Chapter 8

“So, are you really going to go out with him?” Griffin asked, sitting down next to me while I waited on set.

I sighed heavily. I hadn’t slept well that night and it was all his fault. I was naturally angry with him, even if he hadn’t done anything directly to cause it.

“What I do in my free time is none of your business, Griffin.”

“You know my friends call me Griff.”

“You’re not my friend.”

“I’d like to be...”

I looked at him sharply. The statement caught me off-guard. I stared into his eyes and realized that he meant it.

“Come on, Nina. I’m not a bad guy. You know that.”

“Actually, I don’t know. We barely know each other.”

“We could change that.”

He was right, but I didn’t want to talk to him. After all, he hadn’t answered my question from the other day.

“I know things between us didn’t end well. I know in your opinion you don’t have a reason to trust me, especially after the way things ended between us on the island. “

“That’s one way to put it.”

“Listen, join me for dinner. That’s all I’m asking for. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Why? Why even bother?” I said mostly to myself.

“Closure?”

“Ha!”

“Ok, maybe because the other day you wanted answers that I couldn’t give you. I want to give you those answers.”

I considered his words. I needed answers... not just for me but for Sadie.

“Tonight then.”

He smiled widely. “I’m glad. I’ll see you tonight.” He walked away, clearly not interested in the commercial now that he had apparently got what he wanted. I was afraid I’d made it too easy for him.

“I’ll send the car for you,” he yelled as he sauntered out. I couldn’t help but stare at his butt and then his words sunk in.

“What? No! I’ll just meet you somewhere!” I yelled back, but it was too late. He was already gone.

“Great, just great,” I said shaking my head... what the heck had I just agreed to?

I spent the rest of the day trying to not mess up my lines. I was so distracted. I decided to call Mom and Sadie when I could no longer think straight. I missed home so much. I didn’t reach them and looked at the time. I forgot about the time difference and assumed they were probably watching TV together and Mom was away from her phone.

I decided to call Dad instead. I knew he would just be sitting around looking at some genealogy stuff while Mom and Sadie drifted off in front of the TV.

He picked up immediately, like I knew he would.

“So finally, you call your dad... I was beginning to feel like you forgot about us Southern folks down here.”

I laughed. “Hi to you too, Daddy. How are you? How’s work?”

“Work sucks.”

I shook my head. “Tell me how you really feel, Dad.”

He laughed softly. “Your mom and Sadie are knocked out on the couch. I guess you tried to call them already?”

“You guessed right.”

“I knew it. I’m second picking.”

“Hey, second picking is just as good as first.”

We chatted for a while until he gave a big yawn. “It’s nap time for me.”

“Dad, you’re so old,” I joked.

“Yep. Sure am. And proud of it. Stay safe out in California. We miss you. Don’t get tempted into staying, you hear?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Did you talk to Sadie’s co-founder?”

I sighed. He was referring to Griffin. “No. I haven’t spoken to him yet about Sadie.”

“Well, you should. It’s important for a little girl to know her father.”

“Well, no matter what happens with her co-founder, she always has you.”

“Hmm...” he grunted. “I’m old.”

“Yet when I say it, you have an issue with it?” I loved teasing him about his age.

“Hey, you know what they say, you never ask a gentleman his age.”

“It’s actually you never ask a lady her age.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

I laughed and we hung up after I promised to do a better job calling him. After speaking with my dad, I felt better about my plans with Griffin. I didn’t tell Dad my plans to meet with Griffin, but I knew he would approve. I thought how funny it was that even when we’re older our parents’ approval still mattered. I guessed even an adult never stops being someone’s baby.

I focused on getting dressed for the evening. I noticed that Griffin hadn’t asked my number or where I was staying. Either he stalked me or he went through my HR file. Probably both.

An hour later I was ready and sitting on the couch with Kenny. The doorbell rang and I had to fight with Kenny to get to the door. He dashed in front of me and pushed me back.

“Kenny!” I hissed.

