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Griffin smiles, looking down at his hands. “Don’t worry about it.”
Kandi returns and takes a seat across from us, a pair of dark-rimmed glasses on her nose as she looks down at her notes.
With her cappuccino in hand, she takes a sip, then sets it down on the table between us. If she’s trying to make me more nervous, she’s succeeding. I think she might have been an interrogator in a previous life. Her practiced patience is making me squirm. Is this how Harry and Meghan felt sitting down with Oprah? Griffin’s hand finds mine, and he gives it a subtle squeeze. Kandi glances at her notepad again, sets the recorder on the table and presses play. Then, she slides off her glasses, and pinching one leg between her fingers, twists them to the side.
I’m expecting a hard-hitting question, something that will make me flustered or derail our meticulous preparation for this interview, but instead Kandi leans forward with a giddy smile on her face.
“Full disclosure, Griffin, I’ve been to your show five times.” Kandi undoes her blazer to reveal a Rainin’ Men shirt with Griffin’s face on it. My jaw drops. I don’t know what I’m more caught off guard by, the Rainin’ Men fan merch with Griffin’s face on it or the fact that Kandi is wearing it. “I’m your biggest fan.”
“Wow.” I blink.
“Thanks for your support.” Is all Griffin can manage as we process this news.
In a matter of thirty seconds, I’ve watched Kandi Kline, hard-nosed editor ofThe Dressmagazine, transform from a poised interviewer into a puddle of mush. She’s fangirling hard right now. There are legitimate hearts in her eyes right now as she gushes over Griffin.
“Emma, I can’t wait to discuss the detail and design that have made your bridal gowns a hit with the modern bride, but first, I’m dying to know how a male revue dancer from Las Vegas and a bridal gown designer from New York City fell in love.”
I’m prepared for the question. It’s the foundation of the whole relationship we’ve been building from the ground up for the last week, but I’m still processing Kandi’s crush on Griffin, and words escape me.
“Um, well…that’s a good question…you see, it’s a funny story…”
“We met on a rooftop.” My heart stops at Griffin’s words. What is he doing? That’s not part of our story. Okay, it’s exactly how we met, but it’s not what we planned to tell Kandi. “That’s the first time I saw her. I was on a rooftop in Las Vegas, she appeared and it was like the whole world stopped.
“She was getting some fresh air, the same reason I was there and we started talking. I felt an immediate connection to her. Something in her eyes.” He looks over at me, and my heart trips over itself. “A vulnerability that made me want to protect her, but also a lighthearted warmth that I was drawn to. It was something I saw in her that made me think about what I had been missing in my own life.”
Griffin’s words are certain and clear, compared to my fumbling attempt. At this point I can’t argue with him, tell Kandi that’s not really how it happened. When I glance at Kandi, she’s enraptured with Griffin’s account of our meeting. She’s on the edge of her seat.
“And then?” she asks.
“And then we got married,” he says.
I wave my hands. “What Griffin is trying to say is that we fell so quickly, it felt like it happened right away. But there was stuff in between.”
Kandi ignores me, her dark eyes staring intently at Griffin.
“Maybe it was too quick, but I couldn’t help myself,” he continues. “I knew there would be nothing better in this world than to have Emma by my side every day. And I wanted her to be mine.”
“Wow.” Kandi’s thin lips pull into a beaming smile. She plucks a tissue out of the box on the table and dabs at her eyes. “That’s beautiful.”
I’m still stunned by Griffin’s deviation from the plan. Clearly it worked, Kandi is eating out of the palm of his hand, but now I’m left feeling off-balanced. Not sure where to go from here. Unsure of what page we are on in the script we rehearsed. If we’re even using the same script anymore. I’m also left wondering if Griffin actually meant anything he said. The details on our first meeting were correct, but everything he told Kandi about how he was thinking and feeling that night, are they true? Or embellished to give her a good story?
“Emma, what was your reaction? The first time you met Griffin?”
I think back to that night on the roof, how upset I was about Alec’s engagement, my body felt like it was buzzing with every emotion. My mind reeling with the shocking news. I needed fresh air. I needed calm. And while I think that stepping out on the roof in the night air was helpful, it was Griffin who gave it to me. Not because he was attractive and I felt a spark when our fingers touched, but the way he made me feel protected, safe, like I could be open and honest and he wouldn’t judge me.
“Honestly, I was overwhelmed by him. It was like his presence was suddenly taking up all the space around me, and filling up the emptiness inside. I didn’t think I was ready to put myself out there again so soon, but I knew there was something special between us from the very first moment.”
As the words fall out, I realize they’re all true. My face flushes with panic. I cling to the hope that Griffin doesn’t realize I’m being honest, just like I have no idea if he was speaking the truth about his feelings.
Internally, I breathe a sigh of relief when she moves on from how we met to our life together in New York.
“Will you be making your home here in the city?” Kandi asks.
“Yes,” I answer quickly, because my brain has finally started working again. “That’s the plan.”
“What do you plan to do in New York, Griffin?” she asks.
“I’m awaiting my bar exam results; I’ll be pursuing a career in business and commercial law.”
