Chapter 6

“Sadie, don’t touch that. Sadie, I’m only going to tell you one more time… do not—”

I lunged forward as she squealed in delight knowing that she beat me to the punch. The screen on my laptop went dark and I realized that hours of work were now probably gone.

I narrowed my eyes at her and shook my finger. She grabbed it and started giggling. I tried to keep my expression stern, but there was no use. Her big smile and dimpled cheeks were too much. She was adorable even when she was harassing me.

I swooped her up to tickle her. Her giggles turned into deep belly laughs. Her laughs were infectious and I found myself laughing too until I was out of breath.

I looked at her smiling face and recalled how much she smiled even as a baby. It was hard to believe that she was almost four now. Her unruly curls stuck up around her head and she looked as if she had been zapped by lightning. She hated for me to do her hair and I learned early as a mom that I needed to pick my battles so unless we were going somewhere in public, she spent her time looking like a little wild child, as my mom would say.

“Ok, Mommy has to work. Go see if Grandma is outside.”

She did as I said, which was pretty rare, and ran towards the back door that led to our modest backyard. I knew my mom was back there reading a book on the porch.

I could hear Sadie’s voice as she questioned my mom about what she was reading.

“I’m reading a book.”

“A big book?”

“Yep.”

“With dinosaurs and monsters?” I heard Sadie ask excitedly.

I’m not sure how my mom answered but apparently it tickled Sadie who began to laugh.

She was such a happy kid I thought to myself. I remembered how hard it had been in the beginning. But her sheer happiness had given me a happiness of my own. She had truly been a ray of sunshine. Instead of coming home exhausted every night from school, seeing her had energized me and motivated me, especially when times were tough and loneliness was my best friend.

I’d started going to school again when she was about three months old, studying coding and web development. Since I preferred the idea of keeping Sadie at home over sending her to a pre-school, I knew I needed a job where I could set my own work hours and have plenty of flexibility to raise her. I did some research and then dove headfirst taking classes on the weekends and evenings, even signing up for online classes.

And to my surprise, as soon as I was done I landed a job. Two years on, I moved out of my parents’ home and settled into a little rental house a few miles away.

I knew having a baby meant I had to be practical and I knew my career as an actress in small-town Georgia wouldn’t exactly help pay the bills, so I did focus on going back to school, but I never stopped acting. It was a stress reliever for me. I starred in several plays put on at the local theater. One had actually gone viral, and I’d been pretty proud. But besides working in web development, I starred in little commercials for a few bigger businesses, mostly furniture places in the area. I’d visited Atlanta a few times to do some modeling work, but not much had come from it except for a few extra thousand dollars every now and then.

I was stunned when I received a casting call from a company in L.A. After a few Skype interviews, I landed a role that would make me and Sadie comfortable for some time.

It had been a month since I’d agreed to the assignment. I was going to play the role of a confused girl in an insurance company ad. I was going alone to L.A. The assignment was only going to be for two weeks tops. I was leaving Sadie behind which was something I’d never done before. In fact, I hadn’t spent a night away from her since she was born. The mere thought made me sad, but she adored her grandparents and I knew she’d be well taken care of.

I was leaving in the morning so I’d packed her bag and decided to have a taxi pick me up instead of having Mom drive me. Her sight wasn’t as good as it used to be and she tired quickly. My dad was at some sort of convention, so he couldn’t do it. But he’d told me to Skype him as soon as I got settled at Kenny’s place.

I checked in online and then tied up a few loose ends at work. I was sending an email to a prospective client, letting her know that I’d get back to her in a few weeks. She was a long-time client so she was flexible and always willing to work with me.

As I finished up the email, I heard my mom telling Sadie to come inside. Sadie, of course, whined and tried to convince my mother to let her stay outside with the bugs, but Mom won that fight. Sadie came in pouting and I placed my hands on my hips and gave her a stern look.

“What’s with the sad face, young lady?”

