Chapter 17
GRIFFIN
Iscrub a hand over my beard and force myself to focus on a blueprint, when I hear a car sputter outside. Twice. Then a third time.
I glance up from my laptop.
“TJ broke her car,” Sylas announces, appearing in my office doorway like a tiny messenger.
I let out a chuckle. “She did, huh?”
“And she said a bad word.”
“Of course she did.”
When I step outside, Tiana is sitting behind the wheel of her car, glaring at the dashboard as if pure spite might bring the engine back to life.
She tries the ignition again and the car responds with an angry clicking sound.
“Any luck?” I ask.
“Nope. I tried asking nicely, threatening it, and promising expensive repairs. None of it worked.”
I bite back a smile. “Pop the hood.”
Tiana raises an eyebrow but pulls the lever.
A few seconds later, I’m standing over the engine compartment while she hovers beside me.
“Interesting.”
“What?” I respond.
“Oh, nothing.” Her mouth twitches. “Just that, not only are you a lumberjack daddy, apparently you’re a mechanic too.”
I glance over at her. “A lumberjack daddy?”
Tiana nods with a wicked smirk. “You give off rugged mountain daddy energy.”
“I’ve literally never been called that before.”
“Really? Because it feels right.”
I shake my head, fighting another smile as I check the battery terminals.
“For the record, I’m not a mechanic,” I say. “I just know how things work. My dad owned a car shop when I was growing up.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“I guess I’m good with my hands.”
I freeze and silence follows. When I look up, a faint blush has crept into Tiana’s cheeks.
Ah. I probably could’ve phrased that better.
I lean back over the engine.
“The battery’s dead.”
“That’s it?’
“That’s it.”
“Well, that’s anticlimactic.”
“Most adult problems are.”
Tiana groans. “So what do I do now?”
“I’ll drive Sylas to school then drop you off at Willow’s. And I’ll order a new battery.”
Tiana opens her mouth to argue, but closes it when I give her a look.
“Thank you,” she says instead.
“You’re welcome.”
A few minutes later, we’re back inside gathering the last of Sylas’s things before we leave.
I grab my keys from the hook by the door and turn around just in time to witness absolute chaos.
“Stand still,” Tiana tells Sylas.
“I am standing still.”
“Sy, you’re spinning.”
“That’s because you keep moving me.”
Tiana plants her hands on her hips.
“You realize we’re trying to get to school, not audition for a tornado documentary, right?”
Sylas giggles.
Somehow, Tiana manages to straighten his backpack, zip up his jacket, and fix whatever disaster my son’s created with his shoelaces, all while carrying on a completely unrelated conversation with him about which dinosaur would win in a fight.
Leaning against the wall, I watch them bicker.
I spent so much time worrying about how Sylas would handle another major change in his life. But looking at them now, you’d never know it.
They found their rhythm pretty quickly. Sylas seeks Tiana out for everything. Homework questions. School stories. Opinions on dinosaurs. He asks for her before he asks for me half the time, which I pretend to be offended by.
The truth is, it doesn’t bother me. It does the opposite.
There’s something reassuring about watching someone care for your child the way Tiana does.
And Sylas being Sylas, has attached himself to her with the speed and determination of a barnacle.
A warmth settles in my chest as she crouches in front of him and wipes a smear of something off his cheek.
For the first time since Joyce left, I don’t feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The school parking lot is already packed by the time we pull in.
“Race you to the door,” Sylas announces.
Before either of us can respond, he’s unbuckling himself.
“Hey.” Tiana twists around in her seat. “What did we say about sprinting through parking lots?”
“That they’re dangerous.”
“Correct.”
“Fine,” he grumbles.
Tiana laughs under her breath as we climb out of the truck.
The three of us make our way toward the entrance together, Sylas walking between us and swinging his backpack.
“Jordan!” Sylas takes off before either of us can stop him.
His friend immediately abandons his mother to meet Sylas halfway. Which means we’re now standing directly in front of Alyssa.
Great.
“Morning,” she says, smiling at me.
“Morning.”
Her attention shifts to Tiana, and I notice the instant change in her demeanor.
Alyssa gives her a quick once-over and narrows her eyes. “Who do we have here?”
“Tiana,” Tiana responds with a friendly smile. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.” Alyssa sort of returns the smile, though it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Well, this is a surprise. Is this your new girlfriend, Griffin?”
