Plus, my time here was wearing on me. I’d never tell Grace, but I hated that people were starting to recognize me and wave. I didn’t want to be a part of things here, but I didn’t want to leave her while she needed me either.
“You should be good to go now,” I said.
“Hang on,” she said as I walked past her. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right? Any ... life changes?”
I stared at her like she’d grown a second head. She was sounding like Clyde.
“Good to know,” I said. “But I’m good.”
She sighed. “Okay, I see trying to be subtle isn’t working.”
“Subtle about what?”
“Dean, Iknow. About you and Grace.”
I froze. “You ... know? Shit, does everyone? What the hell happened?”
“Calm down.” She put a hand up. “We had a girls’ night last night and Grace told us. We’re not gonna tell anyone else.”
“Oh,” I said. “Great. Are you here to yell at me for being with her?”
“I’m tempted,” she said. “But no. I just wanted to say that I thought it was nice that you took her to a doctor’s appointment that she was worried about. Something about a glucose test? She didn’t explain it to us, but I had a feeling she didn’t wanna talk about it.”
“She failed her first glucose screening, which means she could have gestational diabetes. She did a second one with a longer interval to see if she may have it.”
“Wow, you know a lot of detail.”
“I’m not half-assing this, you know.”
“You never half-ass work, so I figured. But I also know all of this isn’t for you. Sharing something with someone. Being tied down.”
She was right, this wasn’t normal for me. And yet talking to Grace was easy. I’d told her we were starting with the basics, but ever since she failed her first glucose screening, it felt like we’d snuck right past that and were heading toward actually getting to know each other, something Ishouldbe struggling with.
Yet we were almost ... friends.
I hadn’t made a new one of those since I met Clyde.
“Yeah, I’m working on that.”
“You do have support here,” she said, giving me a small smile. “I know we’ve always only talked about work, but if you need anything, I can help. I offered the same thing to Grace.”
It was nice of her to offer, it really was. But I didn’t see myself taking her up on that. I liked Wren, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that she didn’t want me messing up things in her precious town.
And I would, once people found out.
“Thank you, but I’ll mostly be focusing on work.”
“I might have some more,” she said. “Are you interested?”
I had an out. I could say no and leave and get a break from this town.
That would also mean leaving Grace when she needed me. Hell, even if this test came back okay, what else could come up?
I’d seen her house. It needed work, and she had a lot to do before the baby arrived. I wanted to find a way to get her to let me help with that.
“Yeah, I think I’m up for that.”
Wren perked up. “Really? So it’s not so bad here?”