He stuck his tongue out at me and said, “I just want to meet him and I know you didn’t plan to introduce me.”

“I sure didn’t because you’re crazy.”

He curtsied to me and then opened the door. “Hiii! You must be Griffin!”

Griffin smiled charmingly, not missing a beat. “I sure am. And you’re...”

“Her cousin, Kenny.”

“Of course... and you own this fine establishment.”

“Guilty as charged,” Kenny said with a wink.

Griffin gave him a devilish smile that for some reason made me jealous.

“Kenny, don’t you have something you need to take care of?” I cut in, ducking under his arm to join Griffin on the other side of the door.

“No.”

“Bye, Kenny.”

I walked out the door leaving Kenny pouting. “Have fun you two!” he called. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Griffin smiled and tried to wrap an arm around my shoulders. I pushed his arm down.

“Well, this night is getting off to a great start.”

“Tell me about it,” I growled. “Oh, you’re actually driving.” For some reason, I had expected to see the Bentley, but instead there was a large luxury SUV sitting in our small parking lot.

“Well, I didn’t plan to, but my driver, who you met in the parking garage that time, insisted on spending this evening with his wife celebrating their 20th anniversary.”

“How selfish,” I joked.

“That’s what I told him.”

He opened the door for me and tried to help me in. It took all my strength not to hit at his hand.

“Aren’t you the perfect gentleman?”

“I try.”

“Not hard enough.”

“This is going to be a great evening. I can already tell.”

I laughed.

I was silent in the car. And grateful for the darkness and spacious interior. It gave me room away from Griffin and time to think. I didn’t have anything I wanted to say that hadn’t already been said. I was just waiting for him to speak.

“So, how’s your brother?” I asked when I couldn’t take the silence much longer.

“Great. He’s expecting a baby soon. I think in a month or two.”

So, Sadie was going to have a little cousin, I thought to myself.

“That’s great. Tell him I said congratulations.”

“I will.”

We pulled up to a stop sign and he took his hands off the wheel. “I don’t even know where to start,” he said, turning to me. “So, let me start at the beginning.”

“What beginning?”

“The island.”

“Yeah, that’s a great place to start.”

“I left that day on the island because my sister needed me. Well, my niece needed me. I got a call from my niece’s nanny. My sister had been gone for a week, no call, no show.”

“Did something happen to her?” I was instantly worried, but didn’t want to show it. What if this was all a well-orchestrated lie?

He nodded, “Rehab... eventually. She was in the hospital. She’s in recovery now.”

I shook my head, “So you left to—”

“Go get my niece. I didn’t want her sitting in foster care for even a few minutes and I knew once the authorities found out that my sister had abandoned her kid to get drunk and high, that they would remove Rory from my sister’s home.”

“So, your sister just didn’t come back home and checked herself into rehab?”

“Not exactly. We found her in the hospital a few days later. She had overdosed and someone had brought her in as a Jane Doe.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry... How old was your niece at the time?”

“Three.”

“She must have been traumatized.”

“Her nanny did a great job staying when she wasn’t even being paid. She’s a good person. And she also happened to be a close friend of mine from college.”

That explained the beach scene… I thought to myself. I must have seen him with his niece and her nanny, who was his friend.

Now that I thought about it... Mrs. Wallace had never called the kid Griffin’s kid. She’d only referred to the little girl as her granddaughter. She’d been careful not to fully lie to me... she’d just planted the seed. She had played me like a fool as I had initially expected.

“I thought... I thought you were married. I saw you on a beach a few years ago with your arms around some woman and you guys had a little girl.”

“My dad raised me better than that. I’ve never cheated on anyone and I’ve never been married. The only thing I’m guilty of is failing to tell you that I was leaving the night after we made love, but I was operating on not much sleep because of our lovemaking and when I got that call in the middle of the night, I just left. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“But as soon as I came back to my senses I told Jackson to tell you I had to leave.”

“He tried,” I said. “But I jumped to conclusions and didn’t listen. I assumed he was lying... you know, trying to cover for you.”

