“Get up, doll.” A hand grabbed my foot, shaking it until I started to stir in bed. I peeked my eye open and reached for the phone that lay beside me. Eight in the morning. Too early.
“Fifteen more minutes.” I groaned, closed my eyes, and rolled away from the hand that had grabbed me.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” Greg’s voice filled my ears again. Two hands grabbed for me this time, one wrapped around each ankle, and then I was yanked. I was dragged to the end of the bed and flew into Greg’s arms, as he grabbed and lifted me in one swift move. I was fully awake now, with my arms wrapped around Greg’s neck, his hands on my naked thighs, his shirt riding up my waist, and my core in full contact with his abs. We were both frozen in time, relishing in the feel, not caring that at any moment someone could come up the stairs and see us.
Every time he touched me a little bit of my armored heart started to break down. I could tell my heart all I wanted that this was a bad idea, but the way it sped up each time I caught Greg looking at me did me in. The way he had been with me yesterday and right now dissolved any coherent thoughts I had as to why this shouldn’t happen.
Greg’s hands kneaded my thighs and I couldn’t help the small moan that escaped my lips. It didn’t get very far before Greg swallowed it, crushing his lips to mine. My hands moved to the back of his head and pulled him closer, not allowing our lips to slip away from each other.
I heard a foot land on the first step of the stairs, then a creak from the second step. I pulled away from Greg, our wide eyes locking. We were frozen now not from the moment, but from the fear of who could be coming up the stairs. They were pretty steep, so no one would be able to see us until they were almost to the top. The footsteps stopped.
“You two up?” I slumped into Greg’s arms when I heard Delilah’s voice.
“Yeah, give us a moment.” Greg pulled me closer and we waited to hear Delilah’s footsteps disappear into the house and further away from us. I looked down at him to find another smirk and slapped his chest. “Good morning.”
He went in for another kiss, but I dodged it and tried to wiggle out of his grasp.
“Let me down Greg.”
“Nope.”
“Greg.” I pushed against his chest, but his grip on my thighs tightened.
“Last time I let you go, you ran.”
“And I should have run sooner.” I was looking him straight in the eyes. I meant it. If I had run sooner, I wouldn’t have these feelings, I wouldn’t be so scared of losing him, losing this family, or of getting hurt beyond repair. “We should go grab some breakfast before we head out for the day.”
Greg’s face fell at my words and I expected him to set me on the floor, but instead the little sneak surprised me with an enormous grin and threw me on the bed. He ran like the wind in just his pajama bottoms down the stairs. I almost followed him when I realized I was just in one of Greg’s shirts still. I quickly changed and made my way down the stairs, in the direction of the smell of bacon and eggs. My mouth watered instantly.
I caught Greg stuffing his face with the last waffle as I came into the kitchen. He tried to stand there and look so innocent, but had cheeks like a chipmunk, stuffed and full of deceit.
“I’m making more, munchkin, don’t worry.” David held up a spoon and almost sent batter slinging across the kitchen.
“I’m going to get dressed,” Greg tried to say with a straight face, with his mouth still stuffed full. You could barely make out what he was saying, and it caused the whole kitchen to be sent into a frenzy of laughs. David had to set the spatula down on the counter to hold his stomach in laughter. Margaret was trying to hold in a laugh with one hand over her mouth and a mug of hot coffee in the other hand. And Delilah was doubled over the counter, unable to contain it any longer.
As Greg passed me, he planted a kiss on my cheek. I pretended not to notice that the kitchen became quiet. I didn’t look anyone in the eyes, but grabbed a stool from the bar and moved it over to the island where David was making the waffles. I snatched a piece of bacon off the nearest plate.
“Two, please.” I tore off a bite of bacon and pointed to the morning chef. He jumped into gear while getting through the first waffle and making me a second. I covered them in butter and enough syrup to fill every little hole.
I was in the middle of cutting into the second waffle and began a deep conversation with Delilah. A book had been turned into a TV show, and we both just couldn’t get into all of the changes they had made. But then Greg walked back into the kitchen with my purse in one hand and keys in the other, and I knew this was the end to a perfect getaway I didn’t know I needed.
“I’m ready whenever you are.” Greg jingled the keys at me.
“Let me finish, at least. Who knows when I’ll get to eat waffles like these again?” I held up my fork and pointed towards Greg.