She angrily said, “Granny won’t let me stay outside.”

“Well, do you want to live outside?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure? There’s no ice cream outside. If you live outside then how are you going to get ice cream?”

She thought about it long and hard and then she said, “Ok. I’ll live here.”

I laughed and picked her up. My mom reached for her and said, “Go ahead and finish up your work stuff. I’ll get her into a bath and then to bed.”

I kissed Sadie on the forehead and she hugged my neck. “Love you, Mommy,” she said, burying her head in the crook of my neck. The next two weeks were going to be painful. God, how I was going to miss her.

I passed her over to my mom and blew her a kiss. “I’ll see you in a little bit, sweetheart.”

She smiled at me and waved goodbye as my mom walked down the hallway into the bathroom with Sadie in her arms. She was tall for her age. Mom told me that at Sadie’s age, I’d just been… well… round.

I turned back to work, responding to emails and finishing up some tasks on my own web page that I was revamping.

About half an hour later, I made my way to Sadie’s room. Sadie had helped me paint it with every color of the rainbow. She had a rainbow that she’d made during story time at the library that hung above her vibrant green headboard. Stars of various shapes and colors hung from the ceiling. It had been quite an art project to say the least.

The lights were low so the little stars attached to the ceiling began to glow courtesy of the glow in the dark spray paint we had used to create them.

“How’s my little monster?” I asked, pinching her nose playfully.

She swatted at my hand and giggled. “I’m not a monster.”

“Oh really?” I said, tickling her and then roaring like a lion. She couldn’t stop giggling and I heard my mom laughing from the doorway.

“You two are silly,” she said.

“Mommy is super silly!” Sadie yelled.

I nodded. “I sure am.” I tucked the sheet around her and thanked my lucky stars that she wasn’t going to fight me about going to bed tonight. I figured it was because her granny was here. Sadie was always on her best behavior when her granny and grandpa were around.

I found her favorite stuffed animal, a duck-billed dinosaur that I couldn’t readily identify, and stuck it next to her. She promptly wrapped her arms around it and began to snore.

“Well then,” I whispered, hoping not to wake her. I bent down and kissed her forehead. I sat there next to her bed for a moment watching her sleep, when I felt my mom’s hand on my shoulder.

“She’ll be fine, Sunshine. Trust me.”

Sunshine was her childhood nickname for me and every now and then she still used it. She said I’d been like a ball of sunshine lighting up her days. I could relate. It was exactly how I felt about Sadie.

We slowly crept out of her room and I left the door slightly ajar, in case she woke up and needed me.

I sat down at the small dining room table and sighed.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I feel so guilty leaving her. Not that you’re not capable of taking care of her, Mom—”

She raised a brow. “I think she’ll be ok. You know, I do have some experience with kids.”

I smiled, catching her meaning. “I know she’ll be fine, I’ll just really miss her.”

Mom nodded. “I get it. It was hard for me to go back to work after I had you. If it weren’t for the fact bills needed to be paid, I would probably have quit.”

“That would have been a terrible decision. You’re the best doctor this town has ever had.”

She smiled proudly. “I know.”

I laughed. My mother had always been confident. Never arrogant, but self-assured. She always seemed to have everything under control and she never lost her cool. I think that’s what made her such a good doctor, she was confident in her skills and cool under pressure, pretty much how she’d been as a mother.

She always made me feel safe and protected. She was always patient with me, even when I was at my worst. I only hoped I would be half the mother she was.

“So, are you excited about the role? I know it’s not Hollywood, but who knows, maybe some agent will see you and say to himself, ‘That one there! We have to hire her! We just have to!’’’ she said, imitating a newscaster voice which made me laugh.

“Did you just try to sound like an anchorwoman?”

She shrugged. “Those are the only actresses I’m familiar with.”

“They’re not actors, Mom.”

“Maybe not by profession, but they pretty much are. They get all dressed up, sit stiffly, and pretend to care about everything they’re saying.”