And just like that, my world changed. The man I’d pegged the enemy for years was actually a good, decent guy. I sighed. So now instead of anger, I had to deal with guilt.

Thankfully, soon after, we pulled up to the restaurant and I climbed out of the car before he could come around and open the door.

“I guess I need to get faster,” he commented wryly. He reached for my hand and I hesitated before letting him take it. He smiled and I looked away, too overwhelmed by what I’d learned to look at him. And the sad part was that the night was still early. What other secrets was Griffin keeping and when would I have to share my own?

We walked into the restaurant and were seated immediately. It was a cozy Italian place and I desperately wanted something rich and decadent to eat. My stomach growled as I smelled all the mesmerizing aromas in the air.

“You’ll like this place, it’s delicious.”

“It sure smells delicious.”

“What are you in the mood for?”

“Cheese, pasta, cream, bread… all of it. And maybe cheesecake at the end?”

He laughed. “I think we can make that happen.”

He ordered for the both of us and when the waiter left, I felt vulnerable and unsure of myself. It was like being 22 all over again.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing, I just haven’t done this in a long time.”

“What exactly haven’t you done in a long time?” he asked not understanding.

“This… the whole dating scene.”

“I get it…neither have I. Life’s been busy, to say the least. What’s your excuse?” he asked turning the tables.

I gulped. Should I tell him now? Was now the right time? Thankfully, the waiter appeared with a bottle of wine. It gave me time to think, which I was having trouble doing when Griffin was around.

“As you were saying,” Griffin prompted me, not letting me forget that I had yet to answer his question.

“I’ve been busy with life, too busy to date.”

“Care to elaborate?” he asked perceptively, knowing there was more.

I stared into his eyes, trying to read him. Trying to see if somehow he already knew or had guessed. But his eyes revealed nothing and I figured I was just being paranoid.

“These past years have been busy. I’ve been busy dealing with everything that life has thrown at me so I haven’t had much time for anything else,” I answered cryptically.

He nodded. “I understand that. I found myself in a similar situation.”

I inwardly sighed in relief, grateful that he was going to leave the subject alone and not pry. But nope, I was wrong.

“Tell me about your life there. What do you do? I can’t imagine there are a lot of opportunities for actresses in small town Georgia.”

“There aren’t but I keep myself busy. I’m a front-end developer.”

“You’re a computer geek?” he said, smiling proudly at me.

“Sure am. The entry level salary was exactly what I needed at the time and the economic outlook for the career is great.”

He laughed at me then. “You sound like a career counselor.”

“I had to make money. I have mouths to feed.”

“Mouths?” He looked at me curiously.

God, I wanted to kick myself. This is not how I planned to tell him about Sadie. Actually, I don’t know how I planned to tell him about Sadie and it was clear that I needed to.

“It’s just a Southern figure of speech.” I promptly changed the subject. “So, did your mom tell you everything that happened in your office that day?”

He sat back and sighed. He folded his hands in front of him. “She only admitted to having you escorted out. She said she thought you were a stalker, but she emphasized to me that she just felt sorry for you.”

“Stalker! Sorry for me! I was scared spitless! I thought she was going to have me arrested and she’s making the whole incident sound as if I were some sort of crazed gold digger.”

“My mother does have a way of spinning the truth.”

“Ha!” I laughed bitterly. “Tell me about it.”

“Let’s not talk about my mom. I didn’t bring you here for that. Let’s keep talking about you. I want to know more about your new career.”

“Not much to tell. I’m good at it. It pays well like I mentioned and I can work from home.” I stopped myself from continuing about how as a mom I needed that flexibility. “Anyway, it allows me flexibility which is what most millennials want, well according to all the stuff I read on career websites.”

“I guess your teacher was wrong, after all,” he said as he poured me a glass of wine.

I tilted my head in confusion.

He laughed. “I have a great memory,” he said with a shrug. “You said on the island that your programming teacher commented that you couldn’t apply yourself. Apparently, he or she was wrong.”

