Page 42 of Saving His Heart

“Loki? What do you mean?” I hear the concern in Preston’s voice, and I ache for him.

“That dipshit’s goin’ to learn the meaning of family sooner than you think. Just you wait and see. Red is comin’, and she’s goin’ to write him a new song.”

“GG? You know I love you, but you’re as confusing as a fart in a fan factory.”

Both GG and I turn to face him, and she busts out a cackle straight from a Halloween movie.

Standing from her stool, she crosses the short distance to rest a hand on his cheek. “You’ll see, Broken-heart. You’ll see. You better be hungry after all that sexin’ yesterday. I cooked enough to get that energy up for the next round.”

I stare at Preston, who just stares back, then finally shrugs his shoulders. “If you can’t beat her, join her.”

He holds out his hand, and I reluctantly take it. For the next hour, we have breakfast with GG while she regales us with stories of the North East Kingdom. Neither of us sure where the truth ends, and the story begins.

* * *

“Is she okay?”I ask Preston when we’re finally alone. Thankfully, he told GG we had some work to do for his company and could sneak away while she started cooking again for lunch.

“It was funny when she was pulling her crazy shit on Trevor, but now that I’m in her sights, I’m regretting making fun of him. GG isn’t crazy. Eccentric, maybe. I don’t know how she gets her information, but she was spot on with Julia and Trevor. She doesn’t pull any punches, that’s for sure. She loves fiercely but has even less of a filter than Julia.”

“She thinks I’m going to fix you, Preston.”

His smile is genuine. “You did, sweetheart. Even Dex said it was nice to have the old me back. You’ve done that, you know? You bring out a part of me I’ve fought for ten years to hide. Knowing that it means so much to my family to see me like this? For them to see me behaving like the pre-heart condition me? It means more than you’ll ever know. So you have fixed me, Goldie. Just maybe not the way we wish you could.”

My throat tightens, and I let my gaze fall to my lap.

“Emory?”

Unsure I’ll be able to control my emotions, I raise my eyes just enough to meet his.

“You want to set some ground rules now before we are interrupted again?”

That is not what I was expecting him to say, but I’m thankful he doesn’t harp on my feelings. I’m not even sure I could explain what’s going on in my head right now.

“Ground rules? Oh, yeah. I think we need some.”

“Okay then,” he says, booting up his laptop to take notes. “What’s first?”

“My pay needs to be in writing. Exactly as we discussed, with the raise for … whatever you want to call this, but no gifts. No bonuses. No extras, and it ends just as our previous one did. I’m entitled to my full pay and nothing else.”

“Emory, as my girlfriend, you’ll get gifts.”

“Pretend, Preston. Pretend girlfriend.” I swear I see his jaw tick, but I’m not backing down on this one.

“We will come back to this one.”

“What? No, that is not negotiable—”

I’m interrupted by a ring tone belonging to my sister, Tilly.

“Sorry, that’s my sister,” I explain as I fumble to pull my phone from my purse.

“Ems, Dad’s at it again. He broke all the dishes, and he is going after Eli’s room now,” Tilly says in one breath.

“Tilly. Till, slow down. What is going on?” My voice cracks, and I see Preston rising from his chair.

“Daddy, Emory. I can’t get him to calm down. He’s yelling for Susie again, and he doesn’t recognize me. He’s trashing the place—”

Susie, my mother.Fan-freaking-tastic. Tilly is cut off by a loud crash.