The King Next Door
“We’ve talked about this a dozen times since you got home,” Nicole reminded her friend.
“And I’m still frustrated because you won’t let me sic Rafe on Griffin. Trust me,” Katie said, “he’d be happy to help.”
Nicole laughed a little and braced both elbows on the tabletop. “I bet. He’s probably been getting an earful from you every day.”
Katie smiled and shrugged. “He has. Hey, that’s the husband’s job. To listen when his wife needs to rant about a scum-sucking, no-good, lying rat of a man who hurt her best friend.”
Nicole sighed and reached for one of the dark chocolate raspberry cookies Katie had brought with her. She took a bite and barely noticed the amazing flavors exploding on her tongue.
“Again,” she said, “appreciate the support, but Griffin didn’t do this to me. I did.”
“Bull.”
Shaking her head, Nicole said, “He never once pretended that what we had was anything but temporary.” Hard to say it out loud, but maybe she needed to hear it all again, too. “I’m the one who built fantasies in the air. I’m the one who fell in love. It’s my own damn fault, Katie. You can’t blame Griffin for it, as much as I’d like to.”
Katie sighed and snatched up a cookie. Taking a huge bite and chewing as if she were biting through steel chips, she asked, “How’s Connor dealing?”
Here was where the guilt rolled in.
“He still asks for Griffin. Wants to go see him. And wakes up at night crying for him.” Which pretty much described how Nicole was feeling, too. Except for the crying. She wouldn’t cry. She refused to spend one more tear on the man she’d loved and lost.
Katie dropped one hand to the slight swell of her belly. “I’m so sorry this all turned out so badly. I hate knowing Connor’s so upset.”
“Me, too,” Nicole said softly. “But it’s getting better.” And maybe if she said that often enough, it would even be true eventually.
“Well.” Katie looked around the redone kitchen and said, “Even though they sneaked this in on you, I have to say King Construction really does nice work. The kitchen’s gorgeous.”
“It really is.” Nicole’s gaze swept the room. “I know I should still be furious at Griffin for wangling all of this, but I do love the kitchen. It’s exactly as I always imagined it.”
And every time she stepped into the room, she remembered the man who had arranged it for her. Nicole wondered how long that would last. How long would his memory be stamped on her house? Her heart? Depressingly enough, she figured it would be only a day or two short of forever.
Needing a change of subject desperately, Nicole said, “You still haven’t told me about Italy.”
Katie looked at her, reached across the table to take her hand and smiled as she squeezed briefly. “Right. Okay then, let me tell you about Tuscany...”
As Katie talked, Nicole pushed thoughts of Griffin aside and concentrated solely on her friend’s voice. With a little effort, she told herself firmly, every day would get better. And soon, Griffin would no longer be front and center in her mind.
She hoped.
* * *
“Janice,” Griffin snapped into the phone, “when Garrett calls, put him right through.”
“I always do,” she replied, and he heard the stiffness in her voice.
No surprise there. His assistant hadn’t been happy when he ended his vacation early. Especially since he’d returned in a mood that made Jack the Ripper look congenial.
“Fine,” he said, scraping one hand across his face, “just...bring me the plan for the museum job.”
“Right away.” She hung up, and Griffin set the phone back in its cradle with a deliberate softness.
If he hadn’t, he might have been tempted to throw the damn thing across the room. He felt like a man on the edge all the time now.
“Probably because you’re not sleeping,” he muttered. When he left Rafe and Katie’s house, he’d moved straight into a hotel. He hadn’t been able to stay there, right next door to Nicole and Connor. Not without going to see them, and that wouldn’t have helped a damn thing.