“You’re doing it again,” Greyson’s mom, Sally, said and rapped her knuckles on his arm as she passed.

Greyson started and straightened in his chair. “Sorry, Mom.”

“What’s on your mind today? Work again?”

“No… no, I think we figured out the problem,” he told her quietly. He fiddled with his beer bottle, rolling the end around on the kitchen table, watching the rings left by the condensation. “I’m fine, I promise.”

“You can’t hide from me. I’m your mother,” she reminded him with a laugh and set down a plate of apple pie for him. “And you barely touched anything at dinner.”

“I'm not hungry,” he said and pushed the pie away. Sally huffed and leaned back in her chair, kicking his shin hard with her boot. “Ow, what?” he grumbled. “I said I was fine.”

She kicked him again and he flinched. “It’s a woman.”

“I never said anything,” he said and reached down to rub his shin. When she jumped up from her chair, he couldn’t help but grin. His mom was a bit on the crazier side, did what she wanted when she wanted, never listened to anybody, not even his dad. “Mom? What are you doing?”

“It’s about time you found yourself a girl to drive you crazy,” she called back from the hall and hurried back down a few minutes later, his cell phone in her hand. “What’s her name? I want to meet her.”

He cursed and leapt up for his phone, but she held it out of reach. “You can’t call her,” he argued and reached for it again. His mom barely reached his shoulders, but the glare she shot him made him feel ten times smaller.

“Why not? Are you ashamed of this woman? She’s not one of your weekend flings, is she?”

“What? No, none of them,” he said, and when she raised a brow, he sighed. “She works with me, alright? Can I have that back now?”

Sally smirked and tossed him his cell. “Why won’t you let me meet her?”

“We’re not really together yet,” he admitted and held his cell tightly in his hands. He’d tried calling her last night, but she didn’t answer and he’d been too much of a coward to leave a message. He didn’t even know what to say, had no idea what had happened. It wasn’t like he did anything wrong. They both wanted to be together, and she freaked out for no reason.

“Or you’re trying to be and you pushed, didn’t you? So impatient,” Sally mused and tugged on his beard, dragging his face down to her level. “A trait you inherited from your dad.”

“Yeah, well, I got your stubbornness and temper to match,” he muttered, and she let him go. “And I wasn’t pushing. Things just got out of hand very quickly.”

“So call her and ask her to dinner,” she said. “Explain yourself and take it slowly.”

Greyson ran his hand over his head and leaned against the kitchen island. “I'm not sure how to do that. She’s under my skin, and I don’t know what to do about it. She’s driving me crazy! I can’t think straight, I haven’t slept, and all I think about is her.”

Sally laughed and pointed to his cell. “You’re scared after the last one.”

“No,” he bit off bitterly then blew out a breath and shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’m lost with Belle in the picture.”

“Belle,” Sally repeated quietly. “I like the name.”

“You’d like more than just that,” he said and grinned. “She’s a spitfire. Reminds me a lot of myself, actually.”

Sally patted his cheek and lifted his hand with his cell again. “You’re falling for this girl; I see it in your eyes. What are you waiting for? Everything to make sense?”

He unlocked his cell and found her number, his thumb hovering over it. Was he ready for the storm they made together? He wasn’t kidding when he said his anger rivaled hers. Same with the stubbornness that reared its ugly head in both of them. She was just like him in every way, but thinking of the coming days without her at the office, without talking to her, or hearing her laugh… His thumb hit the button, and his mom squealed in delight.

Greyson frowned and ducked out of the kitchen as the phone rang on the other end. When it went to her voicemail again, he rubbed his forehead and gritted his teeth when the time came to leave a message. “Belle, it’s Greyson. Look, I know things are a little crazy, but can you please give me a chance, or us a chance? I’ll text you my address, and if you want, come over tomorrow night for dinner. Just to talk and figure out what this is, but whatever it is, I want to be with you,” he added and cursed quietly. “Uh… That’s it, call me back.”