“Not another tirade about the news…” I whined.

“Ok, I’m done. You sound just like Sadie. I can’t believe whining is genetic.”

We laughed and then her expression suddenly changed and she sat back in her chair. “So, what’s the plan?”

“The plan? To do a great commercial and hope that it leads to more work.”

“Not that plan, Nina. You know what I’m talking about.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“You’re talking about Sadie’s father,” I said with a sigh. I never said his name. Calling him “Sadie’s father” somehow made the relationship seem more clinical… almost as if he were a sperm donor, some anonymous guy, rather than the one who had pretty much ruined me for other men.

“I honestly don’t think there’s anything that I should do.”

“Really?”

“I told you what happened when I tried to talk to him.”

“And you just gave up trying,” my mom said with disapproval.

“I told you what I saw, who I saw him with. He has a family, Mom. I’m a homewrecker.”

“You should have confronted him,” she said angrily. I remembered when I had told her everything that happened. She had immediately started crying and then her tears turned into rage and she was ready to fly out to L.A. to defend me. I had to have multiple conversations with my dad to ensure he wouldn’t let her get on a plane.

When I’d flown back to Georgia and had seen her face, I’d started crying all over again as she held me in the airport, rocking me as if I were a baby again.

I felt like a little girl now as she stared at me waiting for me to answer.

I shrugged. “Mom, we’ve been over this a million times. He has a family. He lied to me. Well, at the very least, he lied by omission. And to be honest, I don’t think his crazy mother would take kindly to me calling him again.”

“That old hag can go screw herself,” my mom growled, catching me off-guard.

“You okay, Mom?” Her words were pretty uncharacteristic of my mild-mannered mother.

“I’m fine. I’m just so mad for you… how humiliating! She had you escorted out like you were a peasant being kicked out of the king’s castle. Just because she has money doesn’t mean she can treat you like that.”

I reached out and placed my hand over hers. “Don’t get yourself worked up. It was years ago.”

She sighed and placed her face in her hands and took a deep breath before looking up at me with a small smile.

“I just get crazy when I think of anyone harming you, especially if that harm is emotional.”

“I get it… I mean, I didn’t really before. I thought you were overprotective and overbearing when I was a teenager.”

“Thanks, Nina,” she said, before becoming serious again. “I think since you’re going to L.A. you should at least try to contact him again. You never got to know your father and I—”

“That’s not your fault,” I said, knowing that my father died when my mother was pregnant with me.

“No, it’s not, I know that. But as your aunt so eloquently put it, you hadn’t exactly been planned, but I wish I’d told him. He died never knowing.”

She looked ready to tear up and I reached for her hand again and squeezed it. “Look at me.” She looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. “You didn’t know he was going to be deployed.”

“Oh,” she said, “he wasn’t in the military.”

“What?”

“I just made that up so that you would have an interesting story to tell the kids at school.”

“Mom!”

“What?”

“Are you freaking kidding me?”

“Watch your tone, young lady. What was I supposed to tell you? That he died when he went skiing for the first time and ran into a tree?”

I opened my mouth and then closed it. “Really?”

“Yes. He wasn’t the most graceful fellow. It’s amazing he could even cross the street without getting hit by a bus.”

“No wonder you were never interested in skiing.”

“Well, that and because I just don’t get winter sports. Who wants to be cold, outdoors and exercising? It’s nonsensical to me.”

“Mom?” I said tiredly, not allowing myself to focus on the fact my mother let me believe a lie she made up for years. I couldn’t even be angry with her. I’d always felt the whole military excuse had been a bit too convenient.

“Yes?”

“I’m going to bed.” I stood up before she could say another word. I kissed her forehead and then headed for my bedroom wondering if when I closed my eyes that night I’d dream of a certain man.

* * *

“Nina,” the director said. “You were great out there. There was so much passion… so much force. I loved every bit of it except the beginning.” He gave me a sad look. “And maybe a little bit of the end, the middle was good though.”

