaurant, “are you helping Tay move tomorrow?”
An earthquake couldn’t have been any more surprising, and Taylor’s gaze jerked up. In the next second she was glad she had already told Greg. However, one second later, she felt bad for the insinuation. “No,” she said quickly. “I’m just going to move myself. It’s not that much.”
Unfortunately, they had all seen just how much ‘not that much’ was.
“Don’t you have to work?” Paige asked Greg, and Taylor wanted to crawl under the table.
“Really,” Taylor said. “I can get it.”
“I mean…” Greg looked at her, knife in one hand, fork in the other but stopping completely. “I could switch with somebody.”
“No,” she said, and then she added even more firmly, “No. Absolutely not. You just started that job, and I am not going to do anything to mess that up.”
“We could help,” Clara said on the other side of Taylor, and Taylor turned. “I mean, if we can wait until the afternoon after the student center.” She looked at Ryan down the table next to her. “You don’t mind helping, do you?”
“Nah, I can be there whenever.”
“I… uh… really,” Taylor said, not being very articulate about any of it. “I hate to be a burden.”
“What? You? A burden?” Clara said, and she waved her spoon in the air. “Psssha. You’re fine.” She dipped her spoon into her soup. “We could be at the house by like two, two-thirty if that works.”
“I can help some,” Nelson said. “I’ll only be there until like three, but I can at least load.”
“Oh, you don’t…” Taylor said, feeling the daggers her sister was now shooting her with.
“Sounds like a plan,” Ryan said.
Every word was jabbing into Greg deeper and deeper, but he worked to breathe and not let any of it show. This was really happening. She was moving out. And moving on. It was time.
Chapter 30
“I hate not being here to help,” Greg said the next afternoon as he pulled his shoes on, willing the clock to slow down. He had to get to work, but leaving was the last thing he wanted to do.
“We’ll be fine,” Taylor said. “I’ll have plenty of help. I promise.”
“I know. I just feel bad.” He stood from the couch, ready to go but not ready to leave.
“No, now come on,” she said, coming over and putting her arms around him. That wasn’t helping. “No feeling bad. You’ve done enough. I’m going to be fine. I promise.”
Yes, he had no doubt of that, but it wasn’t her he was worried about.
“Well, you’re welcome back any time,” he said, resting his arms around her and loving how that felt. If it just didn’t have to end so soon…
“Eh, you just want me to cook and clean.”
She had no idea.
“Yeah, well, that too,” he joked. “No seriously.” He backed up to look at her, and she followed suit. His gaze took her in, her beauty, her strength. Her. He would spend his whole life wishing he could have deserved her. “If you need anything… anything…”
“Greg,” she said, and she corkscrewed her lips into a half-frown.
“I know. I know. You’re a big girl and you can take care of yourself.”
Taylor wondered if he heard the irony in that statement. “True, but you’re not getting rid of me that easily. Besides, we are still going on Saturday, right?”
However, the second she said it, she realized she shouldn’t have. The Valentine’s Dance. She had just so pictured going with him to it, she hadn’t realized that might not still be on the table as an option.
“I mean, you don’t have to,” she said, backtracking quickly. “I mean, not if you don’t want to.”
He dragged in a breath and a small smile came to his lips. “And give up the chance to dance with the best girl there? I’m not that stupid.”
With that, she dove into his arms and pressed him to her. “You’re not stupid.”
But as he held her there knowing it was time to let go, Greg wasn’t so sure about that.
“Thanks for helping,” Taylor