The manicurists arrive, and I use the small interruption to figure out how I’m feeling right now. I mean, yes, Griff and I have agreed to make it work. And since deciding to let go of the past, we’re getting along better than ever. A few days ago, I even came up for an idea to incorporate O2’s birthday into the wedding—one I’d need his help to pull off.
He not only agreed, he told me, “That event planning company missed out when they fired you.”
Still…“I guess I find it hard to imagine him calling Greg while he was out of town to brag on me.”
“Oh, not this week, dear—earlier. Griffie was so excited when he invited us all to meet you, even Geoff. He insisted we were going to love you—told us he’d never felt this way about a girl, and that he couldn’t wait to marry you—apparently, you’d completely changed his mind on that particular subject.” Whitney pauses to instruct her manicurist, “A light fall beige for both my feet and hands, please.”
I think about getting the same thing before remembering my new hair. New hair—might as well get new nails too.
“Matte black, please,” I tell my manicurist.
But then I turn right back to Whitney, “I’m so confused. I thought you had no idea we were coming to Greg’s party.”
“Oh, we did not know to expect you,” Whitney assures me. “That was a complete surprise, I’ll tell you that—just when you think he couldn’t top those face tattoos at Thanksgiving.”
Whitney lets out one of those Southern-lady laughs—the kind that makes it impossible to tell if she thinks Griff is delightful or a total stinker.
"I’m talking about that New Year’s Eve when you were supposed to come to his concert at Stone River records. Of course, Greg and Geoff refused to go there to meet you. So they all agreed on Colin Fairgood’s New Year’s Eve party as neutral ground. But then Griffie texted and said you weren’t coming after all.”
If this was a conversation about anything else…anything else, this would be the part where I’d be saying things like, “What?” and “Shut the door.”
But I’m so confused and stunned that I can only stare at her.
“We were all disappointed about not being able to meet you—everybody except Geoff. I swear, that son of mine can’t find a nice thing to say in a field of sunflowers somedays. But the rest of us kept asking after you—at least until Christmas three years ago, when Griffie yelled at us that it wasn’t going to happen, and he’d given up on finding you, so we should too.”
The party is suddenly rewriting itself. Greg Latham asking if Griff had gotten a DNA test before planning the wedding this time. His easier-than-easy acceptance of O2 as his granddaughter. Whitney’s delight at our reunion—like it was the perfect ending to a love story she’d been watching on TV….
“Why would he do that?” I ask her. “Tell you to come meet me that night?”
Whitney raises her eyebrows at me. “Can you not see that boy was heads over heels for you from the start? I mean, here he is, still insisting on marrying you as soon as possible, even after Greg took that silly ultimatum off the table and told the boys they’d have to start serving as joint CEO after Griffie’s residency at the Benton.”
It takes me several moments to process what she’s saying. And even then, I feel compelled to verify.
“Wait, are you telling me Griff no longer needs to marry me to become the CEO of AudioNation?”
“No,” Whitney answers. She seems confused by my confusion. “Greg became so angry with him after he got in that fight with Geoff, he decided it was more important that the boys learned to work together…”
She trails off when she sees the total blank on my face. And her eyes fill with concern. “Did Griffie really not tell you any of this?”
Now it’s my turn to answer “No” as the happy cloud I’ve been floating around on begins to deflate.
We promised to trust each other going into the future. But he lied to me. He lied to me again.
Whitney and I don’t talk much for the rest of the appointment.
And as soon as my nails are done, I grab my phone to call him—only to find a text from him already waiting.
GRIFF: Hey, can you ask Whit to keep O2 for a bit? I’m at my old place. And I need you to come over here to give you something. Here’s the address.
Since Griff’s old bachelor pad is in City Center, it’s within walking distance from the Benton on the Strip. That means I have plenty of time to think. Too much time.
Why didn’t he tell me about Greg removing the marriage condition? Why would he invite his family to meet me on the same night he showed me what a monster he could be?