Page 50 of How He Got the Girl
“I’ve been dying to hear the story of how you two met. I read about it in the tabloids, but they never get things right. And since Mallory hasn’t told me anything”—Angie shoots her daughter a look—“I was hoping you’d tell me the full story.”
“Gladly.” I finish my steak and lean back, clasping my hands in my lap. “It all started on a snowy winter night…”
There’snotenoughpatiencein the world to help me suppress my eye roll as Griffin starts our story the way one would a fairy tale.
“I was enjoying the evening with my granny while my parents were out on their weekly date night, when there was a knock at the front door. Carolers. That’s when I walked onto the porch and saw this beautiful woman”—he reaches over, intertwining our fingers—“and everything else faded away.”
I take a sip of Dr. Pepper, trying to hide my annoyed look behind my cup—it doesn’t exactly sayromance.
“I couldn’t look at anyone but her while she sang ‘Deck the Halls’ with a choreographed routine. It truly felt like fate had brought her to my doorstep.” He rubs the stubble on his chin. “Anyway, I saw that they were all holding cups and stupidly thought they were collecting money for charity. I pulled a handful of change out of my pocket and proceeded to drop it into Mallory’s half-full cup of hot chocolate.”
“Oh no.” My mom laughs. “I can picture that scene playing out perfectly.”
“It was a meet-cute straight out of a rom-com.” Griffin squeezes my hand. “Until I dropped the change in her cup,and the hot liquid sloshed over and burned her fingers. I held some snow to it, trying to help the best I could.”
“What a gentleman.” Mom looks between us, doe-eyed.
“I try my best, ma’am.” He smiles at her. “To make up for my terrible mistake, I offered to buy her a hot chocolate at a local place the next day.”
“Mallory never meets up with strangers.” My dad raises a skeptical brow.
“I wasn’t sure she’d agree to it, sir. But when she countered with me buying her two cups, we had a deal.”
“That’s my girl.” Dad nods at me like he’s proud I got an extra hot chocolate out of the encounter.
Griffin glances at me, looking the picture of calm, cool, and collected. A complete contrast to my current anxious, sweaty, and frazzled state.
Why did I ever agree to this?
It feels wrong lying to my family. But I suppose Griffin’s only told the truth thus far.
“The next afternoon, I met her at my favorite local coffee shop, and we enjoyed hot chocolates and talked for hours until we were both starving. Plus, I was looking for any excuse to spend more time with her.” He shoots me a grin.
I hate when he fake flirts with me. It’s been clear to me since watching his interview that our date didn’t mean as much to him as it did to me. So, I don’t understand why he’s making it out to be as wonderful as I thought it was when he doesn’t believe the words he’s saying. I guess he’s a better actor than I gave him credit for.
“That’s when we decided to grab wings before Daisy picked her up,” Griffin adds. Conveniently, he left out a crucial element: our earth-shattering first kiss with the snow slowly falling around us. Though I’m glad he didn’tmention it. I’d be mortified talking to my parents about our kiss.
“Then what?” my mom asks, leaning forward expectantly.
Griffin’s expression falls. “Unfortunately, our story paused there for a few years, courtesy of two dead phones, a phone number on a napkin, and a slushy puddle of snow.”
I meet my mom’s unexpectedly emotional gaze. “Is that why you never told me about him?”
I nod solemnly. “I thought he wasn’t interested when he never called.”
“Oh, sweetie.” She frowns before turning back to Griffin, waiting for more of the story.
“But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.” He places his hand on my thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I left for an audition right after our date, and that was what landed me my first leading role inA Chance Romance. I hired an agent shortly after and worked with her to try to find Mallory. Unfortunately, our searches always came up empty-handed.”
He should win an award for his Oscar-worthy sigh and look of dejection. It’s pure torture having to sit here and listen to Griffin share our story. Because, while my parents think it ends in a happily-ever-after…I know that it ends in a tragedy with a fairytale façade.
Griffin leans toward me and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. The back of his fingers brushes along my jaw, sending my thoughts tumbling back to when he did the same thing before our first kiss in the snow. My eyes dart to his, and I can see the same memory reflected in his eyes. His gaze drops to my mouth, and the desire to feel his lips on mine builds.
I shove those feelings away into a deep abyss where they belong. I’ve always thought that the chemistry I felt was one-sided, but the way Griffin’s talking and the heated way he’s looking at me makes it seem like it wasn’t one-sided at all. So, what’s the truth? This story he’s selling now, or what he said on the interview a few months after he met me?
He shoots me a small smile before turning back to my parents. “I didn’t even have a last name to go off. And now I know that I was searching using her middle name rather than her first name, so it makes sense why I always came up empty-handed. I tried her school, but the university wouldn’t give out any information, and a lot of Mallorys popped up with a search for Louisville, but none of them were her.”
“How did you find our Mallory again, then?” My mom has never sounded so invested.