“Absolutely not,” I respond, far too quickly, just as Tiana says, “I’m Sylas’s new nanny.”
I glance at her and notice a flicker of something like hurt across her face.
I clear my throat. “She works for me.”
“Oh.” Alyssa’s gaze drifts over Tiana again. “You look a little… young to be taking care of a child.”
The comment is innocent enough on the surface, but the implication underneath it isn’t. Alyssa is judging Tiana based on her appearance, and I don’t know why that irritates me as much as it does.
Tiana doesn’t seem bothered. If anything, she looks amused.
“You seem a little too… old to be making assumptions about people you just met.”
I cough, trying to suppress a laugh.
For one glorious second, Tiana actually stuns Alyssa into silence. Then Jordan calls out from the playground, and the moment breaks.
“Mom, can Sylas come over one day?”
Alyssa’s attention shifts back to me.
“Jordan talks about having Sylas over all the time. We should get them together again soon.”
“Sure.”
“Sure?” she repeats with a smirk. “That’s all I get?”
“It’s eight-thirty in the morning, Alyssa. This is all anyone gets.”
Alyssa laughs, though the sound is a little forced. “Fair enough.” Then she reaches out and places a hand on my forearm. “Text me.”
“I will.”
She finally heads toward the school entrance with Jordan, and the second she’s out of earshot, I let out a breath.
Beside me, Tiana is suspiciously quiet.
I don’t have to look at her to know she’s thinking about what just happened.
Part of me feels bad for how quickly I shut down the idea that she was anything more than Sylas’s nanny, though from the little I’ve learned about Alyssa, she treats gossip like a competitive sport.
If she walked away from this conversation believing Tiana was someone I was dating, the entire town would know by lunchtime.
And honestly, I’m not ready for people to think I’m dating again. The truth is, I still don’t know what dating is supposed to look like after Lila.
Most days, I still can barely wrap my head around the fact that she’s gone. So the idea of moving on feels even more complicated.
Before the silence can stretch any further, Sylas runs up and tugs on my sleeve.
“Dad.”
I glance down. “Yeah?”
“You forgot to say bye.”
“Right.” I crouch to fix the strap of his backpack. “Have a good day, buddy.”
He throws his arms around my neck. “Love you, Dad.”
The words hit me the same way they always do —deep and grounding all at once.
“Love you too, Sy.”
He pulls away with a grin and turns to Tiana. “Bye, TJ.”
Tiana smiles down at him. “Bye, bug. Be good.”
“I’m always good.”
I scoff and Tiana raises an eyebrow. “That’s a lie.”
Sylas grins even wider before running toward the school entrance, nearly tripping over his own shoes in the process.
“Walk!” I call after him.
“I am walking!” he yells back while very obviously sprinting.
When we get back in the truck, Tiana watches the school disappear in the side mirror before settling back into her seat.
“For the record, I wasn’t offended,” she states.
“About what?”
“Being aggressively demoted to nanny status.”
I huff out a laugh. “Good. ‘Cause you are my nanny, technically.”
Tiana smiles, though the conversation feels unfinished somehow, as if there’s a question sitting between us that neither of us is willing to ask.
A few seconds pass before she glances at me again.
“So… What’s the deal with Alyssa?”
I keep my eyes on the road. “There is no deal.”
“She was very flirty for someone with no deal.”
“She’s friendly.”
Tiana snorts like she doesn’t believe me. “She’s pretty. You should give her a chance.”
“Fuck no.” The answer leaves my mouth so fast she actually laughs.
“Why not?”
I glance over long enough to catch the amused look on her face. “She talks too much.”
Tiana chuckles. “Is that really the reason?”
No.
The real reason is that every time Alyssa touches my arm or flirts with me, all I can think about is how wrong it feels. And how right it already feels to have Tiana so close to me instead. But I’m definitely not saying that out loud.
“Yes,” I say flatly. “That’s the reason.”
Tiana’s smile widens like she knows I’m full of shit.
“Why are you looking at me like you’re psychoanalyzing me?”
“I would never,” she responds, sarcasm lacing her tone. “But for the record, if talking too much is your dealbreaker, you and I would be doomed in an alternate universe.”
My brain instantly betrays me with an image of Tiana sprawled across my bed, her hair a tangled mess on the pillow, her mouth on my neck.
