Chapter 15
JESS
I don’t want to be here.
The Southern Knights Foundation Charity Gala is Charleston’s event of the season. I’m talking crystal chandeliers, champagne towers, everyone who’s anyone in designer gowns and tailored tuxedos.
It’s exactly the kind of event I usually avoid. Even when I found out they were honoring the clinic, putting Vivi on the task of accepting it on our behalf was an easy decision. Tonight I'm here for one reason… Griffin.
So here I am, squeezed into a deep blue dress that Vivi insisted brings out my eyes. My hair is pinned up with a gallon of hairspray and my makeup is carefully applied to hide the evidence of too many sleepless nights.
I haven’t spoken to Griffin since I walked out of his house.
Not really. Just clinical texts about rescheduling sessions, handed off to Dr. Thompson.
The truth is, I don’t know if I can forgive him.
I don’t know if I can trust him again. But I also can’t stop thinking about him, and that terrifies me more than anything.
“Stop brooding.” Vivi appears at my elbow with two glasses of champagne. “You look like someone cancelled your birthday.”
“I’m not brooding. I’m... observing.”
“You’re scanning the room for Griffin.”
I open my mouth to deny it, then close it again. What’s the point? Everyone in the room knows it. Hell, there’s some influencer here not so secretly filming me every time she makes her way to the bar. So even people who aren’t here probably know it.
“He’s not here yet,” Vivi says. “But he will be. The whole team always shows a little late from what I’ve heard.”
My stomach clenches. I knew he’d be here, of course I knew, but somehow hearing it confirmed makes it real. In a few minutes, I’ll have to see him. Talk to him. Pretend my heart isn’t shattering every time I look at his face.
“I should go,” I say. “This was a mistake,”
“Too late.” Vivi nods toward the entrance. “He just arrived.”
I turn despite myself. Griffin stands in the doorway, scanning the crowd, and even from across the room, I can see the tension in his shoulders.
He’s wearing a fitted black suit that makes my mouth go dry.
His hair is styled. His jaw is clean-shaven.
He looks devastatingly handsome. He looks like everything I want and everything I’m afraid of and it takes my breath away.
Our eyes meet.
Something passes between us. It’s a mix of recognition, longing, and pain. I force myself to look away first.
“I need air,” I mutter to myself. But before I can escape, the mayor takes the stage and calls for attention.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming tonight. It’s my pleasure to attend the most important gala of the year here in Charleston…”
He starts his speech but I can’t focus. Instead, I watch Griffin take over the room. Whatever held him back is gone. The man is a magnet for men and women alike. I’m certainly not immune to his charms. The crowd bubbles with laughter for a joke I totally missed and it brings me back.
“You good?” Vivi whispers from across the table.
“Yeah, fine.”
The mayor continues, “Before we get to the main event, we have a special guest who’d like to say a few words.” The mayor beams at the crowd. “Please welcome your returning hometown hero, Griffin Callahan!”
My heart stops.
Griffin walks toward the stage, and I can see the determination in his stride. This isn’t a man approaching a simple thank-you speech. This is a man walking into battle.
What is he doing? What the hell is he doing?
He takes the microphone and clears his throat with authority. Then he finds my face in the crowd and holds my gaze.
“I had a speech prepared,” he says. “Something polished about community and giving back. The kind of thing you say at charity galas when you want people to open their checkbooks.”
A few nervous laughs ripple through the room.
“I’m not going to give that speech tonight.”
The room goes quiet.
“Five years ago, I left Charleston under a cloud of rumors and scandal. Some of you might remember. Some of you believed the worst in me. Some of you made up truth in the information gaps.” He pauses. “I don’t blame you for that, there was a lot going on.”
My heart hammers against my ribs. Oh my God. Oh my God. What are you doing Griffin? I shoot a look at Vivi and her mouth is hanging wide open.
“But the truth is, I didn’t leave because I did something wrong. I left because I was accused of something I didn’t do, by someone I rejected. And I was told that if I didn’t disappear, if I didn’t sign an NDA and never speak of it again,the career of someone I loved would be destroyed.”
I see phones appearing and recording. The murmur running through the crowd becomes a full on roar. People whisper and stare at Griffin with new eyes. But he’s not looking at them. He’s looking at me.
“None of the accusations about me back then are true. But I didn’t come here tonight to clear my name. I came here for her.”
The room goes silent. He’s pointing at me now, and every eye in the room follows his gesture. I feel the weight of their stares, but I can’t look away from him.
“Jessica Hartwell is the love of my life. I loved her five years ago. I love her now. I never stopped loving her. Anyone who has had the absolute gift of getting to spend time with her will understand.”
My eyes are burning. My chest is so tight I can barely breathe.
“I was a coward five years ago. I made a choice alone when I should have trusted her to face it with me. I told myself I was protecting her, but all I did was break her heart and mine.”
He steps down from the stage and walks toward me through the parting crowd.
“I’m not asking for forgiveness.” His voice cracks on the words. “I’m just asking for a chance. A real chance, with all the truth between us. No more secrets. No more noble sacrifice. Just... me. Standing in front of you. Telling you that I love you.”
He stops in front of me. It feels like the whole world is watching, but I don’t care. Griffin is all I can see. Tears well in my eyes.
“I’m done hiding,” Griffin says quietly.
“I’m done running. I’m done letting the best thing that ever happened to me slip through my fingers.
” He takes my hand, and his touch sends electricity through my entire body.
“If you’ll let me, I’m going to spend the rest of my life earning back what I threw away. ”
Tears are streaming down my face. Vivi grips my thigh under the table, but I barely register her presence. The room is dead silent. Waiting for me to say something.
I think about the letters. About the five years I spent thinking I wasn’t enough. About the walls I built to protect a heart that was already shattered.
Griffin isn’t running.
He’s standing right in front of me, vulnerable and terrified. He’s laying his heart at my feet in front of everyone who ever doubted him. He’s told his truth. Now it’s my turn.
“I love you.”
And then I kiss him.
The room erupts in whoops and cheers.
His hands come up to cup my face, and he kisses me back with everything he has. When we finally break apart, both breathing hard, his forehead drops to mine.
“Does this mean…”
“It means we figure this out,” I say. “Together. Like you said.”
He pulls me close, burying his face in my hair. I can feel him shaking, or maybe that’s me. Maybe it’s both of us.
“I love you, Sunshine,” he murmurs into my ear and it melts my heart.
I pull back to look at him then lower my voice. “But I swear, if you ever keep something like this from me again.”
“I won’t.” His eyes are fierce, certain. “No more secrets. No more protecting you by shutting you out. Whatever comes next, we face it together.”
“Promise?”
“On everything I am.”
Vivi appears beside us, tears streaming down her face, and throws her arms around both of us. “I knew it,” she sobs. “I knew you two would work it out.”
“Did you?” I laugh through my own tears. “Because I wasn’t sure until about thirty seconds ago.”
“I had faith.” She pulls back, dabbing at her mascara. “Now go. Get out of here. The press is going to swarm any second, and you two need to be alone.”
She’s right. I can already see reporters pushing through the crowd, microphones extended.
Griffin takes my hand. “Come with me?”
“Where?”
“Anywhere. Everywhere.” He squeezes my fingers. “Home.”
Home. Such a simple word for something so enormous.
“Yeah,” I say. “Let’s go home.”
We push through the crowd together, Griffin’s arm around my waist, my heart fuller than it’s been in five years. The press shouts questions. Cameras flash. Charleston’s gossip mill kicks into overdrive.
I don’t care.
For the first time in five years, everything feels right.