“Why would he be disappointed?” I ask.
“Partly because I kept things hidden from him,” she tells me, and then smiles almost wistfully. “But mostly because he believes you should never let something stand in the way of love. Not ever. And thus, I’m glad to see you following that line of thinking. It took me a bit longer to get there.”
I’m shaking my head adamantly before I even say, “But I don’t love Roman.”
“Of course you don’t, silly,” she chides me. “But you might one day, and you’ll never know unless you try, right?”
“So what are you really saying?” I ask hesitantly, because I’m a little off-kilter with Gray sitting here with me sipping tea and talking about love.
“I’m saying that if you want to pursue something with Roman, you should go for it.” She smiles at me, picks up her tea, and takes a sip as she looks at me with bright eyes.
“But you were just warning me off of him last week,” I blurt out.
Gray shrugs. “And I still have the same reservations today that I had last week. But I’m also a big girl and can admit that you might know him better than me, and you seem like a levelheaded kind of woman. So maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“Well, your advice was well intentioned,” I say lamely.
“Or,” she counters as she sets her cup down. “I may very well know exactly what I’m talking about and he could be very bad for you. The point being, you have to figure that out on your own, and I swear right now I won’t rub your face in it or tell you I told you so if he ends up being a douche and hurting you.”
“You expect he’ll do that,” I say glumly.
“I don’t expect anything and I truly hope he doesn’t do that. I only have my observations and what I know about Roman to go on. I’m being a big sister and warning you about him.”
“And from the business side of things?” I ask curiously.
“That goes back to my story about Ryker and me,” she says. “Yes, worry about the organization to some degree, but don’t let that stand in the way of love. If it’s real with Roman, it’s not something you need to worry about.”
I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly, and admit to Gray, “This is so not how I thought this conversation was going to go. I know you don’t like Roman—”
“I really don’t,” Gray admits to me. “He seems to be brash, egotistical, and has control issues. But honestly, I don’t know him outside of what I’ve read in the media, so perhaps we can change that. Still, I’m not going to lie to you. I’ll watch him with a jaundiced eye.”
“—but I’m really glad you took the time to talk to me,” I continue, ignoring her summary of all of Roman’s bad qualities. “It means a lot.”
Gray nods and her eyes fill with apology. “Look…I know I haven’t been the easiest on you these last few weeks, but I do hope you understand it was nothing against you personally. I’m pregnant, hormonal, and trying to run a multimillion-dollar company, so on any given day my stress level is high. Add a secret sister who’s managed to make my dad smile brighter than he has in a very long time, and my emotions are into overdrive. So now I’m hormonal, stressed, slightly jealous, and completely unsure of what to do. Nothing I’ve said or done was meant to hurt you, but speaks more to the fact I may have been acting out a little.”
“Oh wow,” I say softly, my eyes round with surprise at her apology. And that was an apology of epic proportions in my book. “Thank you for saying that, Gray.”
As if to prove she’s raging with hormones, Gray’s eyes mist up and she blinks rapidly to dispel the tears so she doesn’t show any weakness to me. I want to giggle but I don’t, instead choosing to stand up from the table with my tea untouched and say, “Okay, I’m getting out of your hair so you can get packed.”
Gray stands as well, her hand coming to her rounded belly. “I’m glad you came by.”
“Me too,” I agree, and then we both walk back to the front door.
After she opens it to let me out, she surprises me by saying, “Listen…maybe when I get back from the West Coast, you and I can go shopping for baby stuff or something.”
“I would love that,” I tell her enthusiastically.
“It’s a plan then,” she says brightly, and then surprises me further when she leans over to give me a quick and efficient hug, but it feels so good I almost don’t let her go.
When I do pull away, I wave to her and say, “Have a good trip.”
“See you later,” she calls back to me, and I almost stumble on the last step when she adds, “Sis.”
I don’t bother to look back at her, but call out again, “Bye” in a shaky voice. I don’t look back at her because my eyes are now swimming with happy tears and the minute I blink, they start to trickle down my face.
—
When I get into my car, I start the engine to get the heat going, then immediately pull out my phone. I turn it on, my thumbs flying over the screen to shoot off a quick text to Roman.