Chapter 8 #2
“Hi,” she offered lamely as she sat on her hands. She didn’t really know what there was to say. There was a giant elephant sitting in the room with them in the shape of her deceased mother.
“I heard…”
He didn’t even need to finish the sentence. Quynh knew what he was going to say.
She nodded, “Yeah, she passed a couple of years ago. Breast cancer.”
She watched as the man seemed to deflate, sinking deeper into his armchair as his lips thinned. He blinked back tears and offered a small smile.
“She was a wonderful woman.” His heavy breathing filled the air as she nodded. Her mother was a wonderful woman. She didn’t deserve to be humiliated like she was.
Quynh’s thoughts bolstered her. He didn’t get to talk about her mother when he clearly broke her heart.
Her mother changed after she left town. She became quieter and more withdrawn, almost as if she were walking around with a heavy boulder weighing her down.
Quynh recalled a time when her mother easily smiled and laughed a lot, but it all changed that fateful night.
She bit back what she wanted to really say to him. In his dying days, he didn’t need to hear about how he broke her mother’s spirit. He didn’t deserve to know anything about her mother or her life. She was here to pay her respects so the memories of what could have been would stop haunting her.
She deserved some closure. There was no use in torturing a dying man.
“How have you been?” His simple question was laced with layers of complexity.
Oh, just great. Peachy. Really. Not like my entire life was literally collapsing around me.
“Fine.”
She didn’t think it was possible, but he seemed to deflate even further, shrinking into his body at her curt response.
Quynh wasn’t sure what he was hoping for from the encounter.
He was practically a stranger to her, but the least she could do was to be polite. She’d worry about her feelings later.
“I’m doing fine. I’m between jobs right now as a nurse practitioner.
” It wasn’t exactly the truth, but it wasn’t a lie either.
Besides, he did not need to know she was recently unemployed or how her boss killed himself shortly after.
It was depressing enough. Better to keep the information to herself.
He perked up at her willingness to share about her life.
It gave her the courage to share minor details: where she lived, why she was in town, and her terrible emotional support cat.
He seemed to soak up any information she shared as if it would sustain his soul.
They sat there for maybe close to an hour before he wilted again.
The strain was back at the corners of his eyes, though he fought hard to pretend he was fine.
His breathing seemed to get heavier the longer she talked.
She paused and rubbed her sweaty hands across the fabric of her dress.
“Well, I have to get going now. I don’t want to keep my ride waiting any longer.”
He nodded reluctantly as she stood up. When he tried to push himself off the chair, his arms collapsed underneath him. She rushed over to help him sit upright just as a nurse came rushing in from the hallway. She must have been keeping watch from outside the door.
“Now, now, Mr. Jones. It’s time for you to rest. Wasn’t it lovely to have a guest for a while?” The home care nurse offered her a tight smile before dismissing her completely.
Quynh left the room and found her way back to the sitting room, where she found Griffin still seated on the uncomfortable bench. He glanced up from his phone when she entered and stood up. Phone tucked into his back pocket, he approached her.
They stood toe-to-toe, unspoken words passing between them before he opened his arms up. She didn’t even hesitate; she leapt into his arms and let out a deep breath as his arms came around her to cradle him to his chest.
He seemed to know what she needed without her having to say a single word.
Quynh wasn’t much for hugging strangers, but Griffin’s tight bear hug made her feel anchored in a way nothing seemed to lately.
For the first time in days, she took a deep, fortifying breath.
Her muscles relaxed in his tight grip. The stress of the world practically melted away beneath his touch.
Unfortunately, when he loosened his grip, it all came rushing back.
“Ready to get out of here?”
She looked up into his green eyes filled with concern and nodded. He let go of her, letting his fingertips glide down her arms, making her flesh pebble from the soft contact.
The drive back to his shop was quiet, though it wasn’t uncomfortable. She appreciated that he didn’t need to fill the silence with inane small talk. It allowed her the time to process her thoughts and the emotional rollercoaster she couldn’t seem to get off of.
When they pulled into the parking lot, Griffin turned to look at her, one arm braced across the bench of the seat. His fingertips were just a hairsbreadth away from touching her shoulders. Turning in her seat, she looked at him questioningly.
“Are you okay?” Concern etched itself into the lines around his worried eyes.
She opened her mouth instinctively to respond with the socially acceptable answer, but one look at his hard expression, and she knew he wouldn’t appreciate it if she lied to him.
“I’ll be okay.” It was all she could offer.
She knew, eventually, she would feel the warmth of the sun on her skin again, once the numbness ebbed away and allowed her to fully process how her life had taken a dramatic and traumatic turn in such a short time.
There were so many unanswered questions, but for today, she relished the feeling of having Griffin’s warm gaze on her.
For a brief moment, she wondered what it would be like to have a man like Griffin in her corner.
She imagined he’d be caring in the ways he’d unknowingly taken care of her.
He offered a virtual stranger a ride, put her up in his apartment, and drove her to see her dying father.
Not to mention the way he’d opened his arms to her when he’d taken one look at her face as if he knew exactly what she needed, even when she didn’t have a clue.
What would it be like to be Griffin’s woman?
Oh God, was he seeing other women ?
This whole time, she just assumed he was single. He probably had a woman waiting for him. There was no way a man like him was not attached.
With that thought, she scrambled to get out of the truck. She was already halfway inside the lobby by the time Griffin made it out of the truck.
Thankfully, he didn’t follow her as she hightailed it past the office and into the back stairwell. She needed a moment to herself before coming back down. There were still a couple of hours left before the shop closed, and the guys would head home.
Quynh was no coward, but she knew whatever she was feeling toward her gracious stranger was not strictly platonic.
A dangerous notion when she was only in town temporarily.