Deacon’s melted-chocolate stare found his.
“Thank you,” Grady said. “For today. For everything, but especially for today. It’s the best day I’ve had in… Hell, I can’t even tell you how long.”
“Me too,” Deacon replied, his voice husky. He licked his lips, and damned if Grady didn’t wish he could be the one to taste them.
“I’m gonna go. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Without another word, he unlocked the door and slipped out. He didn’t let himself look back, just went for his car and drove home.
Chapter 12
Deacon
For the first time in his life, Deacon felt uncomfortable in Frances and Eugene’s house. What he couldn’t put his finger on was why. He’d known them since he was a kid, just like he had with Patricia. They were older than his parents, having had their two kids later in life. They hadn’t thought they could have children, and then they’d gotten pregnant with Patty, and Nathan a couple of years later.
They were both in their early seventies and had always been more on the old-fashioned side, but they’d always been great to him. Deacon didn’t doubt they loved him. They’d always supported his relationship with Patricia, and when she’d passed, they’d told him he’d always be a son to them. Still, as he sat there in their living room, he felt…different. Like he’d done something wrong. Like he couldn’t find words when he always knew what to say to Frances and Eugene.
“You’re awful quiet, son,” Eugene said. He had a deep voice, commanding yet compassionate, smooth and measured. It reminded Deacon of the actor James Earl Jones.
“Am I?” He took a drink of his lemonade. “Just tired, I guess.” He’d had a hard time sleeping last night. He’d thought about Grady a lot. About their dinners together, making ice cream, the feel of Grady’s fingers against his skin, and Grady’s warmth around him. That last part hadn’t left his mind since yesterday.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Frances reached over and pressed her hand to Deacon’s forehead as if he were a child. She was always worried about everyone after losing both her kids. Deacon could understand. He didn’t know how they did it, sometimes, and he respected the hell out of both of them. He loved both of them.
“I’m okay, Mom,” he told her. He didn’t always address her as Mom, but he did sometimes; he’d started after the wedding. “Really, I’ve just been keeping busy at Sundae’s Best, and my sleep has been kinda off.” Both of those things were true. He didn’t mention Grady. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t bring up a friend—and he could figure out how to do it without outing Nathan—but the words wouldn’t come. Deacon wanted to protect what they had, whatever that was.
The thought made his stomach tighten, then tumble.
“I can’t believe another year is coming and going without them.” Her voice was soft, broken.
“I’ve been thinking about Nathan a lot lately.” Deacon frowned, surprised by his words. He hadn’t planned on mentioning him.
“I wish we had more left of him,” Frances said. “At least Patricia had you. It broke my heart that he never found a woman to settle down with, that he didn’t know what it’s like to be married and maybe have kids.”
“He made his choices in that regard,” Eugene said. “I’ll never understand why he ran away. Why he didn’t want to settle down, have a family of his own.”
“He didn’t run away,” Deacon defended. “He joined the army. He did something with his life. And maybe marriage wasn’t for him? Or maybe it was. We’ll never know. I just think he had the right to live his life the way he wanted, even if it was different from yours.”
The room went quiet, heaviness in the air. Deacon’s throat was dry, rough and achy. He’d never spoken to Eugene or Frances like that before. But they had put a lot of pressure on Nathan, hadn’t they? To settle down. To find a nice woman and get married. To come home to Briar County. Jesus. Knowing what he knew now, he couldn’t imagine how that must have felt to Nathan.
“Where is this coming from?” Frances asked.
“I don’t know. I just… I don’t know. He was happy, and I think that’s all that matters, is all. Nathan was a good man, and he was following his heart. That’s all Patty wanted for him.”
He could feel Eugene’s hot stare on him, but Deacon kept his attention on Frances. Her brows pinched together, as if she was deep in thought, trying to see more behind Deacon’s words.
He cleared his throat, hoping he hadn’t said too much. “Granny said to tell you hi. I forgot to say when I first got here.”
That worked in changing the subject. They did their typical visiting after that. Frances made them lunch, and they talked about church and told Deacon they wished he went more often.