Knowing that he remembered that piece of information from a conversation we had years ago, made my heart soften towards him even more.

“Yeah, she was wrong. I guess I just needed the right motivation,” I said furtively and then immediately regretted my words. Sadie had been that motivation, but my emotions were too raw and the information I’d uncovered was too new for me to want to add a conversation about Sadie to an already emotionally charged evening.

“You didn’t give up on your dream to become an actress, did you?”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t ever really my dream, I realized that over the years. It was just something to do while I figured out what I wanted in life.”

“And did you figure out what that something was?” I didn’t like his tone. Something about it was unnerving. And I realized suddenly that all the anger I felt towards him had dissipated. And I started to feel things towards him that I hadn’t allowed myself to feel in years. I still had a thing for my baby’s father.

I shrugged. “Not yet. Maybe one day I will,” I replied softly. I yawned and looked at the time. It was growing late and I suggested we head back.

“Already tired of me?”

I smiled at him. “I had a great evening… it’s just late.”

“Maybe we can do this again some time?” he asked hopefully. When I hesitated, he jumped in, saying, “Just think about it. No pressure. Maybe we can start again? Make up for lost time and pick up where we left off.”

“I… well... a lot has happened since we met. I’ve changed. My priorities have changed. Plus, I’m not going to be here for long.”

He shrugged. “I can tell Richard to pull a few strings… maybe he can get you another gig.”

“I have a life back in Georgia.”

“Let’s talk about something else.” He leaned forward and reached for my hands, taking them in his. His touch sent a chill up my arms and I couldn’t think or breathe for a moment.

“Everything you think you know about me is wrong. I don’t blame you for jumping to conclusions and thinking I led you on. That’s not what happened. I just reacted badly and could only think about my sister and my niece when I heard the news. I asked Jack not to tell you the whole story, just that I had a family emergency.”

“He tried—but I didn’t believe him,” I said, remembering how badly I had reacted. “I thought it was a one night-stand to you.”

He squeezed my hands. “It was never meant to be that. That’s why when I came to my senses I told him to give you my contact information.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I ripped it up to shreds and then tossed his phone.”

“Yeah, he made me pay for that. Literally. He made me buy him a new cellphone.”

“Is it too late to tell him I’m sorry about that?”

He laughed. “I don’t know, I don’t think it’s ever too late to tell someone you’re sorry.”

I knew he was talking about himself.

“I messed up, Nina. But I never stopped thinking about you. When you came to the office, I was speaking with a family lawyer trying to arrange custody of Rory. We were trying to track down my niece’s father. It turns out that he didn’t even know he had a daughter.”

My heart dropped. “Oh really?”

“Yeah. Just further evidence of how selfish my sister is. The guy is actually a really decent person. He’s from a nice hard-working family in Bakersfield. Good people. I met them, his parents and his brothers and sisters. They were so excited to meet Rory. They treat her like she’s gold.”

“So that’s where your niece is now?”

“Yeah. She’s with her dad. He has full custody. I see her on the weekends occasionally. She’s having the time of her life. She has cousins and more grandparents now. She’s so happy.”

The very thing I was denying Sadie. The guilt I felt made me sick.

“Maybe your sister wasn’t selfish. Maybe she had a reason for keeping her daughter a secret.”

“I know my sister,” he said letting go of my hand. “She probably did it out of spite.”

“I think you’re making light of the subject. Most women don’t want to be a single mom…”

“I’m sure my sister didn’t give it much thought, at all.”

I found myself getting upset with him. “Cut her some slack, Griffin. And stop being so judgmental.... being a single mom is hard.”

“Hey,” he said. “I’m not arguing with you about that. But being a single mom was her choice. She could have told Vic, my niece’s father.”

“Maybe... maybe she was scared.”

“Maybe, but I know my sister better than you do and don’t forget she abandoned my niece to get high, so she’s not exactly mother of the year.”

“You’re right, I don’t know why I’m defending her.”

“It’s ok. I just don’t know how someone could deliberately deny someone the right to be a father. I guess it’s just upsetting because I loved my dad. I wouldn’t have been the man I was without him.”

