All's Fair in Love and Las Vegas

Chapter Fourteen

        "My darling boy, it's good to see you!" Laura cried, running out the front door and hugging her younger son. I couldn't help but notice how awkwardly her arms went around his shoulders, like any skin-to-skin contact would mean dropping dead of the measles.

        Clay forced a smile and a hug. "It's nice to see you too, mother. It looks like you haven't aged a day since I last saw you."

        "You're too sweet. Here, let me take your suitcases," Laura said, touched as she took the two bags and rolled them inside. Clay looked at me and Grayson and mimed gagging as he rolled his eyes and followed her inside.

        "Does she..." I didn't even know how to word my question.

        "Understand that Clay literally resents her? No one really knows," Grayson sighed. "She thinks he just wanted to do his music thing and headed out into the world. Like a baby bird, toppling out of the nest and plummeting towards the ground and slamming on its beak. She doesn't get that he's literally been crushed by her." 

        "Poor Clay," I murmured, letting Grayson lead me towards the gardens. As I stared down at our entwined fingers, I realized.

        "Poor you," I said softly. 

        His gaze looked shattered. "It's...fine, you know? I don't have much else in my life, so I might as well take my family. Besides, I have Clay. I also have my father. I'm learning his trade, but outside of that he's amazing. I have no idea how he ended up with someone like her."

        "Grayson," I said helplessly.

        He gave me a sad smile. "Really, Jackie, I'm okay. Besides, this whole adventure with you, it's been really nice having something out of the ordinary. You've been a great friend and you've been so nice. It's been amazing. Even the really weird parts."

        Of course he had to bring up the really weird parts. But I swallowed and asked, "What happens when I leave?"

        "I get my own place and officially take over the Answell family business. And that means seeing her less and less," he said, weary but smiling. 

        "You deserve so much better," I said, unsure of where the sentence came from. Even though Grayson looked like he had everything, he really had close to nothing. The poor man was falling apart and not a single person had noticed.

        "Thanks. I have you, for a little while," he said, squeezing my hand.

        I would've said the moment was sweet, except it was ruined by Grayson's phone buzzing. He checked it, saying, "Jason said he can't be a groomsman. He's doing a year-long trip in Cameroon studying AIDS coming up in a month."

        "Is he a scientist?" I asked curiously. AIDS research sounded just fascinating.

        He nodded. "He studies rare diseases, trying to figure out how they transfer and how to contain the spread. He's actually a very interesting person to talk to, should you ever meet him."

        To the left, a window suddenly slammed open, the panes shuddering against the wall. A couple of petals from the flower on the windowsill flew against the roof, knocked aside in excitement. "Grayson! You didn't tell me there was a trampoline room installed!" Clay hollered. 

        "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that," he said absentmindedly.

        Clay was blown away. "How do you just forget about such a luxury?" 

        "It's a luxury you'll have to wait to use, we need to make dinner plans," Laura said from inside. This was a mildly awkward meeting, seeing as it was conducted through a window.