I also promised to work normal hours, and he told me that he’d push to hire someone. They knew how good Hayden was and inadvertently took advantage of him. It wasn’t malicious on the part of the theater, or at least that was what he thought.
We had lunch with Becca and Mari in the city to explain why we were backing away from Vivian. They were stunned by what she did, confused as to what they should do. “Don’t do anything based on this. She’s a good person, if not misguided. She might need a couple of friends.”
Becca and Mari shared a look. “She’s putting us down as the godparents.”
“Shit. Not her mom?” Hayden asked, and Becca shrugged.
“I guess not. Should we decline?” Mari asked, and I shook my head.
“No. She needs someone.” I sipped my water, remembering the day Vivian kissed me, cupping her hand over my cock. I pushed her away immediately, but she cried and told me that she was lonely. She told me that she loved me. I didn’t take another call from her until the night she called me several times in a row to tell me that she was in labor. “I think she was just in a bad place.”
“We both had stuff going on that we weren’t talking about. It’s fine,” Hayden told them as Becca frowned at him.
“I remember when you used to talk to me.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and he sighed.
“We’ve all been too busy to talk about anything. I thought living in the same building might bring us all closer, but we only see each other on Sundays.” We looked at each other, all slowly smiling. “Okay. Sundays are awesome.”
“They are. That’s almost worth moving into the building in itself.” Becca smiled, and we all laughed. “We’ll make an effort. The theater has been crazy for us, but Helen said they’re planning to hire two more people. It is a little ridiculous that we see each other less living one floor away from each other.”
Becca said she would tell Vivian why we were keeping our distance. She wasn’t shy about knowing what happened or confronting Vivian. We hugged each other before parting, telling each other that we’d see the others for dinner in two days.
I held Hayden’s hand as we entered our building. “Feel better?”
“I guess so. I didn’t realize how bad things were getting. I just thought we weren’t spending time together.” He paused in front of Gram’s door. “Want to say hi?”
I cut off any new clients to allow me some free time. I didn’t have time for more to begin with, and my work on the ones I did have mattered a lot to me.
Hayden came home the following night with news that he was training two new people. They’d replace him and Becca in the extra hours that they’d been working.
Becca said that Vivian was devastated when she told her that we’d no longer be a part of her life. She apologized, saying that she regretted everything. She wanted Ava to know her friends, and Becca and Mari agreed to remain a part of it. They just made it clear that she went too far with me. We saw pictures of the baby on their phones and kept it at that.
The one place that we all met up was dinner with Gram. She loved having adopted granddaughters, and girls in the family, especially since those girls wanted to learn how to cook. Having two boys, she never saw anyone with interest before now.
We also went to the police about the fire, though it wasn’t certain if they could go after Ryan based on his lack of a confession. I was happy that there were cameras all around our building; obtaining access to them through the company would help the police.
Chapter Ten
Hayden
Within three weeks, I was back to normal hours. Gray tried to schedule his work around my schedule so that we could spend time together.
We also made regular plans with the girls, having lunch or dinner as often as we could. They were learning to cook, and we had no problems being their guinea pigs. Becca learned quite well from Gram, impressing us with her skills. All felt right in the world again as we planned Thanksgiving. Jackson was coming with his new girlfriend, and we tried to figure out how to fit seven people in the apartment for dinner. Gram cooked a feast and had two eager girls to help her this year.
Becca came up with the idea of incorporating all of our homes into the holiday. We could have snacks set up in one, dinner at Gram’s, and desserts at another. Our other option was renting some kind of room, but that would involve transporting food from one place to another. Gram would never not cook the meal.
It felt strange for us to plan a real holiday. We always just cooked something simple or went out to eat. Becca and I felt lonely during most holidays, though we never admitted it. Working at the theater usually gained us a couple of invitations to places that we sometimes took, and other times not.
Now, we were both in relationships and living with our significant others.
Jackson arrived two days before Thanksgiving with his girlfriend, Amy. They were a great couple, and while he was surprised with Becca and Mari’s new presence in Gram’s life, the girls got along well. He was planning to stay with Gram in her guest room for a week, but they managed to drag Amy to their apartment to gossip and watch movies.
“Sorry, man. That’s how they are,” Gray told Jackson as he shrugged.
“She’s moving in at the beginning of the year. I don’t care if she has a little fun.” He grinned, and we sat down to catch up. “How’s Gram?”
“She’s good. I think she’s slowing down more and not going out with her friends as much. Still kicking, though.” Gray shrugged as Jackson frowned. “She’s seventy-three. That’s bound to happen.”
Gram was in her room, taking a nap after all of the excitement of the day.
“I know. I just hate not being here with her,” he softly said as I shared a look with Gray.
“I’m here. Hell, we’re all here for her now. You know I keep you posted.” Gray looked at his cousin, and Jackson nodded. “Let’s make this a happy holiday. She’s so excited about everyone being here.”
The theater was closed from Thursday to Sunday for Thanksgiving weekend. I spent that weekend hanging around the apartments with everyone. The girls went out a lot on their own as Jackson shook his head. Gray had a few small jobs to finish, but he did it from home so we could all be together.
Gram was well-known for meal prep the Wednesday before, and her kitchen was crowded with helpers. I sipped beer and listened to the laughter that filled the apartment, feeling the love in the room. I never felt like this on a holiday before this, and I knew that Becca felt the same way.
I wondered if there wasn’t a time that we would’ve invited Vivian and her mom. Gram did meet her, but she stood by Gray’s decision to cut her out of his life. Even the girls were pulling back as Vivian seemed to get needier, wanting their life back.
Amy was their new best friend, and they had a blast together. Thanksgiving was full of food set up throughout the building as planned, with the appetizers in our apartment. I memorized every smile that crossed Gram’s face and laugh that filled the room. The food was incredible. By the time we finished various pies for dessert in the girl’s bohemian themed apartment, I had sworn never to eat again.
The girls did a little shopping that night and early Friday morning, buying some things for Gram and themselves. We stayed home and groaned about being full as we watched a movie with Gram. She warned us that Friday was a leftover day as well as when she made the huge pot of soup for the weekend.