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Scottie chuckled, taking the gifts from me. “They’re beautiful, Griff. Why did you bring me flowers? Did I forget my birthday?”
“Just because. I’m glad you’re here, Scottie. Not just here in this apartment with me, but here.” I placed a hand over my chest. Tears flooded Scottie’s eyes and spilled down his cheeks. Alarmed, I cupped his face. “What did I say? Why are you crying?”
He shook his head. “I’m happy, Griff.”
But even as he said the words, dimness clouded his expression. I believed him. Scottie was too expressive to hide anything from me, but he had another thing on his mind. The one thing I couldn’t give him back. His friendship with my son.
31
SCOTTIE
Can we talk?
Jay’s message came in while I was at work. After him ignoring me for almost a month, his text message brought tears to my eyes. The light chatter of my coworkers in the breakroom reminded me of where I was, so I swallowed the lump in my throat and blinked back the moisture from my eyes. Although I didn’t feel like eating anymore, I forced a forkful of last night’s leftovers that I’d brought for lunch into my mouth.
My first instinct was to call Griff, but I refrained. I couldn’t distract him at work.
You’re thinking too much, Scottie. Isn’t this what you’ve wanted?
I typed up a simple reply and sent it to Jay.
Sure. Lemme know where and when.
When he didn’t reply, my hope plummeted. What if he’d sent the message to the wrong number? Or he’d thought twice about it and changed his mind?
“This seat taken?” Lucas lowered himself into the chair across from me without waiting for an answer. He peeled back the wrapper from his burrito that smelled good. “Want a bite?”
“No, thanks. I have lunch.” I stabbed my food with the fork. Griff often took lunch to work, so when it was my turn to cook, I prepared enough for us to take with us the next day. Last night I’d looked up a recipe for Chicken Alfredo, and it had turned out decently. I wouldn’t win any awards, but neither Griff nor I would starve.
“You okay?” Lucas asked. “You’ve looked a little down lately.”
I cocked my head to the side and frowned. He’d stopped hitting on me after the incident at the restaurant, so I couldn’t tell if he was back to his flirtatious self or genuinely cared as a coworker.
“Actually, I’ve been good,” I said.
“You sure?”
My phone vibrated. Jay had responded. “Excuse me. This is important.” I opened the phone.
Can u meet me after work? At a coffee bar, Laugh-a-Latte. I'll send u the directions.
Okay. I'll meet u there.
Clutching my phone, I breathed in deeply.
Don’t get ahead of yourself. You don’t know what he wants to talk about.
Although I was tempted to add how sorry I was again, I locked my phone and slipped it into my pocket. I needed to be cool and allow Jay to take the lead in our conversation later.
Before, I might have thought his treating me like this was too harsh when I’d only been doing him a favor. The past few weeks, though, had given me a chance to reflect on me violating his privacy and trust. I would have probably reacted similarly were our roles reversed. Griff and I had agreed to give him space. We couldn’t demand or coerce him into forgiving us. He had to want it.
Another coworker joined our table, which helped to keep Lucas at a distance. I devoured the rest of my lunch, then returned to my desk, leaving them talking.
The rest of the workday passed agonizingly slowly. Watching the clock never made the time fly, and every tick seemed to resonate through my body. When finally I was able to leave, I was nothing but a bundle of nerves walking through the exit.
I wasted ten minutes in my car calming down before I could drive over to the coffee bar, an unusual place for Jay to want us to meet. We’d never been there, and I almost missed it. The coffee bar was a quaint little place tucked between a boutique and a bookstore, its name “Laugh-a-Latte” written in cursive letters on the window. I backed into a parking spot and switched off the engine.
I gripped the steering wheel tightly until my knuckles turned white. I took a deep breath, counted to five, and tried to mentally prepare myself for whatever was coming.
