“Well, do you?” she asks.

I stand up from my chair, grabbing my purse as I do so and sliding the strap over my shoulder. “The only thing I want is to get to know you and our father. If that’s not something you’re interested in, I completely understand. But I’m not going to sit around and listen to you interrogate me, because let’s be honest…if I had nefarious motives, I’d never admit them to you.”

Gray’s eyebrows rise in surprise, but she doesn’t say a word.

So I give her a smile and say, “It was really nice meeting you, Gray.”

I move past the chair I had been sitting in and start to walk toward the door, but before I take three steps, Gray huffs out an exasperated, “Wait a minute, Lexi.”

Turning slowly, I find her watching me with a guarded expression, but her face has softened. I don’t say a word, because I’ve said all I need to.

Gray extends a hand back to the chair and her voice is almost pleading when she says, “Please don’t go.”

I immediately walk back to the chair, drop my purse once again, and sit down. “I swear, Gray, I only want to get to know my new family.”

She studies me critically for a moment, and then her shoulders drop in such a way that I hadn’t realized how stiff they’d been prior. Her gaze falls down to her hands, now clasped on the desk, and she says softly, “I’m sorry. I’m not dealing with this very well.”

“I really do understand that,” I reassure her. “I can’t imagine how shocking this has all been. And you don’t know me. Hell, you really don’t even know for sure I am who I say I am. I mean, none of us will know for sure until the test comes back.”

“My father is convinced,” she says as she looks up at me. “He’s absolutely convinced that you’re his daughter.”

“I sort of am too,” I tell her bluntly. “My mom wasn’t with anyone else during that time. Only your dad.”

“If she was telling you the truth,” Gray murmurs, not in a rude way, but to merely let me know that it is a possibility.

And I know that means she still has some doubt.

“I choose to believe my mother,” I tell her simply. “If the test proves wrong, then so be it.”

Gray nods, then pushes from the desk to lean back in her chair. She crosses one leg over the other, her baby bump not encumbering her elegant grace in the slightest. With her elbows resting on the arms of the chair and her hands clasped over her belly, she tells me with gentle candor, “I never wanted a sister. Or a brother for that matter. Growing up, that is. It was just me and Dad, and I never felt I was missing out on anything, you know?”

I nod, because I do know. I was an only child too and never felt cheated by that.

Gray then gives me her first smile, and it’s filled with apology. “I’m not prepared to share my father. Never thought I’d have to. He never fell in love again or remarried. It was just the two of us for as long as I can remember. And now that you’re here, and I see how happy he is to know you, well…I’m just downright jealous of you, Lexi.”

My body goes tight and I blink at her in surprise. “But you can’t—”

“I can be jealous,” she assures me. “I’m a woman, I’m pregnant and I’m hormonal. There are two men in my life I love unconditionally, and my father I’ve loved the longest. I’ve always been secure in my life knowing I had his undivided attention and one hundred percent of his love. You’re going to have to bear with me, Lexi…because it’s a hard pill for me to swallow that I have to give that up.”

“Gray,” I say softly, leaning forward in my chair. “I’m not here to steal him from you.”

“I’d like to believe that,” she says in an almost defeated voice. “I really do. But I don’t know you. I don’t know if that’s true.”

“How do I make you see that?” I ask her, my heart actually squeezing in pain for her pain at this moment.

I get another smile from Gray, this one a little bigger. She holds it a little longer. “I guess I’m just going to have to get to know you, right?”

And my lips break apart and my teeth flash at her in a huge smile of relief. “I would love that. Really, really love that.”

“Good,” she says, and this time—actually for the first time since I’ve met Gray—she sounds relaxed and genuine. “Then why don’t we set up a time for you to come and have dinner at my house.”

I didn’t think it was possible, but my smile gets bigger as my heart contracts with relief, and then swells with happiness. “That would be awesome. Truly awesome.”

Chapter 6

Brian

I knew the minute I walked into The Grind two days ago when I first came here with Lexi that this is definitely the type of place she would love working at. I didn’t get a chance then to do much more than give the decor a cursory glance, but upon closer inspection today, I get a much better sense that the coffee shop is funky and eclectic, just like Lexi—two things that I am not. This is especially obvious tonight as I’m still clad in a designer suit I’d worn into work today along with a ridiculously expensive wool coat that was custom made for me. The weather had turned downright frigid and overcast this afternoon, and snow and ice are forecasted for next week, a phenomenon that happens usually once a year in this area of the south. It usually paralyzes most of the residents who don’t quite know how to handle such a very “northern” thing.

It’s warm and cozy inside, so I immediately shed my coat, draping it over one arm as I take some more time to look around the place. The interior walls are original brick that’s a deep red, the ceiling is nonexistent but the duct and pipe work is painted black, and the floor looks like some type of clear lacquer poured over small river rocks of various colors from taupes, to grays, to various shades of black. This is the only design I can see that holds the place together, because past that, it’s a weird hodgepodge of chairs, couches, tables, beanbag chairs, and even a hammock in one corner currently occupied by a patron who’s holding a drink with a straw, taking lazy sips while he reads a book.

While bright pendant lights hang over the area where you order coffee, the rest of the interior is lit by various lamps of different designs, creating an inviting and cozy glow about the place.