Free Perfectly Imperfect (Perfectly #1) by Fabiola Francisco Page B

Pea, I won’t let you break anymore. Now let’s head back. We’ll grab lunch before leaving. There’s this sandwich place I love to go to when I come to this trail.” He grabs my hand and we walk back, never breaking the contact.
    “Are you up to walk a little more?” Grayson asks as we reach the end of the trail. “The sandwich shop is near here and we can just walk over.”
    “Sure,” I respond. I can’t help as my heart tightens when he smiles so carefree. I’m happy I told him about my parents and my fear. I know that in any other circumstance, or life, Grayson would be the perfect guy for me, but truth is I can’t hurt him. I care about him too much. It scares me at times.
    We reach the sandwich shop, and I immediately understand why Grayson loves coming here. It’s less of a shop and more of a permanent food truck with a log cabin design. It is overlooking a valley with a river flowing through it. We grab our order and sit at one of the picnic tables. “This place is amazing.” I say in awe.
    “Yeah, it is, but the company is better.” Grayson smiles. “Thanks for opening up today. You didn’t have to. I don’t want you to feel you had to say something because I went off about my mother.”
    “Grayson, if I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have said anything. You’re my friend. I know I can trust you. I don’t talk about it often, but I wanted to share it with you.” I smile reassuringly.
    We continue to talk about our favorite hobbies, movies, and music and eat peacefully. Being with Grayson is easy and comforting, yet he brings out a whole new set of emotions that scare me and excite me. He challenges me and I take him up on his challenges. I know we can only be friends though. That’s the only way I know I won’t hurt him.
     

Chapter 6
     
    After a restful and extraordinary weekend, I am back at work ready to tackle on anything Toni wants to throw my way. Ever since I began writing for Rave my passion towards my career has escalated. I love coming into work, and I don’t even care if I skip lunch most days because I am so wrapped up in my writing.
    As I’m working on my latest project, I can’t help but think back to my weekend with Grayson. I don’t like to be taken care of, but when I saw him in my apartment Friday night with medicine and making sure I had everything I needed, it tugged at my heart a little bit. The fact that someone actually cared if I was okay or not meant so much more than he would ever know.
    Then the hike we went on and him opening up about his upbringing and his mom made me realize that I also want to take care of him. I trust him. I don’t trust easily, or ever really. However, all these thoughts have me running around like a chicken without a head. I can’t grasp what it means or even how to begin processing them. He is obviously hurt by how his mom dealt with him and his brother. I know myself. I could be just as distant and hurtful, especially with everything that happened with Chase in college. It took a lot for me to recoup from that. Distancing myself is something I’ve been doing my whole life, and I don’t want to see the pain in his eyes when he spoke about his upbringing connected to something I did.
    So I do what I do best; I run. Realizing that in another life Grayson would be the perfect guy for me scares the shit out of me, so I decide the best way to deal with this is ignoring him.
    Throughout the week he texts and calls, but I don’t respond. Later I’ll blame it on work, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been caught up with my job. Come Friday I decide Steph and I need to head over to Luxe like the good old days, and spend some girl time. She’s a bit hesitant at first knowing things with Grayson and I have begun to blur, and she knows what girls night entails. But it didn’t take much to convince her, and we make plans.
    I head home to shower and get ready before heading out. I carefully do my make up, accentuating my blue eyes with