“Why not Virginia Beach?” Ian prodded. Of course Grace’s dad would want him closer.

“They only have Blackhawks stationed there, and I fly Apaches. I have to go to a post that supports them.”

Five months. That was all I had with him.

“Then why didn’t you fly Blackhawks?” Tess’s voice rose in pitch and volume.

“Because I want to fly Apaches. I worked my ass off for this.”

“Language,” his mom whispered.

“Mom, maybe now isn’t the time,” Constance said quietly.

Christmas would come, and he’d be gone, moving to North Carolina, closer to the woman he loved. While I…what? Lived in Jagger’s empty house and went to community college after all my friends had moved on?

I was going to be left behind. Again.

“What about the shop?” Mr. Masters bellowed. “Everything I have done there, every boat has been for you—for our future.”

Joey sucked in her breath, and Grayson’s eyes snapped toward her. “I think Joey has done a great job, and she’s more than capable. We hold the same degree, and she has way more experience than I do.”

“I don’t need you to stand up for me, Gray,” she spat.

Apparently stubbornness was a family trait.

“Who is in the mood for dessert?” Mrs. Masters asked, only to be run over by Tess.

“So you’re not moving back to Nags Head.”

I scoped out her wineglass to see if she was drunk. Hadn’t he clarified that?

“No,” Grayson answered.

“You mean not yet.” Mr. Masters’ glare could have cut Grayson in two.

“I mean not any time in the near future, if ever. I haven’t decided.” My heartbeat rushing in my ears was the only sound in the silence that followed.

Every eye at the table was locked on Grayson, who nonchalantly took a bite of his potatoes. “These are really good, Mom.”

Take the peace offering.

“But, but…” Parker stuttered, and I braced for impact. “But you can’t not live here. What about Grace?”

Boom. There was not enough wine in the world to deal with this dinner.

“I think I deserve a life, too. A future.” Grayson spoke each word slowly, with a kindness I couldn’t have shown in the same situation. A small sliver of hope embedded in my heart, just strong enough to hold my deepest fears momentarily at bay. A future.

“And what did my Grace deserve?” Tess fired.

“What about your copilots, Gray?” Mr. Masters came in for the kill. “Don’t you think they deserve to live? You have no right to be in the cockpit. You’ll get someone killed…just like before.”

My mouth dropped. His father still blamed him. It was no wonder Grayson kept his life neatly compartmentalized. He was perpetually under attack at home. His muscles coiled beneath my hand.

“That’s enough!” Mrs. Masters stood, her chair falling to the ground behind her. “Gray, this is your life. We might not like your choices, but you’re a grown man. Honey, get over it. Joey’s been running the shop with you for years and has more than earned her place, agreement or none. Tess, Ian—I love you as family, but if you ever insinuate that Grayson was responsible for Grace’s…condition, you will no longer be welcome in my home.”

Grayson pushed back from the table. I followed him, since he still held my hand. In my other, I clutched the study guide that had brought this all on. “Mama,” he whispered as he kissed his mother’s cheek. Then he turned to the table, where everyone sat as if they’d been frozen. “We’ll be leaving now.”

With a hand at my lower back, he led me into the house while the table remained eerily silent behind us.

I buckled into his Mustang as he threw the car into drive and tore out of his parents’ driveway. Grayson’s face was a mask of harsh angles and unforgiving lines. When I reached for his hand, he moved it away.

I didn’t try again.

We pulled into the rental, but he didn’t kill the engine, or even look my way. His gaze was fixed ahead of us, on his past, no doubt on Grace, on everything that had been thrown in his face tonight. He was as close as my next breath and as unreachable as yesterday. I had to find a way to get through to him. “Stay with me tonight.”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel, and I waited.

“Okay. I have to get my stuff from my parents’ house and deal with…all that.”

I cupped his stubble-rough cheek in my hand. “I’ll wait. And Grayson. You’re amazing and deserve to fly. If they can’t see that, I’m sorry. But you do. I’ll pin your wings on myself if they don’t come around.”

“Promise?”

“On my life.” He deserved so much better. Yes, he was leaving in five months, and yes, under that insanely jumpable exterior lurked the hottest mess of a man I’d ever seen. But maybe, if I could put my own emotional baggage to the side for a minute, I could help him the same way he’d been helping me since I got to Alabama.

He never looked me in the eye, but he pressed a kiss to my palm in way of good-bye and drove away once I had the front door to the house open.

He was at war with the two sides of himself. I could see it as clearly as if there were literally two of him. I just didn’t know which one would be coming back to me.

I was also too far gone to care. Maybe I could save both sides.

Chapter Nineteen