I was glad for the change of subject. “Tell me about him.”

Griffin took a sip of his wine and savored the taste as he thought of the past. “He was just your average Joe. He was actually my stepdad. I never had a relationship with my biological father. My parents divorced early and the visits from my biological dad became less and less frequent until one day he just stopped showing up altogether. I was angry a lot because of that. I was a very difficult child, if you let my mom tell it.”

“I can believe that,” I said lightly, enjoying the moment.

“Thanks,” he said. “Anyway, so my mom remarried.”

“Oh, so Jackson and your sister—”

“Nora.”

“Yes, Nora. They’re from your mom’s second marriage?”

“Yep,” he said. “So yeah, my stepdad was just this average guy, an adjunct professor at a small-time community college. I think my mom met him while on vacation. He had a normal job, nothing fancy. And so she married him and pretty much caused a scandal because he wasn’t rich. He was just a nobody according to my mom’s peers. But he was great—so great to me, to us. Just a kind, wonderful man with broad shoulders. I always felt he could take the world on those shoulders. He taught me what it was to be a man.”

He grew silent and I didn’t want to push, but I just had to know.

“What happened to him?”

“A car accident when I was about 13 or 14.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“A drunk driver killed him instantly. We were all devastated. It changed us, you know? Dad had been the glue that held us all together. And in that one instant, a stranger tore our family apart. Mom bore the worst of it. She retreated into herself and then when she got better, I don’t think you could actually call it that, she became, what do they call it? A helicopter parent. She barely let us out of her sight. And my sister, she was a daddy’s girl. After he died she was constantly butting heads with Mom. So stubborn, just like Mom. They couldn’t see eye to eye and she left home at 16, running off with some friends. It took Mom a month to track her down and oh boy when she did, she rained down hell on my sister.”

He shook his head.

“And Jackson?”

“He was the youngest, so he didn’t know Dad as well as the rest of us. He just tried to be the funny one, always making us laugh. Trying to get Mom to smile. He’s the same way now, always trying to get the family together, always trying to make peace and get us to relax... come to think of it, he’s a lot like Dad.”

“I’m so sorry. I never knew my real father, but my stepdad is an amazing man. I can’t imagine ever losing him.”

“I wouldn’t wish that pain on my worst enemy.”

We sat in silence for a moment, each of us lost in thought.

“Did I ruin the evening by telling you all my family drama and secrets?” he asked as the waiter cleared our plates.

“No, not at all. I think we all have our share of secrets... things that we don’t want others to know or just things that we don’t want to talk about.”

“What are your secrets, Nina?”

Now was the time. Just tell him, Nina. What happened to confident Nina? I hesitated. Tell him, Nina. But how to even begin?

“Griffin, there’s something I need to tell you,” I said, forcing the words out before I could change my mind.

“Uh oh, sounds serious,” he joked.

The waiter took that moment to arrive with the check.

“Now, what were you saying?”

I lost my nerve. What if he saw me as selfish like his sister? I didn’t want him to resent me. I needed time. I couldn’t just spit it out. It just wasn’t the right time.

“Nothing. I’m tired.”

“Me too. I hate to sound like a stick in the mud, but I have an early meeting tomorrow.”

“Aww... so you’re done stalking me on set.”

“My stalker days are over. After all, you agreed to have dinner with me so I think you’re coming around.”

He held out his hand to me and I took it. We walked out of the restaurant still holding hands. His nearness and the full moon reminded me of our moonlight tryst so long ago. It had been a balmy evening just like this one when I had crept into his room.

I looked at him and he looked at me, clearly we were thinking the same thing.

“Would it be too forward to invite you to my place?”

“Would it be too forward to accept?”

He smiled wickedly at me and opened the car door. I slid in, taking my time to rub against his body as I did.

“You’re trouble, Nina.”

“And you like it, Griffin.”

I heard him chuckle as he closed the door. Nina Charles, what are you getting yourself into? I thought.