Commitment

Part 46

Gray waited for the door to shut and then looked over at his grandfather and then his sister, "By they way we had a pash!" Gray said with sarcasm. He was not sure if he was taking the right tack. No doubt, his grandfather and his sister had plans for him. In particular his relationship with Regan.

Loretta's eyes widened. Then blinked as she rehashed her brother's statement.

"Difficult given her black eye!" Gray folded his arms and added, "But of course we managed!" He tried to blank the memory of the nearly-kiss.

"Really?" Loretta blinked again. "You kissed Regan? Really?"

"Lore!" Sam shook his head, and rolled his eyes, knowing his grandson was having them on. But he could also see that Gray was not being honest. He heard Gray's statement but the flush in his neck suggested that something had happened between Gray and Regan. 

"Is that what you wanted, granddad?" Gray unfolded his arms and jammed his hands into his pockets. "Me kissing a woman wearing an shiner?" Gray asked. "And you both," He looked over at his sister, "know, I am going out with Caro. Honestly, you would support that type of behaviour?" He questioned with irritation in his tone. He was pretty sure that his reaction was governed by his annoyance to his nearly-kiss. "Me kissing one woman while dating another is something that you would condone, really?" Gray folded his arms and looked over at his grandfather. Gray shook his head. Disappointment laced his words. "You would find excuses for that type of behaviour? You would make allowances for that type of behaviour? Ignore it? Condone it? Tolerate it?" It was like having a conversation with your conscience. He took breath and huffed, "Understandably I fancy Caro. That is why I asked her out! If I wanted, I could ask Regan." He shook his head in frustration and said with exasperation, "Why would two want to leave me with Regan when you know I am dating Caro, your boss, Lore?"

Regan was about to re-enter the kitchen to retrieve her bag, when she heard Gray tone and his last question. She froze. She blinked at the closed door. She stared at the door and did not move.

That excuse to find that cold-compression was clearly a ruse. Clearly Sam and Lore wanted to leave them together. She wasn't sure whether she was happy or not. And she wondered if Gray had the same dilemma. Unfortunately for her, standing on the other side of the door, she heard Gray's next statement.

"You know I barely tolerate Regan and she continues to rub me the wrong way!"

Regan reared as if she was going to be hit. The world stopped spinning, but her head was. She blinked again as his statement rattled through her heart and head. Obviously she misheard him, she thought, or perhaps he misspoke. But his follow up comment forced her to accept that she heard right.

"Of course I was concerned about her face, the fact that someone punched her, that she was hurt, so of course it mattered. It would matter to everyone with a pulse and empathy. Everyone would check on her to make sure she was ok. So of course I check on her, but you really think my attitude to her would flip in a flash?"

She was rattled by his statements. That can be right. Of course he tolerated her, more than tolerate. They had talked, really talked. Albeit, just for fifteen minutes. He told her things. Personal things. You would not tell people personal stuff, if you only endured them? Regan did not feel her tears as they tracked down on her face. Instead her focus was her response to him. Why didn't she stay with her plan? Keep him and his family at a distance. That was the plan this morning, remember, she reprimanded herself. She bit her lips and more tears escaped. Lowering her guard with that family was wrong, she knew that. Idiot, she admonished herself. She bowed her head, caught her lower lip between her teeth, rubbed the tip of her nose with her index finger and she registered the fact that she was crying when her tears splashed her hand. The trickle of tears became a flood. She used her palm to rub the tears away from one eye. She could not do anything with the tears that were escaping via her semi-closed eye. That eye was already puffy, and hurt, so rubbing at the tears would cause more pain.