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Chapter Thirteen
Darcy avoided the citizens of Revival for five days and tried her best not to think about Griffin.
She’d done the right thing. She’d severed the threads of the bonds that were trying to tie her to him. They had no future. And she was self-aware enough to know she was too emotionally attached to sleep with him. Just that brief interlude in the car felt enough to ruin her for other men.
But she couldn’t stop replaying their argument in her head over and over again. She’d never tell him, but he was the inspiration behind her blog. Way back when she was a girl he’d taught her to own her sexuality, be proud of it. He’d taught her to never settle for less than she deserved. To demand equal pleasure. And to never, ever be afraid to ask for what she wanted.
When she’d moved to New York and finally started dating again, she’d realized Griff was an anomaly. That most men expected her to take a backseat when it came to sex, and that wasn’t acceptable to her. The more she talked to her girlfriends, the more she found that was the norm.
So she’d started her blog to empower women.
But Griff was right. She used her real name to write more serious pieces on the social impact of sexuality. Not because she was embarrassed, but because her blog was fun, tongue in cheek and a bit snarky. She wanted those “real” articles to be taken with the credibility they deserved. In her head, she justified her actions because the people who mattered to her knew about her alter ego, and had never thought much about it. How was it any different than what he did?
She supposed, in the end, the semantics of what they hid and revealed was merely a convenient thing to fight about instead of confronting the truth about what really bothered them. That not much had changed since they were eighteen. Age, success, circumstances didn’t change the fact that they had no future.
So she was right to pull away. Only she couldn’t stop being so miserable without him.
She’d filled her time. She’d talked to lawyers, researched and tried to figure out if there was a way to save her mom’s house.
So far she hadn’t been able to find one.
She’d thought about staging a protest, but the town was on Griffin’s side. They all wanted this project. Thought it would be good for the community.
Only Darcy’s mom seemed to want to hold on to the past and be a stubborn obstacle to the future and the path to prosperity. But more and more, Darcy had a hard time getting behind her wishes. Darcy had also looked through the public records and council meetings. She’d read the plans for the town square development that Griffin had appeared to be working on since he’d taken the office of mayor.
She couldn’t deny it was spectacular. Couldn’t deny what he was trying to do for the community. She also understood it.
Because she knew him and his past, knew the project was a way to exorcise those demons. He was taking a place that was an embarrassment and turning it into the town showpiece. All he wanted was to make their side of the tracks something to be proud of.
Did she really want to deny him that accomplishment?
As a last-ditch effort she’d asked Gracie Roberts to join her for lunch. Maybe without everyone there she could discover something that would allow Darcy to continue her fight in good conscience. Give her something to fight for. It was a long shot, she knew, but her mom was worth the shot.
And Darcy had nothing left to lose.
