“I’m happy to see you again,” I told him earnestly.
I sat down next to Griffin, who put a hand on my lower back, rubbing it up and down. I leaned into his touch, immensely grateful that he was here. Even though the morning had gone well, I realized that I was still a bit unsettled. My entire body only calmed down at Griffin’s touch.
The man has magic powers, I swear.
“What looks good?” I asked Griffin. He had a menu open in front of him.
“They have five types of waffles,” he said with a smile. “And pancakes.”
“This day calls for a waffle,” I said.
He laughed, kissing the side of my head. “I thought you might say that, but I didn’t want to order for you.”
“How’s Emma?” I asked Jude.
“She’s great. She went to visit our grandkids and is spending the week there. We miss them a lot. We’re both trying to convince our kids to move closer, but we’ll see how that goes.”
My God, these two were so sweet. I opened my mouth to ask if he planned to visit them soon as well, but my stomach lurched when I saw Marshall step into the garden.
Shit, did he follow me?No, that was ridiculous. He wasn’t even looking around.
I nudged Griffin, and he frowned at me, raising a brow in question. I couldn’t tell him that Marshall was here, but I turned to look in his direction. I was simply keeping my fingers and toes crossed that he wouldn’t notice us.
Of course, I didn’t have any such luck.
Marshall jerked his head back when he spotted us. To my dismay, he walked right toward us. That was when Griffin noticed him too. He went completely rigid.
Shit, shit, shit.This couldn’t be happening. My mind was racing. Should I excuse myself and ask Marshall to talk to me outside? But that would just draw attention to the fact that something was off.
I wasn’t sure what to do. It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion without being able to do anything about it. Hopefully, we could shut down the conversation before Jude suspected anything.
“So, you’re both here,” Marshall said, looking from me to Griffin. “Should have known you were close by. That’s why she talked about you like you’re the Eighth Wonder of the World or something.”
“Excuse me,” Jude said. “What is going on?”
“Leave these premises or else,” Griffin said nicely, but the threat was clear.
“Or else what?” Marshall said, looking straight at Griffin. “You’ll have me removed? You don’t own this place.”
“Get out. You’re interrupting a business meeting.”
“You bring your girlfriend to your meetings? Whatever, man. You’ll come around to see things from my perspective when you’ve been with her for longer than a roll in the?—”
Griffin rose from the table and grabbed Marshall by the collar. “Stop while you’re ahead. Remember last time?”
I jumped to my feet too. Jude was simply looking at us with a stunned expression.
“Griffin, he’s not worth it,” I murmured.
Jude cleared his throat. “I don’t know who you are, but I’m guessing you’re an ex-boyfriend of Phoebe’s. I suggest you move on. Phoebe and Griffin have been going together for eight or nine months now. And we have a meeting to conduct, so please leave us.”
I sucked in a breath.
Marshall scoffed. “What are you on, man? Phoebe and I broke up three months ago.”
Jude opened his mouth but didn’t say anything else. He looked straight at me. I didn’t have it in me to lie to his face again.
“Marshall, go! Just leave,” I demanded.
