Secrets, Lies, and Summer Skies

Chapter Thirty-Five

Despite my request that Trey stopped calling, the calls continued to arrive. To avoid them, I left my phone off more often than it was on, kept it on silent, and even shut it in a drawer in my room so his attempts to get me back couldn't distract me.

After I'd told Grayson who'd been blowing up my cellphone for most of the summer, he'd threatened to put a call into Trey's parents in the hope they might intervene. I was dead against it. Not only did every public act from Grayson put us at risk of being discovered, but I feared that Trey's parents might join in convincing me to give Trey another chance. Although there was no way it would happen, it would break my heart to know that they'd taken his side in our breakup.

After all, they hadn't cheated on me, and I still had fond memories of my time with them. No, I didn't want to do anything that might poison me against the people who'd done everything in their power to make me feel like a part of their family.

Besides, I had more important things to think about.

With every passing day, it felt more and more like I was living on a deadline. As the end of summer loomed, so did the inevitable return of my dad and all those difficult decisions about college that I'd done everything in my power to ignore. More worrying was the discussion we'd be forced to have about my relationship with Grayson. It didn't matter how much I told myself that I was an adult and could date whoever I liked. He was still Dad's best friend, and I knew he wouldn't be able to take the news well.

If anything, it made the peaceful moments with Grayson more important. Sure, I wouldn't complain about the nights when we made love until the early hours, but the time we spent sharing dinner or curled up on the sofa was equally precious. They'd be few and far between when Dad came home, even if he did miraculously accept our relationship. I'd be busy with college and Grayson would move back to his house. The luxury that our unplanned, forced proximity had afforded us would be long gone. Our time together would need to fit around our packed schedules.

Sure, we'd be together, but it wouldn't be the same.

Grayson's finger pressed between my eyebrows. "You're thinking too hard, Kitten."

The room was dark but for the glow of the television where an old Audrey Hepburn movie took us through a whirlwind tour of Rome. Ever since our trip to the movies, we'd found a shared interest in cinema. I'd always been too busy being dragged to parties by Anna to give them much time during college, but there was something comforting about a lazy night spent in front of the television. It was also an insight into Grayson. I didn't know he had such eclectic tastes. I had him down as an explosions and action guy, but when he'd logged into his streaming services so we could work through a list of his favorite films, I'd been confronted with a collection of classics, romances, dramas, musicals, and thrillers. He was full of fun trivia tidbits about each one, and I loved talking through the plots when we were finished.

Of course, it wasn't all one-sided. Grayson wanted to know more about my hobbies, too. In fact, he'd promised that we could drive to the city on the weekend to visit the art gallery. I didn't know that he'd find the same beauty in the paintings that I did, nor be so fascinated by their history, but I liked that he was willing to try because it'd make me happy to go. I hoped that I might also rekindle my interests in the subject given it was what my degree was all about. It might make the decisions I needed to make regarding college easier if I found some spark of inspiration in a cavernous, sleek gallery room.

In the meantime, we still had the movies. Grayson had propped himself up on some pillows with his feet perched on the ottoman. I'd curled comfortably against his chest with a thin blanket over my legs. My gaze was unfocused as a tornado of worrisome thoughts whipped around my brain.