Page 73 of Crash
As if a lightbulb went off, he realized Sean was right. When she ordered the parts he’d needed to fix her beater, she’d left her contact information behind.
Why didn’t I think of that?
“It’s alright, buddy. You’ve been a little preoccupied.” Sean chuckled at Griffin’s expression.
Griffin moved to punch Sean in the shoulder, but he was too slow. Must be his old age slowing him down.
“Well, go on. Get outta here, already!” Sean’s shout made Griffin jump into gear.
If he left in the next twenty minutes, he could probably make it there in time to find a hotel to crash for the night before trying to look for her apartment.
“Thanks, Sean,” Griffin shouted over his shoulder before running across the street to shower and change. He couldn’t show up smelling like grease and motor oil. He’d have to figure out what he wanted to say whenhe got there. There were plenty of miles between him and his prize.
When he got out of the shower, he threw on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved tee. He grabbed his phone off the nightstand and opened up her message thread.
Griffin
I miss you.
He probably should have said something more, but it was the most important thing he wanted to tell her at the moment. Whistling to Rover, he grabbed his car keys, and the two of them jumped into his truck.
“You ready to go get our girl back?” he asked Rover, who barked in response and licked his face. “Gross.” Griffin shoved Rover’s face away.
He pulled up to the auto shop and ran into the office. It didn’t take him long to locate the invoice. Snapping a picture of her information, he put the address into his navigation app and ran back out the door.
He could hear Julio and Sean whistling and laughing at him as he ran like his ass was on fire.
Griffin was a man on a mission.
He had a woman to bring back home.
thirty-five
QUYNH
Two weeks.
It’s been two whole weeks since she made her dramatic exit from Willowbrook. Away from Ruth. From Griffin. Instead of giving Griffin a chance to explain, she fled town like a coward.
In hindsight, she knew a small part of her left because of Ruth, but a bigger part of her knew it was because she was scared of having her heart broken. Of being vulnerable. Again. But with Griffin, it was different. She wouldn’t have survived the heartbreak if he had been lying to her the whole time they were together. Even if they had only been together for a few weeks.
She was the happiest she had ever been in all of her adult life. Which was saying a lot, considering her age. She worked hard for her college degree and a successful career. Well, she considered herself to be pretty successful before she was fired. And her boss possibly committing insurance fraud.
Her heart ached as more time passed.
And they said distance would make things easier.
She scoffed. If anything, she felt worse as the days passed.
Most nights, she’d cry herself to sleep thinking about what she walked away from.
Did he even miss me?
She’d only seen one missed call from him, and he didn’t leave a voicemail. Quynh resisted the urge to text him. She needed to figure out her life first.
What do I even have to offer a man like Griffin right now except for the broken pieces of myself?
Instead of being abandoned, she left Willowbrook behind in a delusional attempt at controlling her situation. All she ended up doing was making a bigger mess of her life.