“You’ll get to have some next week. We’ll do breakfast for dinner for family night on Wednesday.” David’s words almost broke my heart because I didn’t know if I was going to be coming back next week, and I didn’t want to make a promise and then break it. I looked back down at the plate and shoveled in the last few bites.
“We’ll see what we can do, Dad.” Greg was now beside me, with his arm wrapped around the back of my chair. Guilt consumed me as David’s face dropped, and he didn’t speak another word as he reached for my empty plate and grabbed the fork out of my hand. My shoulders dropped, but Greg pushed me out of the chair and to the front of the house.
We walked out the front door without another word to his family, and it felt like I wasn’t leaving on my own accord but was being kicked out. I hadn’t said a formal goodbye to anyone and had no idea when the next time I would next step foot into this house.
Greg jumped in the car and waited for me to get in, so we could go into town. Granted it was still early, but he knew me all too well and knew that my going into town to shop wouldn’t be something quick. We drove out of the driveway and down the winding road into town in comfortable silence, which was a first for the week. It almost felt like everything was normal.
“Where did you want to stop first?” Greg asked, and the comfortable silence was gone.
“Doesn’t matter.” I could feel myself retreating back into the shy girl whom Greg had first met, and that just wasn’t me anymore. But this man did things to me that I didn’t like to admit. He made my heart race and my hands sweat with worry over what was going to happen, because with him, I never knew.
“Adale has a couple new pieces in the glass shop I thought we could look at.” I just nodded my head at his suggestion and stared out the window. Fall had finally arrived, with the browning of the trees and leaves all over the ground.
Curiosity was creeping in on me as we continued the drive through town to find parking. Questions formed in my head, and I was thankful Greg was the first to break the silence in the car. I wanted to know about the kiss Greg and I shared this morning, the laughter we had shared while at his parents’ house, and why he had left me alone at work all week. Work.
“Why weren’t you at work the last few days?” I maneuvered myself in the seat to face Greg. He was staring straight ahead, almost like he hadn’t heard the very loud question I had asked. I waved my hand in front of his face to try to get his attention, but he shooed it away and kept his focus on the road.
“You can’t ignore me.” I watched as his grip on the steering wheel tightened, knuckles turning white. It reminded me of how I was driving in Vegas. Calm. Collected. Nervous. Frustrated.
“I came up here to visit Mom and Dad.” I sat back in my seat. “I needed to stay away from you. You distract me and I was upset.”
I waited for him to continue.
“I knew if I was around you, I wouldn’t be able to think straight.” He took one hand off the steering wheel and flexed his fingers, and then did the same with the other hand. “I went to the therapist early yesterday, too, to try to talk things out. I knew I was in the wrong and that I overreacted, but you had talked so openly about what we had done and it didn’t seem like you even cared that it happened. That it was just some guy you had been with. Well, I’m not just some guy, Lilly.”
I was shrinking down into my seat with every word he said. He had come up here to his family for two days to get away from me, and then came back into town, knowing fully that he would be coming back up for family dinner. He came back. He wanted to be present for the counseling session, but still, he had left. He had run and that frightened me the most. He had left just because of some words I said, not even actions, and he ran like the wind and left me in the dust without even a goodbye.
I didn’t comment back on what I was feeling or thinking. No matter what I said right now, I would seem like the bad guy because that’s what it seemed like in his head, and in all truth, that’s what I was. I was the one pushing us apart, and his actions only solidified my choices, solidified that I needed to be the bad guy in this relationship in order for us both to survive it.
“We’re here.” Greg clipped his words at me as he parked the car. He got out and slammed the door. We were parallel parked at the curb in front of Adale’s shop, right in the middle of town. I stepped out of the car, mesmerized by the sight of the town of Helen getting ready for the holidays. They seemed to always skip Halloween and Thanksgiving and jump right into the Christmas spirit. A smile formed as I took in the scenes in front of me.
Kids were playing in the square, couples walked along the storefronts, and an older couple sat on a bench to the side, acting like no one else in the world mattered. This was why I loved this place. You could get lost here and never go back to reality.
“You coming?” Greg yelled from behind me, and the frustration I had felt before came back. My little bubble burst. I turned around and there he was, leaning against the guardrail at the top of the steps that led to the front door of the shop, arms crossed over his chest and a huge smile on his face as he scanned over the town just as I had. His eyes came back down to mine and, though the smile faltered, I could see it wasn’t because of me, but because of the uncertainty of us. I knew then that even though Greg would never admit it, he was just as scared of this as I was and knew that anything could happen between us.
