Evaporate

chapter thirty-four.

Thalia's POV

Gracie is 10 weeks old now, and Grayson has to go travel for 3 days to some meetings about expanding Silver Cup.

I'm thankful he's getting deals but the traveling worries me for several reasons.

For one, our daughter is so young and I'll be having to take her everywhere I go for the next three days. She could get sick or hurt.

Another reason would be juggling grading, that I've put off, helping Theo with homework and Gracie's feeding and waking times.

But the biggest reason for me is my kids' safety. I'm terrified of seeing Darrell again, or even someone else who could hurt me or Gracie. I don't worry much about Theo because he's with warrior wolves all the time at the preschool.

"Alright, Lia, I'm about to leave." Grayson calls out. I rush into the living room and dry my hands off before hugging him as close to me as possible.

"Stay safe, I love you." I whisper as I hold him. I don't want to let go.

"I love you, I will and please keep Ethan and Timothy updated on everything. If you feel unsafe, Timothy and Tommy can stay with you." He smiles softly, pulling away. I shake my head.

"I'll be fine. If anything I'll stay with your mom and call the guys." I hand him the lunch I prepared for the first day. It's his favorite lunch, to keep him calm on the first meeting.

"Okay baby, I'll call as soon as I can." He pecks my lips softly. I sigh, wishing it was a longer kiss.

"Theo come say bye to dad." I smile softly as I nod.

Theo says his loud, and sad, goodbye before Grayson walks over to Gracie's playpen and says bye. He kisses her forehead and bites his lip.

By the time he leaves, I already feel empty inside. The house even feels empty. There's a whole giant mass of muscle and love that's missing. I take a deep breath to clear my head and head to the kitchen.

I continue with housework and my usual duties until bed time.

I tuck Theo in and sing him a lullaby before he's out cold. I take a quick shower and that's when the doubts seeped into me.

It isn't about Grayson's faithfulness, because I know we're mates and he'll stay loyal forever, but about our own relationship, or lack thereof.

I guess we both just assumed that since we had a child (because we only had Theo at the time) and we were mates that we were automatically together and didn't need to deliberately say it.

Technically, that's true, but I'm human... I like the titles and the steps, as odd as it sounds.

Grayson would totally be laughing at me for being so human.

Either way, I want him to ask me to be his girlfriend again, then ask me to marry him, then marry me. Then we'll get old together and watch our children grow and achieve successes better than our own.

I stare at Gracelynn's crib as I start to drift off into a quiet slumber.

Although I'm falling asleep, my mind is still running.

How long will it take Grayson to ask me to be his girlfriend?

When I wake up to feed Gracie, although I'm groggy, my mind goes right back into thinking about Grayson asking me to be his girlfriend.

Then, as I finish breastfeeding Gracie, I realize I'm going to have to start dropping some hints about it.

I gently burp Gracelynn as I think about how to drop the hints.

By the time I'm done burping and changing her, I've come to realize that I'm not only am I going to need more time to think about these hints, but either way, the hints won't be subtle.