SNACK SIZE STORIES: Greyson and Chloe

Chapter 6: A Special Good Night

Lorry met me at the airport after my plane landed and drove me to her place where she insisted I was staying for a while.

"I could remove him from your house," she told me, and I knew she was offering as my crazy cousin, not as my lawyer.

"I'm never setting foot in that house again," I told her in no uncertain terms. "Every surface in that house has probably been defiled and contaminated  and I'd need a hazmat team to come through and disinfect the ick away."

After a simple dinner at Lorry's, we settled in for the night bingeing on Kosem, a Turkish drama -- heavy on the drama -- then ended up watching Greyson's show. Now that I knew him, it was like watching a very good friend instead of a hot, remote celebrity.

Greyhound Racer still made me giggle as I watched the bad-boy of late-night TV interview his two guests. He was charming, funny and he asked so many good questions that he got to a level of depth that other talk show hosts never achieved.

But instead of his usual, Goodnight and thanks for watching, tonight he had a new sign off.

"Good night and thanks for watching, and a special good night to my girl. I love you, sweetheart."

Lorry turned to me, eyes wide and my jaw had dropped.

"Was he talking about...you?"

My blush was all the answer the lawyer needed.

When Greyson called me half an hour later, that deep, sexy voice washed over me. 

"So, I heard you saying good night to your girl. Everyone's trying to figure out who she is," I teased.

"Want me to tell them?" he asked.

"No!" I protested before I realized he was teasing.

"Just wanted to let you know that I've hired Hatcher Security to watch over you to make sure none of the three idjits can get to you. I don't like being so far away from you, not able to protect you, Chloe. So don't worry if you see some people outside your house or following you around. They have their orders."

"That's not necessary --"

Greyson, uncharacteristically, interrupted me. "It is to me," he asserted. "If I can't be there myself, I need to know they can't get to you."

For the next six months, my life was work, avoiding family, talking with Greyson and finding my way through a divorce that Joseph tried, at first, to delay and drag out, but Lorry quickly put an end to that nonsense, as she called it. The highlight, of course, was Greyson, and the hours we spent on the phone together every single day. I found myself wanting to get the divorce finalized and go out to see him again. 

The internet was desperately trying to figure out who the girl was who received a special good night at the end of his show every night. There was a top ten list of likely candidates, and I was happy to say I didn't make the list.

Greyson laughed at the list, but warned me that when I was revealed to be his girl, the media would be all over me.

"But I'll protect you from the wolves, Chloe. Your security team is top notch, and Hatch said we'll add more when we need to."

Greyson never doubted for a minute that I'd be his girl. I loved his confidence. But I also had to come back at that confidence.

"And I promise to protect you when your real name is revealed to be Greyhound Racer."

"Someone's not being a good girl," he'd said. Somehow, that amazingly deep voice was even deeper when he said that and it made me shiver in a very good way. "I've been keeping track, Chloe, and you have a lot to answer for when I see you again."

Sign me up!

Greyson and I had agreed to wait to see each other again until I was officially divorced to prevent any issues or rumors with the press. Neither one of us liked it, but we knew it was the wisest course to take.

Over the months, although the initial furor over my mother, sister and Joseph had died down, there would be occasional memes popping up, and one Tik Tok had hilariously parodied a new line of Mother's Day cards based on my mother's messages to me. Greyson never wanted me to be a target like that for starting something together while I was still technically married. So we settled for daily FaceTime calls and texts.

Since Lorry had been brutal with Joseph, she had eventually helped him see the benefits of an uncontested divorce. So almost six months to the day that I'd walked into my kitchen and had seen things no wife and sister should see, my divorce had been granted. I was a free woman.

And the morning after my divorce, I was coming back from the store when I heard shouting at the end of my driveway. My two security guards were blocking the progress of Joseph and my mother, who was standing behind a stroller. Apparently, my sister had had her baby recently. I walked toward them, not calling off the guards, keeping them between us.

"Your sister signed off her parental rights to her baby and took off!" my mother practically shrieked in greeting. 

Was she really surprised? Ricki had never wanted to be a mom. She'd wanted Joseph and maybe thought the only way to take him from me was to get pregnant. But when he'd made it clear he didn't want her, she'd ditched the baby and run away.

"She went to Canada where she finally found a company that would hire her, but it's nothing like her old job. She's not going to be making much but she couldn't find anything around here. And that's all your fault!" 

My mother...still excusing Ricki and blaming me.

"And now, unless you agree to help raise the baby with Joseph, he's going to take my grandchild to Alaska --"

"It's the only place I could find a job!" he'd protested. 

"-- and raise her there!" My mother continued as if Joseph hadn't spoken. "You owe this to me to help raise her baby. This whole situation is your fault and you need to accept some responsibility for it."

I thought about that for a minute. It was my fault my husband and sister were horrible people and had betrayed me? Ummm, no. Mom had finally fallen so far into denial that she'd never get out.

"You said in one of your voice mails to me that you felt you had to support Ricki in this situation because she was pregnant. But what if I'd been pregnant, too, Mom? What excuse would you have come up with then to side with Ricki?"

She closed her mouth, knowing I was right and knowing there was nothing she could say to counter it.

"And now you expect me to raise their baby? To be tied down with my sister and ex-husband's baby? You want me to take on the responsibility for their horrible decisions? Now I have some use to you?"

Mom just looked at me, her face full of anger at my unreasonableness.

"Welcome to the wonderful world of consequences. Your daughter, who had an affair with my husband and got pregnant by him, wanted no part of her own child. So that leaves Joseph to step up and raise his child. And you're upset because he's leaving with the baby for Alaska and you'll hardly ever get to see your grandchild. Here's an idea: maybe you should move to Alaska with him if you're so worried about not being able to see their baby grow up. Who knows? He seems to have a thing for the women in our family and you may be next on his list."

"OK, that's just gross --" he started to say before I barreled on.

"You have choices, Mom. Just like I do. Go to Alaska. Stay here. Never hold Ricki responsible. Make me the bad guy. That's your choice. But I have choices, too. And I'm choosing no contact with you, Ricki or Joseph ever again. You will never be a part of my life or my children's lives. I hope you choose wisely because Ricki's daughter will be your only hope for grandchildren."

And blowing out a breath, I turned and walked back into my house, my security team blocking them from following me.

I had a plane to catch.