The makeup artist was fixing my lipstick so I couldn’t immediately respond. Once she was done, I thanked her and turned my attention to Jacob Fox, the director. He was a skinny guy. He was probably about 5’8 and weighed 130 pounds. Even though he was very skinny, he had a gut that fell over the waistband of his pants. He wore large glasses and had a deep Texas accent.

I only had three lines, so I wasn’t sure what “middle” he was talking about. I could only guess it was the actual part of the script where I had lines and wasn’t just sitting there with a stale beer in my hand pretending to be an irresponsible motorist which is what my role really required.

“Ok… what would you like me to do differently?” I said trying to be diplomatic, even though I wanted to ask him what the heck he was talking about.

“I just don’t think you fully understand your character’s motivation,” he said, raising his hands up and artistically making gestures as if I could see whatever he envisioned in his head. “You see, your character is upset, sad, so sad… her new car was just ruined. I need you to give me grief. Come on, Nina, give me your best sorrowful, “woe is me” face.”

He stared at me, not speaking.

“Oh, you mean, now?” I asked.

“Uhh, yeah…”

I did as I was told, hoping it would be good enough.

He shook his head in disappointment. “You don’t look sad, you look melancholic. There’s a difference, you know.”

I was spared any more tips about the difference between sad and melancholic when someone came up and started asking him questions that were apparently a lot more important than lecturing me about the emotions my character should display.

“Don’t pay Fox any mind. He doesn’t know how to treat a lady.”

All the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I knew that voice… I’d been escorted from a building just to hear it.

“So, let me get this right, you’re saying that you do know how to treat a lady?” I said turning around and facing Griffin.

He shrugged. “I try my best.”

He leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. I couldn’t help but study him. After all, it had been years since I laid eyes on him.

Apparently, he planned to do the same. He was completely clean-shaven with a short military cut on top. It was a different look, and he was rocking it… but I didn’t plan to tell him that.

We stood there in silence checking each other out. Not that he’d be impressed by anything I had on. I didn’t exactly look “hot.” I was wearing plain jeans and a heavy sweater, although it was at least 85 degrees outside today. We were filming a winter scene and between the lights and my wardrobe, I was burning up. My body told me I was burning up for another reason but I didn’t dwell on it. I wasn’t some starry-eyed, horny 22-year old anymore. Things had changed. I had changed.

And I realized with my new-found confidence that I wasn’t scared of facing Griffin anymore.

“You’re looking great,” he said, giving me a warm, but cautious smile.

I ignored it. “I know. Anyway, I got to get back to work. Nice seeing you again.”

I walked away from him feeling powerful. For once, I truly felt that when Griffin was concerned I had the upper hand. But of course, he didn’t give up that easily.

He fell into stride next to me. “So, you aren’t happy to see me? What’s it been? Three? Four years?”

I rolled my eyes. So, he was going to play dumb, huh? Pretend the whole escorting me out of the office with the help of security didn’t happen.

“How’s your mother?” I spit out.

He looked at me curiously. “Fine. Why do you ask?”

I stopped dead in my tracks and stood chest to chest with him, albeit I was several inches shorter.

“Let’s not play games, Griffin. We all know that I showed up nearly four years ago to see you and you didn’t see me.”

“I was told that you left abruptly. When I came out to get you, you had already left.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. “Left abruptly? I was escorted out by your security guards.”

“What?” he said, clearly taken aback.

I narrowed my eyes. I could remember the events of that office visit like it was yesterday, and I found it hard to believe that he didn’t know anything about me being kicked out by his security guards after all these years.

But as I looked in his eyes, I saw no guile there.

“You really don’t know what happened at your office when I came to speak with you?”

He opened his mouth to answer when someone hustled over to me and started pulling me to the set. “We need you, now. Come on, let’s make it rain for this lame insurance company.”

