The Escape Collection: (The Escape Collection) (28 page)

My lunch of leftovers abandoned, I slumped down in the chair across from her and leaned my elbows on the table. “He didn’t really ask me,” I said. “He sort of told me it was the next reasonable step.”

“You can’t be serious? Please tell me you told him what he could do with his reasonable steps?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly. In fact, I’m not even sure I—”

“You’re not sure. That’s good.” She slapped the table with her palm as if it was all decided. “Uncertainty is the kiss of death for any relationship. It’s finished. Thank God.” Kat stopped and twisted her head. “Wait a minute. If you’re unsure, then what did you say? Did you say yes?”

I took a deep breath.
 

“Just say it.”

“Well, he basically told me about why it made so much sense to get married and why it was—”
 

“The next reasonable step,” Kat mimicked. “Yeah, I got that. What did you say?”

I shrugged.
 

Her expression changed as she realized exactly what I wasn’t saying. Finally, Kat leaned forward and looked me square in the eyes. “Tell me no,” she said. “Tell me it’s not true.” I didn’t even bother asking what she was talking about. I looked down and nodded slightly. “Whitney, no!”

“It wasn’t a yes,” I said lamely.

“What did you say exactly?”

“I said I’d consider it.” I spoke quietly. “I just…I can’t deal with it right now.” I held her eyes and as I watched, her expression softened.
 

“So, you didn’t say yes?”
 

I shook my head.
 

“So you’re not going to marry him?”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean…” I let out a long breath. “I don’t know. Everything with Grams, it just has me so confused. And she’s acting so strange. One minute she’s telling me I should have someone like William and the next, she’s suggesting I should be with someone like Reid.”

“Reid, huh?”
 

I gave her a look. I definitely couldn’t deal with telling her about what happened with Reid. Not yet, not since I couldn’t even figure it out. The confusion was too much. Unwelcome tears flooded my eyes. “I thought I knew what I wanted and…Grams…and it’s just…it’s too much right now.”

Kat nodded and pulled me in for a hug. “I know,” she said. “It will all be okay. You know I just want you to be happy, don’t you?”

“I know you do. But don’t worry, I’ll figure it out,” I said, more to convince myself. “I will. I promise.”

***

It didn’t matter how many times I walked through the doors of Blissful Orchards, I still hated it. And I couldn’t blame the decorating, even if the peach wallpaper and mint green sofas did offend my style sense. And that was saying something, because I’ve never thought of myself as being particularly stylish with decorating of any kind.
 

I walked through the sliding doors and into the main lounge area and did my best to clear my head. I hated Blissful Orchards because Grams was here instead of at home with me. And that was the only reason. But despite the fact that it was relentlessly childish, I couldn’t let go of that fact.
 

“Well, don’t you look cheerful, dear,” Grams said when I plopped down at the table next to her. I didn’t even bother going to her room to look for her anymore. She was always in the main lounge, because, as she liked to remind me, that’s where the action was. “Wipe that frown off your face,” she said. “You look like your pet hamster just died. And you’ve never even had a hamster, so cut it out.” That did make me smile. But it was the sound of Grams’ laughter that filled my heart. “That’s better,” she said. “You know, Whitney, I love seeing your face. You know I do.” She paused and I picked at the tablecloth. “But you could at least pretend to like it here.”

My head shot up, the smile wiped clean. “It’s not that I—”

“I’m no fool,” she said, stopping me. “Besides, you were never very good at hiding your feelings. Anyone who knows you at all can see exactly what you’re feeling at any time. All they have to do is look at your face.”

I froze. That’s the same thing Reid had said. My thoughts flashed back to the coffee shop moments before we’d kissed. He’d told me that, too. And he’d noticed it almost the first time he met me. But if I was such an open book, why was it that I could be screaming my feelings to William and he still had no idea what I was saying? I knew the answer to that. William didn’t get me. Reid did. That’s why it was so easy to be with him. My face heated and I touched my finger to my lips remembering and reliving his touch.

