He’s quiet for a second. “I read every review after all your shows.”
I turn to look at him, but he keeps his eyes on the road.
“All of them. I even saved one.”
“Which one?”
“TheTimesone.” A pause. “Technically precise and emotionally unguarded.”
Oh, my poor heart. “I didn’t know that.”
“Now you do. Your turn.”
I face forward because my chest suddenly feels tight. “I once worked up the confidence to ask a guy out at a bar.”
His brow arches. “How did that go?”
“His husband showed up as he was letting me down gently.”
Griffin barks a laugh.
“They turned out to be really sweet. My friend group joined theirs, and we had a great night. Your turn.”
He drums his fingers on the wheel. “I talked to my grandmother every day for a year after she died.”
I go very still.
“Not—” He pauses. “I wasn’t hearing voices. I’d just be driving or working, and I’d have a thought, and I’d say it out loud like she was there. She had a lot of opinions about my work choices. Still does.”
“What does she think now?”
Something warm, yet painful, crosses his face. “She thinks it’s about time I build something and stay.”
A silence settles in the car between us, but it’s a comfortable one. The road curves around the headland, the ocean disappearing and then reappearing, bigger than before. The music fills the space.
I put my feet back on the dash.
“Piper,” he warns again.
“I know,” I say, smiling at the windshield. “I know.”
He doesn’t ask me to take my feet down again. He just leaves them there.
Thirty-Two
The town is Mira Cove.
It’s all whitewashed buildings that cascade down toward the water like a staircase. There are flowers in window boxes, and a corner bakery that smells divine. A line of shops runs along the main road, looking like they’ve been there for decades.
We had lunch at a place with outdoor tables right by the water. I spent ten minutes watching a seal in the harbor while Griffin watched me watch the seal. I only knew because I caught him when I finally looked over.
He didn’t apologize.
My skin warmed under his gaze, and I found myself squirming in my chair.
He didn’t apologize for that, either.
After lunch, he reaches into his back pocket, pulls out his wallet, and holds out a card.
