Chapter 34
PHOEBE
Prepping dinner in Griffin’s kitchen was hands down one of my favorite things to do. Singing to myself, I put the food on plates before setting the table. I didn’t like putting the pan on the table. It was just asking for an accident to happen.
Everything was so good. Marshall was out of my life, I was spoiling Griffin, and my family was coming in two days.
I was making mental lists of all the things I wanted to do before they arrived.
Hannah had insisted that she was going to take care of everything, but that wouldn’t do.
I wasn’t going to let her clean their room by herself or buy snacks, since she’d insisted on hosting my parents for free.
I finished setting the table just as Griffin came down. He glanced at the plate and smiled, but I could see that he was still a bit lost in his thoughts.
“Babe, this looks delicious.”
“Thanks. I tasted it, and it is, in fact, delicious, if I do say so myself.”
He smiled, pulling me close to him with one hand and kissing my cheek before lowering his mouth to mine.
“You are very delicious, and I can’t wait to taste you after dinner.”
I laughed, pushing my hips into him. He cast his gaze down once and then back up at me.
His eyes darkened a bit, and he swallowed hard.
I was absolutely sure that he was going to start seducing me right away.
But to my astonishment, he moved to the side, pulling out two chairs.
We both sat down at the same time. I was still simmering as I took the first mouthful of spaghetti.
Griffin groaned. “This is good. Thank you for cooking.”
“My pleasure. I could cook all day long in this kitchen. By the way, I’m going to head to Hannah’s inn tomorrow after work and try and help her in every way I can.”
He stopped eating, frowning at me. “Wait, what for?”
“You know, my parents arriving the next day. I just don’t want her to deal with everything.”
He nodded without any enthusiasm. “Right. Sure. I’ll join you too.”
“You don’t have to,” I said.
“No, I want to be there. You’re right, it’s not fair to leave everything to Hannah. And I don’t want you doing everything on your own either.”
“Thanks. And during the weekend, I’ll take them around town.”
Griffin nodded absentmindedly. I pressed my lips together, deciding not to spam him anymore with my plans.
He had other things on his mind. Besides, my parents were used to being with me whenever they came to the city.
Marshall never made the effort to spend any time with them.
He’d acted like they were a nuisance whenever they visited—which was once every two years.
Ugh, I had to stop thinking about Marshall. He was in my past.
Except, Griffin wouldn’t have run into trouble with Jude if it weren’t for that moron.
Midway through dinner, Griffin’s phone pinged. He looked at it and frowned.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Stella sent me Jude’s schedule for tomorrow. It’s packed, but I have an idea about how I’m going to approach him.”
“Do you want to talk it out with me? Ooor I can completely take your mind off it.”
I wanted to lighten the mood, but Griffin just shook his head. “No. I need to make a game plan. I have to fix this.”
His tone wasn’t cutting or anything, but my heart leaped to my throat regardless.
He was a bit lost in his thoughts for the rest of the dinner, but once we’d loaded up the dishwasher, I set in motion my plan to seduce him. I ran my hands over his chest. Rising onto my tiptoes, I pressed my lips to his.
I felt the corners of his mouth lift up, and then I attacked him, plain and simple.
I wanted to climb this man, wanted him to have his way with me.
I hummed when he kissed me back deliciously hard.
He groaned against my mouth, twirling our tongues.
Then he cupped the back of my head, deepening the kiss even more, until we were both out of breath.
“Oh, fuck. I can’t stop kissing you.”
I smiled. “Well, the good thing is, you don’t have to.”
“You’re cute.”
I grinned.
“But don’t distract me tonight, babe. I want to catch up on some things for work and make a plan for tomorrow.”
“Oh,” I said, biting the inside of my cheek. “So much for my seduction plan. I’ll go in the bedroom and read, then, so you can have the living room all to yourself.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate it.”
“One more kiss before I leave you alone?”
“No, because you make me lose my head every time.”
I smiled at him, but my stomach turned unpleasantly. Yeah, I was the only one who made him lose his head. But I couldn’t help thinking that I was the one who’d caused him to lose the deal too.
I walked toward the staircase, then stopped midway.
“Griffin?” I asked.
He was already sitting on the couch, eyes trained on the screen of his phone.
“Yeah?”
“You’re not mad at me for the deal falling through, are you?”
“What? No, of course not. Don’t worry about it.”
I did, though, because he didn’t meet my eyes as he said it.
That night, I stayed awake later than usual, hoping to hug Griffin when he came to bed. But I was still alone when I fell asleep.
When I woke up the next morning, Griffin’s side was untouched.
He didn’t sleep at all?
I jumped out of bed, heading to the living room. He wasn’t there, and his car wasn’t either. Frowning, I went to check Jeremy’s room and froze. The bed was made, but the sheets and the pillow had wrinkles that indicated Griffin had slept here.
Oh God. Why didn’t he come to bed?
A million thoughts raced through my mind, but I didn’t have time to procrastinate.
I hurried through my morning routine, not wanting to be late for work. We had a very strict in-office policy.
