So…I’m doing it.I’m jumping.I’m trusting that the parachute will open.
I spend my morning doing what I normally do—reading, filming, brainstorming ideas for more content.In the quiet moments, I let myself fantasize about what comes next.
I know I want Griffin to be a part of it.And I wonder if staying closer to his home base would change things for him.I don’t expect him to let me live in this house long-term.It was a temporary solution—a true summertime stopover.I want to build from the ground up this time.My business.My home.My future.
CASEY: When are you getting back today?I have exciting news.
GRIFFIN: I’ll come as soon as I inhale my lunch.Be there around 1.
Every minute leading until one o’clock feels like an eternity.The more I pore over my new plan—theStay in Bayshore, Actually, and Be a Full Time Badass Book Rec Bartenderplan—I realize how well things are lining up.
Ryan has offered me a steady spot at the bar if I stay.He says winter gets slow, but he can promise me some hours each week, which is better than nothing.Between what I’ve made this summer and what I have in savings, I could last another year paying Bayshore-level rent, even if I make zero dollars.And the real star of the show, the TikTok account, has been growing daily.No, hourly.I’ve got over a hundred thousand followers already, and each video I post seems to unlock a new level of bookish wonder.
Publishers are reaching out, dying to send me ARCs.I have indie authors messaging left and right, asking for my address to send PR boxes.And that’s just on the book end of things.On the financial end?I’ve got brands wanting to partner already.Paychecks are waiting for me.
This thing is growing faster than anything I’ve ever done.And I built it in eight weeks while bartending four nights a week.No matter how hard I try to be practical and reasonable, there’s one thought that just keeps floating to the top:
What if this is the thing?
When the front door opens and Griffin comes into the house, I could crumple from how much I love him.How much I missed him.How much I just want to exist in this joyful bubble of potential for the rest of my life.
“Sup, Case?”His easy smile is the only thing I see.I’m bent at the knees, leaning against the back of the couch as he heads my way.He slides his hands along the back of the couch, bending slightly to meet me at my level.Our lips meet, a tender, hungry kiss emerging.
“Mmm.Needed that,” he says when we break apart.
“Me too.”I smile dreamily at him.
“What’s your news?”
I search his face, wondering how to begin.“I don’t think I’m moving back to Chicago.”
He pulls back a bit, surprise moving across his face.Then it hardens into something more neutral.“Yeah?”
“I’m getting paid collaboration offers left and right on TikTok,” I say.“It’s growing by the minute, I swear.And Ryan said I could stay at Brews.I know the money won’t be as good in the winter as it is during the summer, but I have savings.I think between Brews and my savings and whatever I keep building on TikTok, I can get by without the day job.”
I could add more, but I’m acutely aware that Griffin has gone fully expressionless.These are all practical reasons anyway.I haven’t even gone into the emotional reasons, one of which is standing in front of me in workout clothes looking like my dream man.
Griffin nods slowly, looking like he just heard a fifth grader explain their approach to world peace.“Yeah.I think that’s great.”
The words are right, but something’s off.“You do?”
“Bayshore is lucky to have you.”
I wait.The silence is heavy.Eternal.Because I want to see if he’ll say it.The thing that I’ve hinted at a hundred times.The prayer I whisper in every kiss.The hope I hold every time he scoops me up and claims me even though we’re “just friends.”
But he’s not going to say it.I decide to give him one more opening.
“It would be nice,” I say cheerily, “to not live three hundred miles away from you.”
Something shifts in him.His gaze grows warm as he says, with all the sweetness in the world, “Itwouldbe nice.Next summer, if you’re still around, we can do all this again.”
I swallow hard, trying not to let my face show the effect his words have.Next summer.
He still thinks this is ending, that ithasto end.He squeezes my arms and brushes a quick kiss against my forehead.
“You got a good plan, Case.I’m glad the TikTok account is heating up.”He heads back toward the door.“I’m heading to my mom’s to help her look for the damn safe combination.Piper wrote down that combination on game night then lost the paper.”
I nod vehemently, clearing my throat.“Yeah.Great.Have fun.Let me know if you find it.”
