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Chapter Twenty
Griffin downed another two fingers of scotch, hissing out a breath as he gazed at his Christmas tree and sank deeper into his misery. How could it be worse this time around?
He’d spent all these years without Darcy. She’d only been back in his life for, what? A month? Putting her out of his mind should not be harder than when he’d been eighteen. But maybe that was the problem. At eighteen he’d had his whole life ahead of him, he’d been young and stupid. Who stayed with their high school girlfriend anyways? No one, that’s who.
But now he knew there was something about Darcy that other women couldn’t compete with. She held his heart. She understood him, knew what he needed and how to give it to him. She was strong and independent with the exact right amount of wildness to keep life interesting.
Ironically, it was all the things he loved most about her that made it impossible for her to stay.
But he didn’t know if he wanted to live without her anymore.
Could he do it? Give up his life here and go to New York? Would she even want that?
He didn’t know because he hadn’t asked. Hadn’t wanted to know the answer.
He poured himself another glass of scotch.
Alone on Christmas Eve.
He’d been invited places. His brother and his wife had asked him over. His brother in Chicago had asked him to come since he was stuck in the city for work. Mitch and Maddie Riley asked him to come over with their family as well, but he’d turned everyone down. He wasn’t up to putting on a happy face.
He wanted to wallow in his misery.
He should be celebrating. He got what he wanted. His project would see the light of day, and Revival would start the road to recovery. The town would become what it was meant to be. Only it had come at an unexpected price and now he had to find a way to live with that.
Or he could leave.
He thought about his likely opponent in the next election. Clyde Winston—a narrow-minded, backward-thinking, sixty-five-year-old who hated change. He’d opposed everything Griffin did. Who would stand against Winston if Griff left?
Nobody. The asshole would drag the town twenty years into the past. Griffin knew in the grand scheme of things Revival was just a small town in the middle of nowhere. That small towns came and went without anyone even noticing. But he loved this town. Loved its crazy residents. Loved the strong values and sense of community. Loved who he’d been able to become because of it.
Griffin took another drink and it burned his throat before blazing a path to his stomach.
He loved Darcy more.
Christ.
The doorbell rang.
The last thing he wanted was company. He’d ignore it but half the lights were on so his unwanted guest knew he was home. It was probably Charlie, who was on duty tonight, and probably stopping by to shoot the shit and kill some time.
Weary, he got up, drained his drink, and went to the door.
When he opened the door, he could only stare in stunned silence. It wasn’t Charlie.
It was Darcy.
And she looked messier than he could remember seeing her.
He opened his mouth and blurted before he had a chance to think, “You look terrible.”
A smile trembled on her lips. “So do you.”
“What? How?” He cleared the bewilderment from his voice. “Why are you here?”
She glanced around him and pointed. “Can I come in?”
He stood back and let her come in. She wore a heavy black jacket and jeans. Her hair a heap of tangles, her eyes shadowed. “Is everything okay?”