I took the steps two at a time and entered the shop with Greg holding the door open for me. The second I entered, I was hit with the smell of cinnamon mixed with fire. The kiln was towards the back of the shop, so the further we went, the more the smells intensified.
I walked up to the front desk and rang the chime that was waiting there so Adale knew someone was in the store. She ran her glass shop on her own, and ninety percent of the time she was in the back of the shop if she didn’t have any customers.
“I’ll be right with you!” The little pipsqueak of a voice traveled through the shop from the back and soon enough, out came Adale. She was short, under five foot, but packed a punch when she walked into a room. She was pale with long thin blonde hair and baby blue eyes that stopped anyone in their tracks. She was the sweetest woman I had ever met and her being only in her forties meant that I could know her that much longer.
“Lilly!” She didn’t just shout my name, she yelled it at me as she sprinted towards me and collided into a hug that both of us clung to. I had missed this woman so much. Every time I came for family dinner night, we always made a stop to see Adale. She didn’t have family, so I tried to make her feel like she always had us. The guilt I had felt from seeing Greg’s family last night sank in again as I continued to hug Adale. I just hoped I hadn’t let her down.
“Adale.” Greg coughed out her name, but she still didn’t break from me.
“I’ll get to you in a moment sir.” Adale moved back from our hug. She didn’t let me go fully, though. She grabbed both my hands and dragged me towards the right side of the shop where she housed her Christmas ornaments on a gorgeous fresh fir tree. “I have some new ornaments to show you.”
The first thing that caught my eye was a star that was at the top of the tree, black and white swirls with gold glitter. Each point was twisted at the end, making it look sleek, but elegant. The next one was an ornament that happened to be positioned at my eye level. It was an intertwining ‘G’ and ‘L.’ I pretended like I hadn’t seen it as Adale ushered me closer to the tree, showing me a ballerina, a new dog she had made, and even a black rose.
“They’re lovely, Adale.” I reached out to touch the black rose.
“I thought you might say that.” She winked at me and pointed towards the counter where she had set a bag to the side.
“Adale…” I didn’t know what to say to her generosity.
“Oh, hush.” She shooed me back towards the front of the shop to where Greg was waiting for us.
“I told you she had some new things you would want to see.” The twinkle in Greg’s eye made it seem like he knew the ornament with our initials was sitting on the tree behind me, not that Adale had a black rose sitting in the bag on the counter. “We should probably get going. I have a few more shops for us to stop by.”
“Just make sure to come back a few more times before the end of the year, darling.” Adale pulled me into another hug and this time I didn’t want to let go because, just as with Greg’s parents, I didn’t know when or if I would be coming back and I really didn’t feel like letting anyone down this morning.
“We’ll see what we can do, Adale.” Greg answered the same way he had to his dad, and I was quickly ushered out of the store without another word, carrying a bag of handmade Christmas ornaments. Greg didn’t walk us towards the car but instead we made our way down the side road to whatever shop he had in mind next. We went in to see Ricky at the local book shop, Margot at the flower shop and then, as we headed towards the candy shop Greg stopped us abruptly.
We stood there holding hands as if this was something normal for us. Before I realized what was happening, Greg pulled me into the small alcove between the bread and candy shops. He took the gifts from my hand and gently set the bag on the ground before turning back to me and taking my mouth with his.
Greg pushed me up against the brick wall that snagged my shirt, causing it to ride up. Greg’s fingers tightened into my jeans, but I could feel the heat from him as if I were standing fully naked in the brisk morning of the Georgia Mountains. As much as I needed to think about how this shouldn’t work, it was in these moments that I knew Greg and I could work in the best possible ways, but my fear of him leaving me always seemed to creep back up at the worst times. This time I wasn’t going to let it.
I broke from the kiss but not to catch my breath. I stared down at Greg with my bottom lip caught between my teeth. He shifted me down a little and I could feel his hard erection between my thighs. I wiggled myself against him, releasing the moan from him that I didn’t know I was so desperate to hear.
