Page 47 of Cakewalk
But the article only validated the rumors that spread by the end of that night. Not a soul in town didn’t know about it, and somehow even Mrs. Davidson caught word, because she blew my phone up with texts before the night was over.
She thought it was all exciting and congratulated me on finding myself such a handsome man. I didn’t bother to correct her that Griffin and I probably weren’t going to be a thing anymore.
Courtney just ignored my texts for a few days. To her, Griffin was the no-good fat cat she thought his father was, and he had corrupted me with his charming ways. As if I wasn’t capable of having good judgment if the guy was princely enough.
At some points, I did doubt myself. Had Griffin been an interloper all along—someone who wasn’t here for the long haul? Someone who’d leave if faced with enough resistance?
I knew that wasn’t true. I knew he put in more than enough effort for how much trouble everyone was giving him. But the fact was, now was the best time to pull out of the development. He hadn’t broken ground yet, hadn’t started any construction, barely got any utilities running. The only real investment, besides the purchase of the property, was the road into it that was partway started.
Madison texted me a week after the meeting, asking how I was doing. I wasn’t sure if she was asking as a friend or as a gossip, so I wrote a simple reply.
Me: Still breathing.
My phone rang a few moments later, and I shut off the TV and put aside the potato chips I was mindlessly eating to answer. “You’recallingme?” I asked.
Madison had a sewing machine running in the background. “Yeah, faster than typing, and more, you know, candid. Anyway, I gotta finish this dress, so I need my hands free.”
“Why must you know how I’m doing right this second?”
“I don’t know. I got a vibe. Homegirl seems sad.”
“I’m your homegirl again?”
“As long as you give me the deets.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, I’m on my second rewatch of The Office this week and I’m eating a family size bag of potato chips for dinner.”
“Ooh, yikes. You two break up?”
I paused for a moment to keep King Kong out of my chip bowl. “Not officially, but yeah, it’s sorta just mutually understood. Where can our relationship go if he’s not staying? I’m not doing contract work for him anymore, because I guess the development’s off.”
“What?” Madison snapped. “Well, that’s some bullshit.”
“Really? You think so?”
“We need that development! Not everybody’s against it, you know. Some of us can admit this town needs a shake-up. Hell, that’s what I’ve been trying to do, but I’m just a little boutique. We need somebody with firepower, someone like Griffin, to really get things moving.”
I sighed. “Well. We’ll just have to hope somebody else comes along.”
“I could strangle Thomas, I swear. That little twerp. So then, did Griffin leave town?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t really talked to him since we agreed to see how things went. And things aren’t going well. Courtney thinks I got ‘fooled’ by him, and my parents are pretty embarrassed as well. The newspaper’s having a field day, social media is eating up the scandal. I can’t see a way to spin it.”
“Maybe there’s no spin.”
“Huh?”
“Just sayin’. Maybe you two just say ‘screw it’ and bulldoze your way through it all like nothing happened. No apologies, just be proud and unrelenting!”
“That’d work if I had your disposition. But I don’t. And Griffin’s been burned so hard before by so many people, even by his own father, that I don’t think he wants to make a stand here.”
“Talk to him and see. He got us talking again, so I owe it to him to convince you to make this work.”
I rubbed my temples, having forgotten how persistent Madison could be. “Okay, okay.”
“Tonight.”
“Fine! I’ll let you know how it goes.”
