Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 75553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“How long does he have left?” I asked gently.
“I... I’m not sure,” Griff admitted and turned his face away from me. I wanted to ask him more. I was desperate to know more about his personal life, but it seemed futile. He didn’t want to open up, so I thought maybe I could comfort him another way.
“I know it’s not the same,” I began as I gazed over at his stoic expression, “but my mom passed away a few years ago too.”
Griff turned to face me again and he watched me intently. I took that as encouragement to continue.
“She was healthy for most of her life, but when I was a teenager, she had a heart attack,” I explained with a sad smile. “I did my best to nurse her back to health, but she was never quite the same afterward. Apparently, she had some kind of heart disease and she needed a lot of help to even do basic things for years after that. But she was still the same loving and caring mother I’d known all my life...” I trailed off as I reminisced about my time with my mom. “But then she had a second heart attack and, well, they couldn’t save her that time.”
I took a deep breath and wiped the tears away that had started to form in my eyes. “Her death absolutely devastated me. I can’t even begin to imagine how I would have felt if I wasn’t by her side every step of the way.”
Griff placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and smiled. “It’s nice that you were so close to your mom, but my relationship with my father is a whole different story,” he told me. “That man was supposed to be the one to protect us. He was supposed to be the man who would teach me how to play soccer and give me tips on my first date. He should have stood by us through thick and thin, but he didn’t. Instead, he was the person who hurt us the most.”
He stopped to shake his head from side to side and I could read the pure pain on Griff’s face as he recalled his childhood. “My father abused my mother and I for years until he finally got bored and cast us aside. The divorce completely ruined my mother’s life. She lost her friends, she lost her social life, and all the security my father had once offered her financially. I don’t want to give my father a chance to ease his guilt just because he’s dying. He hasn’t wanted to apologize before now, so he should carry what he did with him to the grave.”
I could see Griff’s hands were beginning to ball into fists as he grew angrier and angrier. I’d never known he was carrying such a huge weight on his shoulders and I wanted nothing more than to try and alleviate it—if only just a little.
I couldn’t hold back any longer. I reached out and hugged him close to me, burying my face in his chest and inhaling his strong, musky scent. “I understand what you mean, Griff, but don’t you think you should consider meeting with him for yourself?” I asked.
Griff pressed a hand to my back and began rubbing comforting circles. “My mother said the same,” he muttered. “She didn’t want me to grow to regret it, but I...”
I hugged him tighter. “It’s okay, Griff, you don’t need to decide right now,” I assured him. “Try sleeping on it and see how you feel in the morning. No matter what you do, I’ll support you.”
There was silence in the room around us for a long time after that, but Griff never stopped holding me.
“Thank you,” he finally whispered and held me a little bit closer.
The two of us drifted to sleep not long after that, still clutching each other close.
27
Griff
The next day felt much like the first. I was trotted around from department to department and anytime I even mentioned meeting with Mr. Anderson, everybody gave me the same answer: He was busy. It was infuriating. I understood that he was an important man, but I didn’t enjoy wasting my time and I didn’t relish the fact that he seemed to think that his time was more important than mine. It seemed completely different to the image of Mr. Anderson I’d gotten before. In spite of his strange demands of his workers, he’d always seemed friendly and down-to-earth. Why would he be doing this to me? Unless it was the work of someone else...
Kelly. After all, she was the one who was organizing my schedule. If I was beginning to feel like I was being given the run around, then it was only natural she was the one pulling the strings. I was quickly becoming pretty tired of it. It felt like a game of cat and mouse and I was certain Kelly was just having fun toying with me, but I was in no mood to play at all. I couldn’t believe I’d have to survive a whole week of this, but I wasn’t sure there was much I could do about it. If I confronted Kelly about it, she’d probably just put off my meeting with Mr. Anderson even more. For the first time, I wished I’d asked Mr. Anderson for his direct number, but alas, I didn’t have it.