When I arrived at the office, I finally checked my messages. Mom usually texted me the day before she came, asking about the weather and whether I wanted her to bring me anything. But I didn’t have any messages from her. Instead, I had one from Griffin.
Griffin: Hey, babe. You were sound asleep when I left. Hope I didn’t wake you up.
I hesitated, wondering if I should ask him why he slept in a different bedroom, then decided not to.
Phoebe: I didn’t hear you at all. Hope you have a great day.
I liked my job, but I wasn’t able to focus today. I kept waiting to hear from Griffin. When was he meeting Jude? What was his game plan?
I checked my phone during every break, but I didn’t have any other messages from Griffin. I didn’t want to pry, but I really wanted to know how things were going.
When five o’clock rolled around, I couldn’t help myself anymore and texted him.
Phoebe: How did it go with Jude?
Griffin: I’m only heading now to meet him.
Phoebe: Good luck.
Taking a deep breath, I added something else.
Phoebe: I’m really sorry that he found out like that. I feel very guilty about it.
I didn’t want to trouble him with my worries, but it was weighing on me.
I waited for a few seconds, but he didn’t reply. I wasn’t going to overthink this, though. He had a lot on his mind.
Instead of fretting, I decided to call Hannah. She answered right away. “Hey. You got off from work?”
“Yes, I’m leaving now. I’ll stop by Walmart and buy some food and snacks and so on.”
“Really, that’s not necessary. Honestly, I can—”
“Hannah, I truly appreciate that you’re hosting them, but I want to help. I can’t allow you to feed them as well.”
“Right. I’ll see you soon. I’m excited to meet your family. Hurry up.”
“I will.”
I really liked her. If I had a sister, I would have wanted her to be like Hannah.
I checked my phone again as I walked from the bus station to Walmart. Griffin hadn’t replied, but I was still determined not to overthink it.
Come on, Phoebe. Get yourself together. The man has more important things on his mind than reassuring you. Focus on getting things together for your parents!
I usually avoided shopping on an empty stomach because I tended to buy everything in sight—which was exactly what was happening right now.
I’d initially planned to buy food for breakfast and snacks for in between, but I ended up leaving Walmart with five bags chock-full of food.
Oh well. It wasn’t going to waste. Whatever my family didn’t consume, Hannah could use for other guests.
I texted her before I got into an Uber. Griffin still hadn’t replied. I was on pins and needles, but I didn’t want to pester him any more.
I smiled as I entered the gates to Hannah’s inn. I could completely understand why she loved running it. She was on the front porch, waving at me. Chase had an arm around her waist. They were adorable.
As I got out of the car, she and Chase walked toward me.
“I might have gone a bit overboard with the shopping,” I admitted innocently.
Hannah started to laugh.
Chase chuckled. “You don’t say. I’ll carry these inside.”
“I’ll take one as well,” I said. “It’s not heavy, just full of chips and stuff that my family isn’t even allowed to eat. But I know they’d love it.”
“It’s good to spoil them,” Hannah agreed.
Yep, she was definitely my soul sister.
We carried everything inside quickly.
“I thought Griffin was coming with you,” Chase said as we started to take the groceries out in the kitchen.
“Yeah, he said he’ll drop by, but he’s having a stressful day.”
“Did he manage to get hold of Jude?”
“Oh, you know!”
He nodded. “He shared it with us. He was a bit on edge.”
I bit my lip. “I know. Last night, he went to bed late. He stayed up making a game plan.”
Hannah zeroed in on me. “You’re worried.”
“I… well…” I sighed. “I feel guilty about everything that went down.”
Chase stopped in the act of opening the fridge, turning around to look at me. “What exactly do you think you have to feel guilty for?”
“If it weren’t for Marshall and me, the deal wouldn’t have fallen through.” I didn’t know if I should be sharing this with them, but it felt good to get it off my chest. “Yesterday, he seemed a bit off when he came home. He usually talks to me about everything, but he was a bit distant.”
“That’s just the way my brother is when he’s got a problem. He fixates on it until he solves it,” Chase said as he resumed putting groceries in the fridge.
“Right.” That explanation did make sense, but I still couldn’t help wondering if Griffin was mad at me or something. I couldn’t bring myself to share that he’d slept in a different bedroom, though. That was too personal.
“You’ll see. He’ll show up here later as if nothing happened, back to his old self,” Chase assured me.
“All right!” Hannah exclaimed, looking at the table. “I think we should focus on our to-dos, of which there are many. I still haven’t made the bed.”
“I’ll do that,” I replied, grateful for the chance to be useful.
“Let’s finish putting the food away first.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Whatever doesn’t go in the fridge belongs there.” She pointed at the cabinets above the sink.
“I’ll grill something for us,” Chase said.
“Oh, but I wanted to treat you guys to something,” I said. “Maybe order in.”
“Grilling is my pleasure,” he replied. “And I’m fast when I only have to do it for a few people.”
Hannah clapped her hands. “Okay, we have a plan. We’ll put the food away, Phoebe will make the bed, and I’ll help you with the grill. And I’m just putting it out there that after dinner, we can also have s’mores. And pop open the bottle of wine.”
“Now that’s my kind of evening,” I said with a grin.