“I’m sure it’ll be delicious. Do you think you have enough for one more?”
“What?” I looked up as my doorbell chimed. “Are you?” I wiped my hands on my apron and walked to the front door without bothering to grab my phone off the counter.
Griffin was standing on my front porch with a little smirk on his face.
“I said, do you think you have enough for one more?” He opened his arms for a hug, and I fell into them without a second thought.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I whispered, and he squeezed me a little tighter.
“If you won’t let Kyle be here then I’m the next best option. He’d be pissed if I kept your secret AND let you go through this alone.” Griffin mumbled into the top of my head.
He wasn’t wrong.
While we had never been close, Griffin had been a constant in our family for many years now, and he knew my brother better than anyone, better even than Ben. Griffin and my brother met in their first semester of college and quickly became best friends. A fact that had always rubbed Ben the wrong way. I had always wondered if his dislike was motivated by a tiny bit of jealousy.
Unlike the rest of us, Griffin came from a very wealthy family. His great-grandfather had immigrated to America from India, where he'd met and later married an American schoolteacher, and they had three children together. It was his great-uncle who started the family company. He'd once told me that the reason he went into security was because he didn't want to ride on the coattails of his great uncle like the rest of his family. He admitted that he didn't have much in common with his own sibling, who was a social media influencer. It only took one Walsh family dinner for Griffin to decide he wanted to spend the holidays with our family.
“Come in. There’s plenty!” I finally pulled out of the embrace and wiped away the rogue tear that had escaped. “Lily said thehot tub crew is almost done.” Griffin raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.
Lily was walking back into the house just as I entered the kitchen.
“Quick, think of something else for them to demo.” She said with a cheeky grin. I rolled my eyes and stepped to the side so Griffin could step into the room. Lily’s eyes went wide, and she looked him up and down with an appraising expression.
“Who are you and do you do demo work?” she flirted.
“Lilyyyy.” I groaned. Griffin laughed and stuck out his hand.
“Griffin Bose, I think we met briefly at the funeral.” He shook her hand lightly and then stepped back to my side again.
She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest, but tapped on finger on her chin.
“That’s right, but..." she paused, "you’re a long way from home…”
“I’m here to help.” He confessed.
“How?” Lily tilted her head, and her eyes flitted to me before going back to Griffin.
“All things tech are easier in person.” He shrugged, “plus the faster the lawyer gets the evidence the faster things can proceed.”
“This is your brother’s best friend?” Lily asked me.
“Yes?” I hesitated to answer because her question felt like a trap.
“You picked the wrong best friend.” She declared and skipped back outside to watch the men leave.
Griffin Bose was a good-looking man. If he hadn't decided to go the tech route in life, modeling would've been a distinct possibility. His features reminded me of Rohit Khandelwai, the Indian male model who won Mr. World.
My cheeks heated as her comment lingered in the room.
“I have always felt that I was the better best friend, if I do say so myself.” Griffin teased and gently guided me back towards the cutting board, “now… I was promised food.”
“Oh really?” I sassed back, relieved that he had found a way to defuse the tension.
“If you’re going to put me to work the least you can do is feed me.” He asserted with a serious expression.
“Fineeee.” I giggled. “You can start by seeing if you can hack into the jackass’s laptop.”
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