He hung up and sagged against the wall. “Idiot. I’m an idiot,” he grumbled, and his mom laughed from the doorway.

“Yes, you are, but I love you anyway,” she teased. “It’ll work out, you’ll see.”

“I hope so,” he whispered and tucked his cell away. “Think I’ll have that pie now.”

She grinned. He sat with his mom the rest of the evening at her small, stucco ranch sitting on thirty acres of open land. They used to live in the city, but when his dad passed, his mom moved out of their old, stuffy mansion. She said she needed to breathe in the fresh air and watch the sunsets and sunrises without hearing the noise of cars rushing by. He worried for her in the beginning, out here alone, but his mom was tough and she looked better than she had in years. Her all-white hair was braided and tossed casually over her shoulder, and her wrinkles were hardly visible on her weathered face. Sally was happy, and that was all that mattered to Greyson.

He was getting ready to leave a few hours later when his cell vibrated and he hesitated.

“Is it her?” Sally asked.

“Yeah,” he breathed and opened it. “She’s coming over for dinner tomorrow at seven.” He laughed, and his mom hugged him.

“See? Everything always works out for the best.”

“Unless she’s already sick of me,” he muttered and texted her back. “We’ll just have to see.”

* * *

Belle couldn’t believe the choice she had made, but Carrie cheered her on, raising her water bottle as they hung out in their dorm together. The gallery opening had gone perfectly, and their boss was ecstatic. Belle told him she might be taking a leave of absence for the rest of the semester, and he’d told her not to worry about it. Her job would always be there.

“Why aren’t you happier about this?” Carrie asked, flinging a pretzel at her. “This is great!”

“How is it great? You know what could happen if this goes wrong?”

Carrie flung another pretzel at her. “So? It’s time you had a little fun, take some risks. Live for once in your life. You’ve earned it.”

“And what if it goes wrong?” she asked quietly, picturing a relationship with Greyson ending with her quitting and both of them hating each other forever.

“Then it goes wrong, but no reason you can’t have some fun until it does. Just do it, please, for me?”

Belle frowned until Carrie flicked another pretzel at her and another. They threw them back and forth, covering the dorm room in pretzels and laughing hysterically. She hadn’t laughed like that in a long time, and her worries about tomorrow night with Greyson shifted to the back of her mind. Carrie was right, as annoying as she might be. What harm could there be in seeing where things went?

The next evening, Belle stared into the depths of her closet, wondering what she should wear. Her dreams told her exactly how she wanted this night to go, but the rational part of her mind said she was only going to talk their potential relationship over, nothing more. After half an hour, she pulled on black skinny jeans with gray, knee-high boots and a dark gray sweater that hung off her shoulders. She wore her hair up in a loose ponytail, letting the waves trail down her back. She put on some light makeup and all her rings.

“What do you think?” she asked Carrie, twirling.

“You look good enough to eat,” her friend teased and wiggled her eyebrows. “He’s going to love it. I won’t wait up.”

“Whatever, we’re just having dinner and talking,” she insisted as she grabbed her purse and the Mustang keys.

“Any man who lends a woman his 1975 Mustang is not just wanting to talk,” Carrie warned and waved as Belle exited their dorm room quickly. She was running a few minutes behind, but he lived outside the city limits, so reaching his house shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

She slid behind the wheel of a car she’d never be able to afford and was quickly falling in love with, threw it in reverse, and took off. Her hands trembled against the wheel as she drove, the windows down and the cool evening air running through her hair. It’d be a mess when she got there, but she knew Greyson wouldn’t care. Images of his shirtless body danced through her mind as she drove toward the city limits and stopped at a red light.

The music played softly on the radio, and she hummed absently along with it. The light turned green, and she shifted, accelerating out into the intersection. She never saw the headlights. The sound of crunching metal filled her ears, and she screamed before she lost consciousness.