Grams’ voice interrupted me. “Like now,” she said. “You’re thinking of a man. And something tells me it’s not that Willis.”

“Grams.” I dropped my hand and shot her a look. “First of all, his name is William, not Willis. You know that.” She shrugged. “And I’m not…” I stopped, letting my protest drift off. What was the point? “No. I’m definitely not thinking about William. I’m not doing much of anything with William lately,” I added quietly.

Grams eyed me strangely, but she didn’t pry, which was probably for the best. I glanced down at the table, noticing for the first time what she was working on. “What’s this?”
 

“My assets,” she said as matter-of-factly as if I’d asked her about her grocery list.
 

I’m pretty sure my heart stopped for a moment because I know it broke a little bit. “Like a will, Grams?”

“Not ‘like’ a will, Whitney. It is a will.” Grams was so nonplussed about it, it made me want to grab the paper away from her, crunch it into a ball and throw it across the room. “It’s really quite overdue,” she said. “I should have updated it years ago. Do you want to see what I’ve done?”

“No.” I turned away and crossed my arms over my chest.
 

“You’re acting childish, Whitney. It’s something we should talk about.”

“But you’re not going to die.” I focused my attention on the other end of the room, where it looked like a few of the staff members were setting up for entertainment. In the back of my mind, I wondered if Reid would be playing. “There’s no point talking about something that’s not going to happen.”

“I am going to die, Whitney.”
 

I spun around and stared at her, mouth agape.
 

“Close your mouth.” Grams folded the piece of paper, lining up the corners neatly. “I’m not dying.”

I did as I was told.

“Not today, anyway. But you can’t ignore this forever, dear. We will have to talk about it.”
 

The scraping of chairs gave me a much-needed distraction and I turned to see a group of residents shuffling their way into the room.

“Oh good,” Grams said, “the music is going to start soon.”
 

***

When Reid saw her car in the parking lot, his palms got sweaty and his heart started racing in a way he hadn’t felt since he was fifteen and slow danced for the first time with Joanna Knightly to “Truly, Madly, Deeply.” But whatever he felt was nothing compared to when he walked into the main room and saw Whitney sitting with her Grams, laughing and smiling as if they were the only two people in the world. Whitney loved deeply and hard, and if Grams was really as sick as she thought, it would crush her when something happened to her.
 

He stopped in the doorway and watched for a few minutes before Hilda, one of the more spunky residents, spotted him and waved him over to her table. Reid nodded, but he couldn’t ignore one of his biggest fans. He took one last look at Whitney and Grams before going to say hi to Hilda and the other ladies.

“Well, it’s about time you came back to visit us,” Hilda said as he sat down. “It wouldn’t do if you got too famous for your fans.”

“Hilda,” Reid said and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. “I could never forget you.”

She blushed and fanned herself with a tissue she pulled from her blouse. “Mr.Phillips, you flatter me so.”
 

“You’re easy to flatter, Hilda.” He exaggerated a wink and all the women giggled. “Now, I want to see all of you young ladies singing along today. And I have a special surprise for everyone today. Do you think you could help?”

As he knew they would, all the ladies leaned in to hear the details of what he’d planned. And as he hoped they’d be, they were all excited to help him out. What he’d planned was a last-minute decision but, seeing Whitney, he knew it would be perfect timing.
 

He shot a quick look in her direction, making sure she was still in the room. Despite the fact that they lived under the same roof, he’d barely seen her and he hoped it wasn’t because she was avoiding him. But almost every morning since he’d moved in, she’d come down for coffee before he’d left the house, and in the few days since their kiss, he’d barely seen her. Reid’s fingers went instinctively to his lips as he watched her. He wanted to replay that moment, not forget it. But if Whitney was avoiding him…well, he didn’t even want to think about it.
 

“Ladies,” he said, remembering where he was. “I have to go get set up now, but I hope you’ll help me out when the time comes.” He looked at each of them, offering them all individual smiles and winks before he left to set up his gear.
 

