In the meantime, he was free to soak up the convention.
Pretty impressive stuff. Lots of speeches, which weren’t really his thing, but since he was holed up in the hotel, he got to watch Evelyn in action. He hadn’t told her he was at the hotel, and hadn’t spoken to her since he was discharged from the hospital.
She was busy doing her job and he didn’t want to get in her way, so he had his mother tell her that he was headed home to Daytona, that he was tired, and they’d touch base after the convention.
His thought was to surprise her, that maybe she’d get a few free minutes and he could hold her, kiss her, and finally have that conversation he’d wanted to have with her after the race on Sunday.
Except the race hadn’t turned out like he’d expected, and they’d never had a chance to talk. He also knew her schedule here at the convention, since she was right by his father’s side. She was running constantly, meeting with delegates and press and working on that whole social media thing she did so well. So he sat back and did his recovery thing and kept tabs on her while also working on a few surprises for her that he’d maybe spring on her after this was all over with.
His dad stopped by several times a day to see how he was doing, a fact that still shocked the hell out of him. He wouldn’t say they were close as a father and son should be yet, but his dad had gone out of his way to make Gray a priority, and that meant a lot to him, especially since his father had zero expectations of Gray making an appearance on the convention room floor. In fact, his dad had expressly forbidden it, which made Gray laugh since he was well past the age where his dad could forbid him to do anything he had a mind to do.
And he had a couple things in mind.
Starting tonight.
*
EVELYN WAS RUNNING FROM ONE END OF THE CONVENTION floor to the other, her head filled with so many things on her to-do list she was grateful for the calendar on her phone, because her brain was utterly fried.
She was exhilarated, and exhausted, thrilled and terrified, and so excited for Senator Mitchell. This was his moment, what they’d worked so hard for all these years.
She’d listened avidly to every speech this week, excitement building each night for the upcoming Cameron/Preston ticket. She stood front and center, prepared to listen to more great speeches tonight, so proud of everything they’d accomplished.
As one of Atlanta’s representatives spoke, Evelyn responded to a few emails that had gone unanswered while she’d been busy today. And maybe she’d been purposely throwing herself into every activity possible so she could focus on work and not on Gray.
God, she missed him so much and wished she could be in Daytona with him, taking care of him. She was certain he had plenty of people watching over him. Loretta and Carolina both assured her he was being well cared for and she didn’t have to worry about him, but she couldn’t help herself. She felt both guilty and a little hurt that she hadn’t been able to see him since that night in the hospital, but that was the nature of her job. And also his choice.
He hadn’t called her. She tried not to take that personally, or as a sign of things to come in their relationship. He had a bad injury, and was likely concentrating all his efforts on resting and recuperating, not on thinking about her.
But her heart still hurt so badly, which was why she spent every moment of every day throwing herself into work.
Besides, this was the way things were going to be. Her time with him was over. He had his life, and she had hers, and her job was about to go on overdrive for the next few months. She had no time for a relationship, no time to work on whatever it was she and Gray had together.
It was time to sever the ties.
“And now, I’m so proud to introduce, fresh off one very frightening injury at our local racetrack this past weekend, Senator Mitchell Preston’s son, Grayson Preston.”
Her head shot up. Gray was here?
He hobbled across the stage on crutches and her first thought was to rush up there to help him. But he smiled at the representative and made his way, albeit slowly, to the podium, to the raucous cheers of the crowd on the convention floor.
He was in pain. She could tell from the sweat that beaded on his upper lip as she made her way closer.
When the applause died down, Gray looked out over the crowd.
“I’ve never been much of a public speaker. I’ve always let my driving do the talking for me.” He looked down at the crutches. “Sometimes my driving outlines my mistakes for me, too.”
The crowd laughed.
“But the one thing I know for certain is what Governor Cameron and my father, Mitchell Preston, can do for our country.”
His speech was eloquent, impassioned, family oriented, and politically perfect. It was clear he spoke from the heart and his speech wasn’t practiced, nor had it been written for him. If it had been, she would have been the one to write it.