He ground his hips into me and I prayed that no one would decide at this moment in time that they needed candy or bread this early in the morning. Greg’s eyes darkened before he latched himself onto my neck. I leaned back and the bun I had put up this morning saved me from the hard wall. I let Greg suck on me but had my hands pressed to his chest, ready to push him away when I had had too much. I wanted control of this situation, even though I knew Greg had complete control over me.
“You’re playing with fire, Greg.” His mouth detached for one-second.
“Then let us burn.”
And I did.
I let the flames of our lies and love consume us to the point I didn’t know how long we were in the back alley after Greg’s mouth had fused with mine again.
The door to the bread shop started to open next to us and I was dropped from Greg’s arms immediately. Nevermind us just being tongue-tied or that we were heavily dry-humping each other, like horny teenagers.
A deep male voice came from behind the door. “I thought I heard someone out here Ethel, just let me check!” I looked at Greg and the look of horror on his face was priceless. He grabbed for my bag on the ground and then my hand before he took off in a sprint, pulling me behind him, to exit the alleyway and around the corner to the candy shop.
A laugh bursted out of me when we landed inside the candy store with the jingle of a bell and the slam of the glass door behind us. Greg looked out of breath and scared to death at what might have happened if someone from Ethel’s shop had found us. Not only would we be the talk of the town, his parents would hear about it in the time it took to send a text.
“You two look like you’ve been getting into trouble,” Wilson, the owner of the candy shop, scolded us as he walked around from behind the cash register to give me a hug. I had missed the sound of his husky voice.
“Only the usual.” He embraced me quickly before releasing me and going back to work. He was a crotchety old man, but still had a soft side, and I remembered this when he pushed the pickle jar towards me along with a pair of tongs and set a paper towel down beside the jar.
“Grab one and I’ll go to see what kind of ice cream they have today.” Greg left me to my own devices while he sought out something to fill his sweet-tooth craving. I plucked out one dill pickle and settled with that for now. Wilson gave me a side glance when I walked away, narrowing his eyes in suspicion that I hadn’t taken more than one. I needed to pace myself or I would eat the whole jar before I left this place, and I really wanted to take some for the car ride home.
“Get me vanilla, please.” I took a bite of the pickle and looked up to see Greg staring at me. His eyes were trained on my mouth as I chomped on the giant bite I took. He had a cup of vanilla ice cream in one hand and chocolate in the other. I licked my lips and then bit into the pickle again while trying not to laugh. He shook his head and handed over the cup.
He held onto my spoon since he knew I didn’t need it yet. I dipped the top of my pickle into the ice cream and continued to eat it while we looked around for some road-trip snacks.
The young girl who had served Greg our ice cream came out from behind the counter. She couldn’t have been older than sixteen, but I realized fast that she seemed to be drawn to Greg. I shoved more of the pickle in my mouth to cover my knowing smirk.
“Why don’t we get some jelly beans?” Greg turned around from where the girl had been following him and almost knocked her down.
“Sorry!” Her little voice rang out as she turned and ran back behind the counter. Greg’s brows knit together and he looked at me confused.
“Just make sure they’re cinnamon.” I turned around and made my way over to the popcorn wall. “I’ll grab the cheddar.”
“White!” Greg yelled at me as I dipped the last of my pickle into the ice cream. I made a detour over to the pickle jar to grab another before grabbing the biggest bag they offered to fill with the best white cheddar popcorn I had ever had the pleasure of eating.
“You are one weird girl.” Wilson mocked me to my back as I dipped my fresh pickle into the ice cream. I turned around and took a bite directly in front of him, juices running down into the ice cream. Most people thought it was a weird combination, but I loved it. The sweet with the tart just seemed to work in ways that one wouldn’t expect.
I quickly filled our bag of popcorn and grabbed a bag of cotton candy before heading back to the counter to see what Greg had piled up. His broad shoulders were blocking the counter but, when I got up behind him, I rested my chin on his shoulder. I tossed my bags onto the counter and eyeballed what he had collected: Sugar Daddies, hot cinnamon jelly beans and, my favorite, just pink Starbursts.
I finished off my pickle and grabbed for the spoon sticking out of Greg’s back pocket while he paid for everything. Wilson grabbed two more pickles for me and then bagged everything together, ready for us to hit the road. I made sure to finish the ice cream before leaving and tossed the bowl into the trash by the register.
