Chapter 16
“Mama, I want to look like Elsa!” Evie declares, pointing at a face-painting booth.
“I can take her,” Griffin volunteers, then looks between me and Tess. “That is, if it’s all right with both of you. You can have some girl time since Tyler’s off getting more snacks.”
“If you don’t mind, that would be great,” Tess says.
I gesture toward the booth. “Be my guest.”
“That’s the wrong Disney movie,” he teases.
I roll my eyes. “You’d better go before she starts singing ‘Let It Go.’”
He picks up a squealing Evie and heads toward the booth, leaving me alone with my girls.
“Okay, he’s perfect for you.” Shayna grins ear to ear while everyone else nods in agreement.
My mouth falls open, aghast at what I’m hearing from my so-called best friends. “You can’t seriously like him.”
“He looks at you like you’re the only girl he sees, Mal. I’d give anything for a man to look at me like that.” Shayna’s demeanor softens as she takes in my frown. “I know he hurt you, but don’t you think people can change? Or that we mistook them in the first place?”
I shut my gaping mouth. That may be a valid point. I’ve never asked Griffin about his answers in that interview. Maybe there’s a reason he responded the way he did.
Kelsey gets that dreamy look she always has when thinking of Tyler. “Take it from me that first impressions aren’t always everything.”
“He explained the whole ghosting thing and said he’s been looking for you ever since,” Alyssa says.
“And he’s been looking at you like a lovesick teenager all night,” Tess adds.
“Yes, but—”
Kelsey shrugs. “It sounds to me like you have a man who’s been looking for you for years because he still wants you. You’re just scared to let him in again and potentially get hurt.”
Shayna pulls me in for a side hug. “We’re always on your side, Mal. We’re your best friends, your ride or dies…which is why we’re telling you the truth.”
Alyssa points at Griffin across the way. I follow her finger to find him already looking at me with a smile.
“See.” Alyssa slaps her hand on her hip. “He might be an actor, Mal. But you can’t fake the way he’s constantly searching for you in the crowd or the way he smiles when he sees you.”
“Yeah, he doesn’t have that lopsided, infatuated smile when he looks at Brittany Clearwater’s character in the movie,” Tess agrees.
“Trust me when I say that I was firmly on the mad at Griffin train.” Kelsey grabs my arms. “Heck, I was the one driving it for you. But after seeing him here with you tonight, I see why you liked him so much after meeting him. And I liked seeing the old Mallory again.”
I blink. “What old Mallory?”
“The one who wasn’t hardened to love,” Alyssa answers while Kelsey, Tess, and Shayna nod in agreement.
“I’m not hardened to love,” I argue. “It’s just that no guy has ever liked me enough to choose me.”
“Because you’ve never let them in.” Alyssa’s voice is quiet, like she’s trying not to spook or hurt me.
“Not since Griffin broke your heart.” Kelsey squeezes my upper arms, and I’m glad for it because I feel otherwise numb.
Have I really closed myself off from relationships? Once I graduated and accepted my teaching job, I always told myself that trying to date would add too much to my plate. Well, that and the guys on the apps were not it. I’m glad they work out for some people, but I don’t fall into that category.
And I’m always so tired after I get home from school that I never dive into any other activities that I used to love, like ice skating.
So, I never had any opportunities to meet a man the old-fashioned way.
And I’d never date another teacher from my school.
That would be way too much of an HR nightmare when things eventually fizzled out.
But what if my friends are right? Could all of Griffin’s flirting, heated looks, and lingering touches be real?
What if I’m the reason that I never date?
My mind roams back to a memory from just a few months ago, when a man let me go ahead of him in the check-out line at the grocery store when I had way more things in my cart than he did.
Then there was the guy at the coffee shop I kept making eye contact with over my laptop when I worked on my lesson plans.
They’re right. I’ve been blind all along.
Well, all along post-Griffin.
“Did a good old dose of reality just smack you in the face?” Kelsey teases.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” I croak. Feeling parched, I take a sip of my cappuccino. I think coffee actually dehydrates you, but it’s the best I’ve got at the moment.
I thought I was over Griffin, but when I saw his face on our television screen a few months ago, I was hit with a Mack truck of feelings. I told myself that it was feelings of loathing, but if I’m being honest, it was feelings of attraction. Desire.
All the things I wanted with him, but never thought I’d have.
Would he hurt me again if I let him back in? All the signs in my brain are still screaming yes as his interview answers play in my mind on repeat.
