Griffin nods. “I see. And you’re right.” He taps his knee gently. “I know a little something about the ease of things falling apart too, but I’ve learned that shifting and changing aren’t necessarily failing.”
Aria looks over and smiles at him. “How you believed in my music inspired me to believe more in myself, and honestly, even if Worldwide Records hates this stuff, I’m still going to write it. Even if my current fans leave, I will get scrappy and find the people this is for.”
“You were incredible tonight.”
“And you know what? The two times I’ve performed that song now are the times I’ve felt most alive while performing in years. It brought back that pure electricity that had me knocking down doors as a twenty-year-old. No pyrotechnics, no elaborate light displays, just me, my guitar, and my heart in the words.”
“As I got to know you, it did dawn on me that all of theproduction took away from you. The real you is so much more interesting than the overproduced one.”
Aria narrows her eyes playfully. “Was this before or after you ghosted me?” She waggles her brow victoriously.
Griffin’s head drops and he massages his temples. Then he looks to her. “I’m really sorry about that. Here in this moment it makes no sense, but in the darkness of my injury, I convinced myself that I would be letting you down, that I was too broken for a woman like you.”
“Oh, Griff.” Aria slides a hand up his chest and leaves it there.
“I thought I was worthless without the sport. Sure, I’d been doing my best to figure out what my ‘life without football plan’ was, but I hadn’t figured much out yet. It happened sooner than I expected, and it was so bad.”
“But you’re working through it?”
Griffin’s chest rises, his shoulders settling back as he nods. “This work has brought me to life. I’m not sure this wasn’t more what I was built for than being on the field. Sure, I’ll miss it. I know when the new season starts I’ll be feeling some sort of way. It’ll be fresh hurt every time I miss something. But I’m confident that the new life I’m building is just as valuable as the last chapter.”
“And does the new chapter have room for us?” Aria gazes up at him, and he meets her eyes.
“When I pulled away, it was never my plan for it to be permanent. I just wanted to get my head on straight first. It was so shortsighted.”
“Sometimes we have to figure things out on our own firstbefore we’re ready for the next thing. I would’ve waited longer for you.”
“I think we’re stronger together.” Griffin cups Aria’s cheek and strokes her jaw with his thumb.
“Next time something falls apart, don’t shut me out?”
“Next time, you’re my first call.”
Aria lifts her head, tilting her lips toward his. “I like the sound of that.”
“And me? Am I your first call?”
“Yes. Well, after Bailey.”
Griffin laughs. “Fair enough.”
He presses his lips to hers, and it fills Aria with a lightness that feels like floating. When he pulls back, she leans into his chest, and Griffin wraps his arms firmly around her.
“I want you to know that being with me won’t be easy,” Aria says. “The media is ruthless, and even the smallest thing is dissected. When I go on tour, it takes over everything—the months leading up to it, the actual travel dates, all the media and press that happen around it.”
“I don’t think either of us are ones to take the easy route.”
Aria’s shoulders release. He’s right. Both of them have endured constant challenges as part of their careers, part of fame, and they’re not the type to retreat from a bumpy road they want to traverse. In fact, perhaps their shared experiences of jumping through hoops for privacy, playing the public figure game, and finding peace in uncertainty will equip them to navigate the hard times when they come.
“I think we’re cut out for it. And I think we’re worth it—our love is worth it.”
Griffin sighs. “I’m all in, Aria. Us. The good and the bad, I’m here for it all.”
Aria isn’t sure how long they sit there warmed by the shrinking fire, but she feels her body relax into Griffin in a way she hasn’t known in a long time. Maybe ever. Griffin might’ve started out as a business arrangement in her life, but from her current position, that fact is laughable. He became her first true friend, one who rooted for her sincerely, who wasn’t thrown off by her fame, who always kept her best interests at heart. Even if it would’ve stopped there, Aria would’ve been lucky to know Griffin Hayes.
But she trusted him, and she let down her walls. She knows she can trust Griffin with her heart, and his is safe with her.
Despite singing about love stories and happy endings for years, now for the first time, Aria Wilder believes it’s her chance to live out her own love story.
