Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“Right,” William said, hanging his coat over the back of his chair. “I’d love to catch up, but it’s been driving me bonkers that Tuesday was so bad you needed to talk about it in person, so can we do the small talk in a bit?”
I fought back a smile. “Yes. I don’t even know where to start with it really. Granny kind of sprung it on me, and the day ended with my dad promising me a weekend with just him this weekend, so it’s a bit of a whirlwind.”
“Absolutely none of that makes sense, so it must have been crazy.”
“Remember when I told you that I avoided… well, people like us? Because my dad cheated on my mum and got the boy he so desperately wanted?”
He raised one eyebrow. “Yes.”
“Turns out, I had it wrong.”
“He didn’t cheat on your mum?”
I frowned. “Yes and no.”
“You’re going to have to just word vomit this out, Grace, because I’m extremely confused right now.”
So I did.
I word vomited it all out.
Told him everything Granny had said, then followed it up by relaying the conversation I’d had with my father. At some point during my spiel, our food was brought out, and I just kept talking between bites until I’d unloaded it all off my shoulders.
William spoke only to clarify a point here and there, but he otherwise let me get it all out. Even when I finally stopped talking and sighed, he waited for a second before speaking.
“That’s a lot,” he said. “No wonder you had a shit day.”
I pressed my lips together. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to unload on you like that.”
“If I didn’t want you to unload, I wouldn’t have asked, would I?” His lips pulled to one side. “Does that change how you feel about a lot of things?”
I shook my head. “I was scared it would make me feel differently about Mum, but it doesn’t. It would be just like her to give up her own happiness so someone else could find theirs. In this case, it was my dad. I’m angry nobody told me the truth and I’ve held onto these feelings about Dad for so long when they were misplaced.”
“What about the whole boy thing?”
“What, the outdated and fucked up patriarchal society of the aristocracy?”
“Sounds like your new thesis topic.”
I laughed, dropping my head back for a moment. “No, I’m in too deep to change it, but it’ll slip into the whole relevancy part of it.”
“A good place to put it.”
“I wouldn’t say it changes how I feel about it. Ultimately, I had issues with my dad because I thought he’d left us for his new family with his beloved boy to inherit everything, and those feelings are just kind of elsewhere now. The point still stands, and it just reinforces my feelings about it in general, because it’s still problematic.”
“Nice light conversations for a first date,” William quipped.
I smiled. “It doesn’t change how I feel about it, and annoyingly, none of that changes how I feel about you, either, so I’m kind of at an impasse.”
“How you feel about me, huh?”
“Don’t be coy.” I kicked him under the table and looked down at my half-eaten burger. “I’ve got some… insecurities.”
“You don’t say.”
“William! I’m trying to be serious here.”
“Sorry, sorry.”
I looked up and he was grinning. He wasn’t sorry at all. “Yeah, you look it.”
“Excuse me for being happy that the woman I can’t stop thinking about has just told me she feels the same way. I can’t help this.” He gestured to his smile. “Please continue.”
I huffed, reaching for my drink. “I have some insecurities with relationships. Especially with this dynamic of you inheriting the dukedom and your grandpa being a classist git.”
William fought back his smile. “I know you do. I don’t care.”
“And I can’t promise I can get over it,” I warned him. “I might not. I might not be able to cope with it in a month or even a year from now.”
His tiny smile never faltered. “I know.”
“I just… Amber reminded me last night that you never regret the chances you do take, only the ones you don’t. I don’t want to regret not taking a chance on you, William. I don’t want you to be the one who got away.”
“Grace.” He wiped his mouth and reached over the table, taking my hand with his. “Look at me.”
I pulled my gaze from our clasped hands up to meet his.
“I won’t be the one who got away,” he said softly. “I’ll be the one who stayed.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. There hasn’t been a day I haven’t thought about you since you walked into me outside the coffee shop. We collided that day for a reason, and I know I’m not going anywhere.”
My tummy fluttered at his words. “This might not be easy.”