“Now you two drive safe. It’s been a dewy morning for October, so the roads may be slick.” Wilson tipped his head towards Greg and then to me to make sure we knew he meant business in keeping us safe.
“No worries, Wilson. I’ll be making sure she comes back alive.” I couldn’t miss the wink Greg shot the old man. I grabbed the bag off the counter, held up a hand to wave goodbye to Wilson and walked out the door. I left both men laughing in my dust. Wilson had been right. As the morning moved on, the air got a little nippier from the moisture.
I rubbed my hands over my arms. I hadn’t prepared to be outside so long. Cool fifty-degree weather normally didn’t bother me, but the days were slowly starting to sink back down in the forties and thirties, which meant sweater weather.
A jacket was being draped over me and then Greg walked past me. He hadn’t been wearing a jacket either. When I looked back into the main window of the shop, Wilson held out his hand to me and blew me a kiss. I returned the gesture and made my way behind Greg towards the car.
Our adventures had wasted away most of the morning. It was now well into the afternoon and we still had a two-hour drive back into town. Just like the drive up, the drive back was silent except for the rustle of bags and chewing sounds. When we got off the highway and turned on the main street for downtown, heading towards the office, my heart dropped. He was taking me home.
I hadn’t expected him to take me anywhere else, but I just didn’t think we were headed home. I started to put together an assortment of candy.
“You can just take it all.” I didn’t have to be told twice and proceeded to put everything back into the original bag. Greg drove past the office and made a U-turn to park outside of the apartment complex.
“Are you not coming up?” I asked him, but refused to look anywhere but at his reflection in the window beside me. I unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled the door handle once to unlock it.
“Nah, I’m going to go see the guys for an early dinner and drinks.” I looked at the time on the dash, and they wouldn’t be out of work for another hour. I had no right to question where he was going, so I didn’t. We might live next door to each other and be married, but if he wanted to go out by himself, then I would let him be. This was what I had been wanting, us to be separated, so why throw a fit now that he wouldn’t tell me more.
“Sounds good, see you tomorrow.” I opened the car door.
“Lilly.”
“Yeah?” I had one foot on the curb, ready to step out of the car. I turned back to look at him, but he was staring straight ahead, fists tightened and resting on top of the steering wheel.
“Don’t worry about coming in tomorrow. You deserve the day off and to sleep in.”
“Oh.” He wouldn’t look over at me.
“I’ll see you tomorrow night for our session.”
I got out of the car, peeking in one more time before closing the door behind me. Greg still hadn’t moved from his stoic position, so I headed inside with my bagful of snacks and Wilson’s coat still wrapped around me. I headed up to the fifth floor and walked down the hall to my corner apartment.
I stopped at the door next to mine and touched the wreath hanging on the door. I had made it for Greg years ago and he still used it every Christmas. This was something else I had never told Alexa or even Erica, that Greg was my neighbor. When Alexa was living with me I never wanted her to think anything of Greg and me, since she was having her own problems. With Erica it was a little harder since she was used to just popping over to the apartment, so if we were going anywhere Greg and I always let the other know so there would be any accidental run ins.
We never wanted how close we were to affect work at all because we never wanted it to seem like favoritism, since Greg was the one who also owned my unit. After I had stayed with him when starting out at The Ink Well, he decided to get his own place and let me keep his, instead of me trying to find somewhere close to here that I could afford.
I made my way into my apartment and set my bag of goodies down on the kitchen counter before making my way into the living room. It didn’t matter where I went or what I did, Greg was in every part of my life. I plopped down on the couch and looked around the room. I hadn’t redecorated when I moved in completely. All of this was Greg’s. The furniture, the decorations, the knick-knacks. Everything.
No matter how much I tried to escape the feelings I had for him, they just seemed to grow with every thought of what he had done for me. He had made my life easy and made sure I had everything I had ever needed, and what had I given him?
Nothing.
I pulled my phone out of the purse still draped over my shoulder and saw a few texts from Alexa and Erica, but decided not to answer them. I had exactly twenty-six hours until I had to see Greg again in which to try to get myself together for this therapist to convince her that Greg and I didn’t belong together.
During that time, I needed to try to convince myself, too, because I was looking down at a text from Greg that he had just sent.
See you tomorrow, Wife.
The little three dots popped up in a bubble in the messages and I waited to see what he would say next.
And so you know.
Come on. Out with it already man.
I love you.