I let her pull me away, but I glanced back at Griffin. I wondered exactly what else he didn’t know. If he didn’t know that I was escorted out by security, he probably also didn’t know that I had arranged to meet him later on. I’d always suspected and knew deep down that Mrs. Wallace had made sure Griffin had never met with me, but that still didn’t explain how he could have sex with me when he was a married man with a family.

I pushed away my burgeoning curiosity and instead focused on looking sad, but not melancholy, for the camera.

* * *

Hours later I made my way to a bar with a few other people from the set. I honestly didn’t know what they all did, but most of them were friendly and seemed like a pretty decent crowd. I was staying with my cousin Kenny again, but I didn’t think he’d want to spend all his free time entertaining me, so I figured I might as well make some friends and I also wanted dirt on Griffin. Just exactly what was he doing there? Why was he hanging out on the set of an insurance commercial? From what I could gather from my recent internet stalking, he was into artificial intelligence and had added to his family’s fortune that way. He wasn’t into insurance or commercials. I didn’t know all the details, but from what I could tell, his money came from advancements in technology. Silicon Valley was more his scene, not L.A. No wonder his mom had an extra $250,000 hanging around.

I found the rest of the group and sat down. A handsome young man with dimples that reminded me of Sadie’s offered me a seat. I tried my best to remember his name. It was something with a J. Jeremy? Jason? Johnny?

Jerry! That was his name. I think he was a production assistant or an intern. I smiled brightly at him, and he offered me a drink.

“Thanks, Jerry,” I said as he handed me a beer. I took a long sip, forgetting how much I liked a nice cold beer. I barely drank at all since having Sadie. I’d never been a big drinker, but given how I was her main caretaker, I liked to be sure I was fully capable of taking care of her at all times, so I rarely drank except for the occasional spritzer at my mom’s house during the holidays.

A few other people joined us and we sat cracking jokes and enjoying good company. The bar was kind of on the dingy side, but had a pretty hip vibe with all the cool global items that adorned the walls.

“So, Nina, I thought I detected a southern accent?” said Jerry as he sat across from me. He was cute. I would guess he was barely 20 though, and he had an adorable baby face. Definitely not my type. Too pretty.

“Yep. Georgia.”

“Born and raised?”

“Yep,” I said, “What about you?” I said feeling relaxed. Raising Sadie was a full-time commitment, and other than speaking to my parents I didn’t get much adult conversation. Even if Jerry was years younger than me, it was definitely nice to relax and have a laid-back conversation with a peer.

“Grew up in Rahway, New Jersey, and have no intention of going back. It’s easily the most depressing place on Earth.”

“That’s harsh.”

“So was life in Rahway,” he joked. “Dark, gray, miserable.” He playfully shuddered and smiled at me.

I smiled back. I had a feeling that Jerry was flirting with me. I felt a little bad that I wasn’t even remotely attracted to him. He was a nice guy, I could tell, but not the type I dated. Not that I dated much anymore. I actually hadn’t had a date since before I met Griffin. I internally winced…

What was I doing with my life? Oh yeah, raising a beautiful little girl.

Thinking about her, I realized that I was a few minutes late of my scheduled call home.

“Excuse me, Jerry. I’ll be right back. I just have to make a quick call.” I hoped he didn’t assume I had faked a call to try to get away from him. I didn’t want to hurt the poor guy’s feelings. But it was just as well, I’d have to break it to him anyway that not only wasn’t I interested, but that I lived states away and had no intention of sticking around in L.A.

I got up and made my way to the outside of the bar and dialed my mother’s number. She picked it up immediately.

“Hi!” she said happily. And then quickly came the questions. “Did you Skype your dad? He’s worried about you.”

“Ughh,” I said popping my forehead with the heel of my hand. I totally forgot.

“He’s going to be so worried.”

I already felt guilty enough about forgetting. “Don’t worry, I’ll call him. Is Sadie sleeping? If so, don’t wake her. Sorry for my late call, I got distracted here by… things.”