Reid knew the exact moment Whitney noticed him in the room. He could feel her eyes on him, watching him as he set up his keyboard and ran the appropriate cables. He did his best to focus on the task and not give in to the intense urge to go and talk to her. There was nothing more that he wanted than to grab Whitney, find a dark corner, and explore those sweet lips again. But he had a job to do, and Hilda had requested a rendition of “You Are My Sunshine.” Before he did something he probably shouldn’t, like abandon his singing session altogether in favor for running off with her, Reid took a stack of the songbooks and started delivering them to the tables.
 

She was watching him as he walked through the room. He could feel her gaze on his and when he got to their table, he tried his best to be casual. “Hazel,” he said, and handed her a book. “Whitney.” He held the book out but didn’t release it when Whitney reached out to take it. He held her eyes. “How are you?”
 

“I’m fine, Reid.” He released the songbook and she pulled it towards her. “Thank you.”
 

He nodded and was about to tell her how happy he was that she’d come to listen to him perform today, or something equally stupid and cheesy, but before he could, Grams interjected. “What is going on between the two of you?” She looked between them, her eyes narrowing. “You live in the same house. Shouldn’t you know what—oh,” she said, drawing out the word. Grams sat back and crossed her arms across her chest with a self-satisfied smile. “I see exactly what’s going on here.”
 

“You do not,” Whitney said. “Grams, you really don’t.”
 

“You’d be surprised, dear,” Hazel said “I see a lot more than you give me credit for. I may be an old lady, but I know what’s going on when it’s going on.” She eyed both of them before opening her book. “What are we singing today, Reid?”
 

Whitney offered him a sympathetic smile and shook her head.
 

“I’m glad you asked,” he said, focusing on Hazel. “I’ll be sure to cover the favorites. But I also have a special surprise for you all. So I’m glad you’re here.” Reid made sure to lock eyes with Whitney when he said that.
 

She smiled but a look of confusion crossed her face. Without giving her a chance to ask any questions, Reid excused himself and went to the front of the room to start his set.
 

***

He started with Hilda’s request, which immediately got the group singing. He segued easily into “Home On The Range”, “My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean”, and “Moon River.” The crowd was with him, as they usually were, and when he risked another glance at Whitney, she was singing along with everyone else. He played the last bar, and silenced his keyboard. The crowd waited for him to tell them what page to turn their books to, but it was time for his surprise.
 

“I want to do something a little different today, if it’s okay with all of you,” he said. Reid immediately looked to Hilda and the other groupies at the table who said they’d help out. They gave a thumbs-up and a few call-outs of approval. There were a few grumbles from the men. But they’d been resisting change for forty years, so Reid didn’t pay much attention to them.

“You won’t be able to sing along to this one, but I hope you enjoy it,” Reid said. His interlude had caught Whitney’s attention. She was watching him intently. Almost suspiciously.
 

He swallowed hard, and forced himself to look away from her so he could concentrate on what he was about to do.
 

Windshield cracked, the rain is fallin’
 

You can barely see
 

And times, I know they’re are hard, girl,
 

That’s just how it’s gonna be
 

Reid looked up, directly into Whitney’s eyes and there was no doubt. She recognized it. He couldn’t read what she was thinking but she didn’t look mad and that was all he needed to continue.

Keep on driving
 

Though the road is long
 

You can always get to sunshine
 

You just got to carry on

He didn’t look away from her as he sang. Hilda and the girls had quieted down and he assumed they were listening but he didn’t care. All that mattered was Whitney and that she was listening to him singing her song.

***

It took me a moment to realize what Reid was singing. It wasn’t in the book; it was different. It was…mine. He’d said it was good, that it could be a song but I hadn’t believed him. Not until the moment he opened his mouth and started singing words that were from my soul. They were my thoughts, my feelings, my deepest emotions. Coming out of Reid’s mouth, mixed with some of his words, they sounded…not wrong…but different. Strong.