The apples of my cheeks were bursting. But then my smile vanished. “Would you need me to help fund it or?—”
“No, girl,” Peyton said. “Clean Slate’s got this. We can talk specifics later and get Holden to draw up a contract. But we thought we’d offer it to you quickly before you have to leave. I mean, you probably need to head back to pack your things, but?—”
“Jules!” Griffin called from the front porch, hands cupped around his mouth. He tapped his watch.
I held up a finger, indicating I’d be right there.
He stared at the three of us, something shifting in his face.
I looked at Ford and Peyton again. “Would you come with me to tell Griffin? He’ll have questions I can’t answer.”
“Absolutely,” Peyton said at the same time that Ford said, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
I glanced toward the house. Griffin was back inside, trying to wrangle both of our suitcases across the slate floor in the foyer. I waved for them to follow and took off at a jog.
Peyton coaxed Ford behind me, clicking her tongue as if he were a pony. “C’mon, Rainbow Sparkles. You can do it. That’s right.”
“Woman,” he growled.
She shrieked just as I stepped into the house.
Griffin turned when he heard me come in. He smiled. But I could see him trying to read the situation. “What were you guys talking about outside?”
“Good stuff.” I pushed up on my tiptoes, threaded my fingers into his hair, and pulled his mouth to mine.
His hands came around my waist, his tongue tracing over mine. For one small moment, everything was exactly as it should’ve been. Griffin. Seddledowne. Everything I’d ever wanted was right there.
But my happily ever after was sitting right on top of a fault line. The thing nobody tells you about fault lines is how still the ground feels right before they split. And I’d never felt more solid in my life.
For thirty whole seconds.
Chapter Twenty
GRIFFIN
I’d agonized over my behavior toward Ford and almost went over to his house last night to apologize. What held me back was this: even though I’d been a douche, now he knew exactly where I stood. Naively, I’d thought that would be enough and he wouldn’t overstep my boundaries again. But apparently, he’d pulled the old ‘if Dad says no, ask Mom’ trick. Only, I was the dad and Juliette was the mom.
I glared at my uncle. “I swear, Ford. You always gotta be up in everybody’s business, manipulating people, and throwing your money around! Nobody asked for your help.”
Juliette grabbed my hand and pulled me back. She looked at me like she was begging me not to turn this into a fight. “Griff, deep breaths. It’s a good thing they’re doing, all right?”
It wasn’t, but I did as she said and counted to ten.
You’d think Ford would’ve had the decency to look guilty after trying this twice in forty-eight hours. Nope. He just stared back at me, expression chill.
I had to hand it to Peyton. She liked to bicker with Ford, but she was the first person to defend him—to the death if necessary. Apparently, she thought this was one of thosemoments because she stepped between us, ready to deflect my word bullets. “We’re not up in your business. We’re giving Juliette an opportunity.”
“The opportunity of a lifetime,” Ford added.
I shrugged. “Well, I hate to have to inform you, but your little ploy to get me back to Seddledowne isn’t going to work. Jules is perfectly happy modeling for DayGlow.” I said it with more confidence than I felt. “Did you actually think your start-up idea was going to lure her away?”
They were crazy. Jules made bank and was the face of one of the biggest beauty lines in the world. No way their startup would ever compare. Heck, it might flop spectacularly. Jules was supposed to give up DayGlow for a big fat maybe?
Aunt Peyton’s fists curled, probably about to punch me.
Ford folded his arms and met my eye. “If that’s the way you want to see it, that’s your choice. At Clean Slate Productions, we enjoy giving people a fresh start. It’s what we do. But we’re also a business, and facts are, your wife could level up by starting her own makeup line. And we could level up by diversifying our interests. We feel that between Peyton and Juliette, they could make something really great happen.” He cocked his head. “So you might want to start thinking like a husband, discuss it with your wife, and make the decision together.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Or you could continue to make a jackass of yourself and keep throwing out hateful jabs you’re going to regret later. It’s really up to you.”
Iwas the jackass?
