Crossroad to Love (Fab Five Series)

chapter 16

One floor down, in his suite, Michael Gray lay in bed wide awake. He was speaking to the empty room, “How could she have done this to me? How could she have done this to us? I will never understand in a million years why she didn’t tell me. I would have stood by her, comforted her, and helped her through it. She didn’t even give me the chance. She kept the fact from me that I, too, had lost a child. Oh, Angie, how could you do that?” he asked over and over again as he tossed and turned in bed. “I know. I’ll call Jackie in a few hours, when I’m sure she’s up. Maybe she can give me some answers.” Angie had said her mother knew the whole story. He had always liked Jackie and he thought she had been fond of him. Surely she would talk to him now that he finally knew the truth. With that plan in mind, he rolled over and finally fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. He slept soundly for the next few hours, exhausted from the evening’s events.

And on the other side of town, in his posh bachelor pad condo, another man was remembering his evening and whistling to himself as he prepared for bed. Ryan O’Grady thought about the evening he had just spent with Katy. She is one fantastic woman. Smart, easy on the eyes, a good listener. He knew now that he had been waiting to meet someone like her for all these years. He could finally put the past to rest.

Chloe was right, after all. Not all women were like his first wife. He was sure of that now. It was good to talk about it, to open up to Katy about the tragedy he had suffered. But now that was the past and Katy was the future. Oh, life is going to be so sweet from now on.

Sure, there would be problems. With her living in Chicago and him in Dallas, something would have to be worked out. Maybe he would put a restaurant in Chicago, after all. He would speak to Shane about the possibility. And Katy would be coming back to Dallas to work on the designing of the party room, and possibly the office and other restaurants. And then, there was her son, would he approve of her seeing someone after all these years? And would he approve of him? Ryan asked himself all these questions and many more as he lay down on the bed.

He could not remember the last time he had been this happy. “I wonder what time the florist opens in the morning?” he asked aloud just before he finally fell asleep. I have not ordered flowers for a woman in a very long time. It was time to get back in the groove. He had a pretty little lady to woo. His yellow rose. Ryan could not wait to get to the restaurant in the morning and tell Chloe and Shane about his evening with his beautiful little Katy. I feel like a teenager after his first date.

Little did he know that, like Michael, his world would soon come crashing down around him once again.