Page 88 of Eleanor & Grey
She picked up her plate, and when she crossed back toward the dining room, she paused. We all did.
Out of nowhere, “Karla!No!” was hollered from a different room as Lorelai and I sat up straighter. Karla stood taller. Our conversation stopped, and we looked up, a bit confused as the yelling continued. “No! No!” the voice hollered, obviously coming from Greyson’s office.
I slid back in my chair and stood up. Lorelai and Karla both looked nervous, but I smiled at them. “Stay here, girls. I’m just going to go check out what’s happening.”
I walked off toward Greyson’s office, and my stomach knotted up because it sounded as if he was in deep despair.
“Greyson...?” I called out, knocking first. No answer. I knocked again—still, nothing. Then I twisted the doorknob and opened his office door to find a sleeping Greyson at his desk tossing and turning.
He was in deep despair, obviously having a terrible nightmare, and it didn’t appear as if he’d awaken from it any time soon. I walked in slowly and I tapped him once on the shoulder. “Hey, wake up.” He didn’t stop thrashing. I tapped him harder a few more times. “Greyson, wake up!”
He shot up, wide-eyed and terrified.
I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder to try to shake the fear away from him. “It’s OK, you’re fine. It was a dream.”
He looked at me, his eyes still wide as ever, and ripped his shoulder free of my touch. He looked around, alert, and then his eyes glared back at me. “What are you doing in here?” he barked, obviously shaken.
“I, um, we heard you shouting. I just wanted to check in on you to make sure you were all right.”
“Are you OK, Daddy?” a small voice said.
We both looked up to the doorframe where Lorelai was standing with a worried expression on her face.
Greyson cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure as he sat up straight and adjusted his tie. “I’m fine.”
“You were screaming,” Lorelai commented, still concerned about her father.
Just then Karla appeared in the doorway. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked him.
“Nothing.I’m fine!” he snapped, making all of us jump out of our skin. He slid his hands over his face and sighed. “Sorry. I’m fine. Please, go back to what you were doing.”
“But Daddy...” Lorelai started, her eyes watering over.
I offered the girls a smile I hoped would reassure them. “He’s OK, Lorelai. Just a bad dream. How about you head back to the dining room, and we’ll finish our dinner.”
“He’s not OK!” Karla barked out, staring at her father. “Nothing about him is OK! Nothing about this house is OK, and I’m sick of acting like everything’s OK when it’s just not!” she cried before walking away as quickly as she could.
Lorelai stayed still with tears in her eyes.
“Lorelai, everything’s all right,” I told her. “Just go back to the table. I’ll be right there.”
Warily, Lorelai did as she was told, and I released the breath I’d been holding. I turned back to Greyson, who was now standing and staring out his office window with his back to me. “Are you all right?”
He turned to face me. His head flinched a little as he wrung his fingers together tightly and spoke. “Yes, Eleanor. I’m all right.”
“If you aren’t—”
“Eleanor.”
“Yes?”
“Close the door on the way out.”
I did as he said, knowing he was already on edge and not wanting to push him over it. I used to have those same kinds of nightmares after Mom’s death. It wasn’t an uncommon thing at all. It happened to many people after tragedy struck. I remembered being terrified to close my eyes because I wasn’t certain where my dreams would take me. I wasn’t worried about his dreams, but what concerned me most was how Greyson didn’t seem like the type to talk to anyone about his suffering.
He kept his hurts all to himself, which was the easiest way to drown.
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