“No, she’s not sleeping. Let me get her. Do you want to see her? I can do a video call...”

“Yes, please.”

Excited about seeing her little face, I could barely stop smiling from ear to ear. I know it had been less than a day but I missed her the moment I left her behind.

She had been my everything and had kept me from succumbing to my own stupid emotions, which alternated between animosity and hatred towards Griffin.

“Hi! Mommy!” she said again with a giggle.

“What’s so funny?” I asked giving her my best impression of one of her favorite cartoon characters.

She giggled even more.

Finally, my mom stepped in and said, “Tell her what you did today.”

“I ate chicken nuggets. I played. I want to watch TV.”

“Of course, you do,” I said with a smile. “But can’t you talk a little bit more to your mom here? I’ve missed you so.” I made an exaggerated sad face, which made her giggle.

“I miss you too, Mommy!” Sadie said.

We spoke for a little while longer and then I ended the call. Right on time it seemed as I looked up and found Griffin heading towards the bar. Who had invited him?

“Care for some company?” he asked, holding the door open for me. I muttered a thank you and quickly rushed past him. I didn’t want to get too close to him. His presence was unnerving, so much so that I found myself still talking.

“I have plenty of company. Jerry, for example.” I was surprised by my own comment. Was I subconsciously trying to make Griffin jealous?

He scoffed. “Jerry? He’s barely out of his teens and he’s hitting on you?”

Mission accomplished. Apparently, he was jealous.

“What makes you think I mind?” I was deliberately baiting him. His presence annoyed me and reminded me why I had to be careful about who I trusted. I wasn’t that naïve little girl anymore. I was a mother. Sadie’s mother. My Sadie was Griffin’s daughter. I tried not to think about the secret I was keeping from him as he seated himself directly next to me.

You could see the mood around the table change when Griffin sat down. I’m pretty sure he hadn’t been invited.

Jerry looked at him as if he was fly in his soup and took his attention away from me to talk to the pretty waitress who was coming around to take our orders. I sighed. Griffin was great at ruining things for me. I tried to jump into other conversations going on around the table, but that wasn’t very successful. The crowd was much more sedated now that an outsider was around. And why exactly was he there?

I tried in vain to inject myself into a conversation with Jerry, but he was now on his cellphone texting or doing whatever.

Griffin waved a hand in my face, as if to get my attention, and I slapped at it and glared at him.

“What? I was just trying to see if I were invisible to you suddenly.”

I ignored him and took a sip of my drink.

He shrugged. “Funny, I remember you being a lot more fun before.”

I gave him an evil look before saying, “Funny, I don’t remember the same about you.”

He laughed. “So what have you been up to all these years?”

“That’s my business.”

“So, secretive… no sense of humor… You’ve changed over the years.”

“You have no idea,” I said cryptically, looking for a polite way to end the evening and get the hell out of there. I didn’t like this at all. The last thing I wanted to do was sit around and chitchat with Griffin as if the past four years hadn’t happened. And to be honest, his nearness was bothering me.

I decided to just be blunt, a skill I’d learned to get out of all sorts of mommy expectations like carpools and playdates. Being a single mom, I didn’t have the luxury of blaming a spouse when I wanted to get out of things, so I’d learned to be direct instead.

“I’m heading out. See you guys later.”

“So soon?” Jerry said, standing up too. “Hey, let me give you a ride.” I had a sneaky suspicion that he was trying to wait out Griffin. I think his plan had been to ignore Griffin until he eventually left and then talk to me.

“She already has a ride,” Griffin said before I could speak.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Jerry,” I said, ignoring Griffin and making my way towards the exit again. Of course, Griffin fell into step next to me.

I ignored him and headed towards a bus stop.

“Jerry seems to have a crush on you.”

I shrugged and sat down on the bench. He surprised me by sitting down next to me.

“This is a first, a billionaire sitting down at a bus stop.”