“Okay, let’s pretend for a minute that he’s not acting,” I say. All my friends nod like this is already obvious. “Then how do you explain this?” I pull my phone out of my purse and select the interview from my recently viewed videos before handing it to them.
They lean their heads in close, listening intently. Once the video is done, they hand back my phone.
“Well?” I ask.
Shayna’s eyes are full of sympathy. “Are you upset he didn’t mention your first date as the best one he’s ever been on?”
“Yeah. How can you tell me he’s not acting when he obviously wasn’t thinking of me then?”
“Have you asked Griffin why he didn’t mention you?” Kelsey squeezes my arm.
“Nope.” I purse my lips. “Honestly, I think it made me too angry to think rationally when I saw him again.”
“You should talk to him about it,” Tess encourages. “Maybe his answer will surprise you.”
Deep down, a part of me hopes that there’s an explanation for what Griffin said, but if that’s the case, then I’m even more terrified to let myself feel for this man a second time.
I lean into Kelsey’s hold on my arm, feeling weak in the knees. She leads me over to a wooden bench. I sit, and my friends plop down on either side of me while Kelsey squats in front of me, rubbing my arms.
I’m about to tell them how right they are and thank them for their tough love when Griffin jogs over, sliding to a stop in front of us.
Kelsey quickly steps out of the way, and Griffin kneels on one knee before me.
I know he’s not proposing. But my stupid heart doesn’t.
It pounds in my chest, and everything feels hazy as I look into Griffin’s worried gaze.
“I saw your friends practically carry you over here.” His words come out breathless and worried.
He gently frames my face, then runs his hands down my neck, arms, and legs before settling them on my knees.
The graze of his fingers along my body leaves a trail of raised hairs.
I bite my bottom lip to keep from gasping.
“Are you okay? Do I need to take you to the doctor?”
“Just a little dehydrated, I think.” I push to stand, but my legs give out.
Griffin wraps his arms around me. “I’ve got you.”
Not only does he have me…he sweeps me off my feet, effectively sucking all the air from my lungs.
“Let’s get you home, beautiful,” he murmurs in my ear. Turning to my friends, he says, “Would you ladies please lead me to whatever car you drove here?”
I glance at them, seeing excitement written all over their faces from their wide eyes to gleaming smiles.
“Of course,” Shayna squeaks, stepping in front of him. “I drove.”
As she leads him to the parking lot, I look back at my other friends over Griffin’s shoulder.
Alyssa, Kelsey, and Tess are whispering behind us, looking thrilled.
When they see me looking, they pump their fists in the air and mime a mixture of gestures from fireworks and giant muscles to making out.
I roll my eyes and try to calm my racing heart.
He’s carrying me to the car. Nothing else.
While I might be ready to admit that I’m still attracted to Griffin, I’m not sure that I’m open to a future with him in it.
Not when the whole purpose of this fake-dating contract is for him to get his dream movie role—one that will have him leaving for LA before we’d ever have the opportunity to explore whatever this is between us.
He sets me in the backseat of Shayna’s car, Daisy Mae—affectionately named after one of her favorite Taylor Swift songs. “I can find you a water bottle before you drive home.”
“I’ll be okay. Thanks, though.” I don’t meet his gaze, knowing that if I look at him right now and see concern written all over his face—concern for me—that I might very well give in and kiss him. I can’t let that happen, not when I still have questions I need him to answer.
He’s quiet for so long that I finally glance up at him. Griffin is staring at me, his blue eyes soft but searching, as if he can feel the shift. As if he can see my attraction to him building and my walls slowly falling. That I finally believe this may not have been an act.
The hope, excitement, and uncertainty I feel are all reflected in his gaze.
It makes me feel seen and known without sharing any words, reminding me of how I felt on our first date.
Like there’s a connection between us that supersedes anything I’ve ever known.
I don’t know how long we sit there like that, lost in each other’s gazes, before Shayna clears her throat.
“We should probably get Mal home so she can rest,” she says.
Reluctantly, his eyes leave mine, and he smiles softly at my friends. “Right.” Griffin leans back in the car and presses a kiss to my forehead. “Please don’t hesitate to call if you need anything tonight.”
“She won’t.” Tess wiggles her eyebrows.
Once he’s a few paces away, my friends bounce excitedly.
“He’s in love with you,” Alyssa squeals.
“Totally,” Kelsey and Tess say at the same time.