Her voice low and unsteady as I pin her wrists above her head, tracing lines on her ribs and watching her twitch.
I want to hear all the things she’d say, half delirious, and shut her up with my mouth.
I blink hard, focus on the oncoming traffic and count three deep breaths. “Well, good thing we’re not in an alternate universe,” I say, trying to sound bored, like the idea of us together is so improbable it’s funny.
Tiana laughs again, but I can tell I’ve thrown her off balance.
“Yeah, lucky for you.” Her hands fidget in her lap.
She looks back out the window, sunlight catching against her profile.
“You know, for someone who claims to hate talking, you sure spend a lot of time paying attention to what I have to say.”
That’s because I’d listen to you talk about absolutely fucking anything.
Instead, I huff out a laugh. “You don’t exactly leave people much choice.”
Tiana gasps and turns toward me. “That’s so offensive. I’m actually a delight to speak to.”
“You’re exhausting to speak to.”
“And yet you keep participating.”
I shake my head, fighting a smile as she settles back into her seat looking entirely too pleased with herself.
The truck falls quiet after that, but it’s not uncomfortable.
“You and Sylas are really close,” she says, after a few minutes of silence.
“Well, it’s been just us for a while.”
Tiana’s expression softens. “Since your wife passed?”
“Yeah.”
It could end there. Though if I’m being honest, I don’t expect it to. I’m not surprised that Tiana has some questions. And after how I reacted the other day when I thought she was pitying me, I owe her some answers.
“How old was he?”
“One.” My grip tightens on the steering wheel. “Young enough that his memories are fuzzy.”
The words leave a bitter taste in my mouth. It’s one of those things I rarely speak about out loud.
Tiana stares out the window. “I think that’s the hardest part.”
I glance at her. “What do you mean?”
“Being afraid you’ll forget.”
The words land harder than they should. Because that’s exactly it.
Not the loneliness or the anger. Not even the grief itself.
The fear that one day I won’t remember the sound of Lila’s laugh as clearly as I once did.
That some random Tuesday will arrive and I’ll realize I can’t remember the exact shade of her eyes. That Sylas won’t remember anything of his mother.
The fear never really leaves.
“What kind of person was she?” Tiana asks then, glancing over at me.
A smile pulls at my mouth.
“A social butterfly. Lila made friends with everyone. Couldn’t go anywhere without running into someone she knew.” I shake my head, chuckling. “Drove me insane.”
“But you loved that about her.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
The car falls quiet again. When I look over, Tiana is staring down at her hands.
“My mom died when I was little.”
The confession catches me off guard.
I didn’t know that.
“My dad tried really hard to fill the void after that.” She shrugs. “There’s something about losing a parent when you’re young that changes you. People assume kids are resilient because they keep going. And they are. But I think a part of you grows up faster than others, because you have to.”
She’s right. Tiana is only twenty-one years old, but when she talks about certain things, she sounds wiser than people twice her age, because she’s lived through things that forced her to become someone stronger earlier than others.
“That explains a lot.”
Tiana’s brows knit together. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re a lot more grounded than most people your age.”
She looks away, almost uncomfortable with the compliment.
“I don’t know if that’s a good thing.”
“It is. And for what it’s worth,” I say, keeping my eyes on the road, “I’m sure your mom would be proud of the woman you’ve become.”
Tiana’s voice shakes slightly when she responds. “Thank you, Griffin. That’s very sweet.”
The silence that follows feels more intimate than anything we’ve shared before.
I clear my throat. “We’re almost there.”
The change in subject is obvious, but Tiana doesn’t call me out on it.
Willow’s comes into view, and I pull into a parking spot near the entrance and put the truck in park.
“Thanks for the ride.”
“Anytime.”
Tiana reaches for the handle, then pauses. “Wait here for a minute.”
Before I can ask what she’s doing, she’s already jogging toward the café.
I watch her disappear through the front doors. Five minutes later, she reappears carrying a to-go cup and walks straight to my truck.
“Here.” She hands me the drink through my window.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
Tiana beams. “Take it as a thank you for bailing me out this morning.”
I feel my lips pulling into a smile. “Have a good day, Jones.”
“You too, Hayes.”
Tiana grins as she backs away from the truck.
And despite every effort to stop it, I find myself smiling all the way to the office.