Chapter Ten Griffin #3
He was not ready to decide what that meant.
At noon, he found her near the side of the snack shack, standing in a strip of shade, editing on her phone with her coffee balanced on the windowsill. Her brow was furrowed in concentration, bottom lip caught lightly between her teeth.
Griffin stopped walking.
Bad idea.
Keep moving.
He did not.
Maren looked up.
Her expression softened before she could stop it.
Then she smiled. “Are you lost, Hayes?”
“No.”
“Do you need a map to joy?”
“No.”
“A laminated guide?”
“I am leaving.”
She laughed.
He did not leave.
Instead, he stepped into the shade beside her and looked at the phone. “What are you editing?”
“The behind-the-scenes safety segment.”
“The one Tyler posted?”
“No. A cleaner version for the official account. Less defending my honor, more event value.”
His jaw tightened. “I was not defending your honor.”
“No?”
“No.”
“What were you defending?”
He looked at her.
Wrong question.
Or the right one.
Her smile faded slowly.
Griffin’s answer moved in his chest before he could stop it.
Your work.
Your name.
The look on your face when you thought everyone would see the wrong thing again.
You.
Ava saved him by sliding open the snack shack window.
“Food,” she said, setting two paper boats of fries on the sill between them.
Maren blinked. “Did I order these?”
“No.”
“Did Griffin?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Ava looked at both of them with the calm authority of a woman who had once survived Trevor Hale and now feared nothing. “Because you are doing that thing where neither of you eats because tension feels like nutrition.”
Maren gasped. “That is slander.”
Griffin took the fries. “Thank you.”
Maren looked betrayed. “Do not validate her.”
“She has fries.”
“A weak man.”
“A fed man.”
Ava pointed at Griffin. “I like him today.”
Maren grabbed a fry. “Do not say that.”
“I said today.”
“Still harmful.”
Ava leaned on the window frame, gaze flicking between them. “Truth Toss tonight, huh?”
Maren stiffened.
Griffin noticed.
Ava did too.
Maren recovered with a shrug. “Classic Lake Briar.”
“Classic Lake Briar has caused at least seven arguments, three first kisses, one broken sandal, and Ellie’s legendary confession about the boat launch incident.”
Griffin looked at Maren. “Boat launch incident?”
“No one knows the full story,” Maren said.
“Ellie does,” Ava replied.
“Ellie lies for sport.”
“True.”
Ava’s expression gentled. “Just be careful.”
Maren’s smile sharpened. “Everyone keeps saying that to me like I am juggling knives.”
Griffin said, “Are you?”
She looked at him.
The shade felt suddenly smaller.
“No,” she said. “Just feelings with handles.”
Ava made a quiet sound.
Maren closed her eyes. “I cannot believe I said that out loud.”
Griffin could.
Because Maren did that sometimes, he was learning. Slipped the truth between jokes so fast most people missed it.
He did not want to miss it.
That was becoming a serious problem.
Ava gave Maren a gentle look, then disappeared back inside after telling them to eat.
They did.
Quietly at first.
Then Maren stole a fry from Griffin’s boat even though she had her own.
He looked at her.
“What?” she said. “Yours looked emotionally crisp.”
“You are inventing categories to justify theft.”
“I am building brand language.”
“You are stealing fries.”
“Multiple things can be true.”
His mouth curved before he could stop it.
Maren froze with the fry halfway to her mouth.
Caught.
His smile faded.
Hers softened.
For once, neither of them made a joke.
The snack shack hummed behind them. The lake crowd moved past in flashes of color and noise. Somewhere across the lawn, Tyler yelled that he had been misunderstood by cones.
Maren lowered the fry. “There it is.”
“What?”
“The real smile.”
Griffin looked away.
“Don’t,” she said.
He looked back.
Her voice had gone quiet, but not teasing now.
“Don’t hide it like it was an accident.”
The words reached into him and found the exact place he kept locked.
He had no idea what to do with that.
So he did nothing.
Maybe that was the first mistake.
Maybe it was the first brave thing.
Maren held his gaze for a second longer.
Then her phone buzzed.
The moment broke.
She glanced down, and her face changed.
Not Paige this time.
Different.
Professional focus, but sharper.
“What?” Griffin asked.
She turned the phone toward him.
The Lake Briar account had received a direct message from someone with a private profile.
Are Griffin and Maren actually together or is she just using him for views? Either way this is getting embarrassing.
Griffin’s hand tightened around the paper boat.
Maren’s smile came back.
Bright.
Deadly.
“Well,” she said. “Looks like Truth Toss just got its theme.”
“No,” Griffin said.
“Yes.”
“Maren.”
She lifted her eyes to him.
This time, the hurt was there.
So was the fire.
“If people want to ask whether this is real,” she said, voice soft and sharp at once, “maybe tonight we let them.”
Griffin stared at her, the fry boat forgotten in his hand.
Because that was not a content strategy.
That was a match.
And Maren Brooks had just struck it.