An all-new standalone novel is out now from Brittainy C. Cherry, and I have an excerpt for you from this emotional second chance romance.
Excerpt
Eleanor
Thirty-two years old
Greyson’s back was facing me as he stared out the window. He was wearing what looked like a custom suit that fit him like a glove. His arms were massive; shoulders broad; he was much more built than he had been way back when. He stood straight with no curve to his body. His arms were crossed, and he didn’t move an inch.
Had he heard me enter the room? Did he know I was there?
I just wanted to see those eyes.
I cleared my throat, feeling my body shake. “Well, this is crazy, right?” I choked out.
“Interviewing for a job?” he asked, his voice monotone.
“Yes—I mean, no. What I mean is…it’s crazy for us to cross paths again, after all this time.” I took a step forward, feeling the knot in my stomach tightening. “It’s just crazy.”
“Do we know each other?” he questioned, still staring out the window, still sounding completely uninterested in my existence.
My gosh, Greyson. Just turn around.
“Grey, it’s me…Ellie.”
He lowered his shoulders just a bit, reacting to my words.
With a slow turn on the heels of his loafers, he looked my way. When we locked eyes, I took two steps back, a little thrown off. His were still the same gray, but unlike before, his stare was so cold, like ice. Those eyes I’d once adored were filled with a hardness I hadn’t known they could ever hold.
Those beautiful eyes.
The harshness they projected right at that moment made me want to retreat from his space as soon as possible, but also, oddly enough, that same stare kind of made me want to hug him and tell him everything would be all right. This new Greyson stood there with a very Eeyore vibe to him. It was almost as if a raincloud was sitting above his head.
He didn’t have that same carefree personality from when we were kids, that was for sure.
But the longer I looked, the more I realized what I was seeing.
It wasn’t coldness from anger. It wasn’t harshness from annoyance.
His stare was just straight sadness.
Sadness didn’t come with words; it ran across a person’s body. It swam in the eyes. It swept across the wrinkles in one’s forehead. It pushed down shoulders and sat uncomfortably at the corners of lips.
No human ever had to speak of their sadness for it to be seen. Others just had to take the time to truly notice someone to see it.
All we truly had to do was slow down and look.
Greyson’s sadness was clear as day, and that was heartbreaking.
He kept staring, saying nothing at all.
I shifted around in place and gave him a tight smile. “Like Ellie Gable, from high school. We were…”
Friends…
We were friends, Grey.
We were so much more than friends.
How could he not remember? He was the one who’d gotten me through the hardest period of my life.
My voice trailed because the harder he stared at me, the more uncomfortable it all became. Did he truly not remember me? Could that even be possible? Was he even the same Greyson I’d known?
Of course it was. Eyes never lie.
Find it on Goodreads:
Connect with the Author:
by