Chapter Fifteen
On a cold December afternoon, Marcus and Gracie drove behind Gracie’s realtor, who had found a site for her second gym. Marcus pulled up to the site and grabbed Gracie’s hand just as she was about to bound out the door like an eager child.
“Can we talk for a second?” he asked.
Gracie noticed his tone and nodded. She raised her index finger to her realtor and mouthed the words hold up through the door’s window.
“What’s up?” Gracie asked. Not caring if he looked corny, Marcus looked serious while he cleared his throat and focused on Gracie.
“You know Michelle?” he shook his head, regretting the question as soon as it was out his mouth. Of course she knew Michelle.
“Uh, yeah.” Gracie turned her body toward Marcus and folded her arms across her chest. Her mind was already jumping to conclusions, and she felt her cheeks begin to tingle with heat. “What’s going on?”
“Well,” Marcus began. “I haven’t seen much of her since before Thanksgiving.”
Gracie sighed and relaxed, but she continued to listen intently.
“Okay,” she said, allowing Marcus to go on.
“I have really been enjoying what we are doing, Gracie. I mean, the way we have clicked as if time never came between us is really nice. Even though I know there is more that you have to learn about the present me, and vice-versa, I just want to let you know that my feelings for you are making me want to date you exclusively.”
Marcus took Gracie’s silence as a good sign. “As far as Michelle, she is a nice girl, but she doesn’t really move me the way you do. I know this is soon, but I prayed for God to point me in the direction of my wife and well ...”
“Goodness!” was all Gracie could say. She pressed her back against the door and her hand fluttered up to her mouth. When the word settled, Gracie looked at Marcus and wished she had found a better response.
“Don’t take that the wrong way,” she said as she took hold of one of Marcus’s hands. “Believe me, it was ‘goodness’ in a good way.” She continued, “It’s just that my heart has been going back and forth about Dillian. I welcome the idea of us starting to date, but I have to make sure that I’ve left no stone unturned, you know, until I find out that everything is okay with him.”
Smiling, he knew Gracie wanted the same. Yet, he realized she had to do what she had to do. That was just the type of person she was.
“I understand, and I won’t step in your way at all.”
That remark alone let Gracie know that a bond, something special was forming between the two of them and she knew that she too wanted more.