“I’ve caught my share of buses.”

“Really? When and where?”

He smiled. “Well, I could have if I wanted to. So why are you avoiding me?”

“I’m not avoiding you. I just have nothing to say to you.”

“Listen, I know things didn’t end well for us on the island...”

“That’s one way to put it,” I mumbled.

“And I had no idea that security had you escorted out when you dropped by the office. I knew you’d stopped by, but I had to take a call and my receptionist said you’d left abruptly. There must have been a misunderstanding.”

I scoffed. “I was thrown out by security, I didn’t leave abruptly.”

“Again, I’m sorry. I have no idea how that happened or why I didn’t know anything about it.”

I looked at him then, really looked at him. He met my eyes straight on and I knew he wasn’t lying to me. As I’d expected, his mother clearly had been behind the debacle that day in the office. But that didn’t explain what I’d seen that day on the beach. The anger towards him that I thought I’d buried years ago raised its ugly head.

“Got it. You’re pleading ignorance. Fine. Now go away.”

“Come on, Nina. You’re not the type to hold a grudge.”

I shot him a look and raised my brows. “Don’t go there. You don’t know anything about me, so don’t pretend that you do.”

He seemed taken aback by my hostility towards him. Good, I thought.

“Maybe. But I’d like the opportunity to get to know you... again. We met when I had a lot going on and I’m sorry that I didn’t follow up—”

“You had a lot going on! Care to share with me exactly what?” I challenged him.

He hesitated as if trying to decide how much to tell me, and my eyes narrowed. “Stop wasting my time, Griffin.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you hate me.”

“Hate you? I don’t even think about you.” I was lying. I thought about him all the time. And that was the problem. Despite my cold demeanor, I’d spent years fantasizing that what I saw hadn’t been his real family, that there had been some sort of mistake. I’d never admit the time I spent searching for information about him and his family on the internet and how I got nowhere. He and his family stayed out of the public eye. At the very least, they weren’t socialites.

“If you don’t hate me then I guess you wouldn’t mind joining me for dinner tomorrow night?”

“I’m busy.”

“How about this weekend then?”

“No.”

“Ok, how about lunch then?”

“No thanks.”

“Come on, you have to eat. You might as well share a meal with me.”

My phone started ringing and I reached for it, becoming anxious when I realized that it was my mom. I stood up and walked away from him, not bothering to excuse myself. I walked out of hearing distance, not wanting to be overheard. “Mom, is everything okay with Sadie?”

“Oh yes, everything’s fine. Sorry to scare you. I just noticed that she has a little cough and I was wondering if you think it’s a good idea to take her to that preschool story time at the library.”

“She has a cough?” I asked, concerned.

“Just a cold, nothing to worry about.”

I breathed out in relief, not realizing that I’d been holding my breath. “Yeah, skip the library. I would hate if Patrick or any of her other little friends caught anything from her.”

“Ok. So have you decided whether or not you’re going to talk to her father?” That came out of nowhere and I rolled my eyes. I should have expected this call.

“Aha! The real reason for this call. We’ll discuss this later, Mom.”

“But, Nina—”

“Good night, Mom. I’m hanging up now.”

I found Griffin standing up, leaning against the bus stop staring at me with his arms folded.

“Still taking calls from your mother...” I knew he was teasing me, but I was pretty immune to his flirtatious teasing now.

“You’re one to talk,” I shot back.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, Griffin,” I said angrily. “And don’t you have family that you should be checking up on instead of hanging out with a random woman at a bus stop in the middle of the night?”

He looked at me curiously. I didn’t wait for him to answer as I saw Jerry walking out of the restaurant.

“Hey, Jerry!” I called, “Can I still get that ride?”

Jerry looked at me in surprise and then looked at Griffin.

He gave a boyish shrug, though his tone was clearly unsure as he said, “Uhh yeah... sure.”

Without a backward glance, I walked away from Griffin. And I hoped this time it was forever.