City of Champions (40 page)

The kitchen was empty, but she heard the soft hint of voices from down the hall and followed them. The door to the small back room Tea had turned into Griffen's writing area was slightly ajar. She almost walked in, but quickly realized this was no conversation to interrupt.

Tea was seated on Griffen's lap in a cute little two-piece shorty pajama set. Griffen's left hand was resting on her leg, while his other hand was holding her chin firmly in his grip. Jenna felt horrible for eavesdropping, but she could tell they were just talking and she was too curious to know what was going on with these two.

"Why didn't you tell me how you were feeling, Althea?"

"I did tell you. This morning."

"But you should've told me sooner. You have to talk to me, gorgeous. I want to fast-forward through all this preliminary stuff and go straight to our life together.
Our
family. You need to be ready to put on the brakes if I go too far or too fast. I need you to tell me if it's too much. If you don't like something I'm doing…"

"That's the thing, I love everything you're doing. Our life together — you, me, and Johnny — us as a family…it means the world to me. I don't want to do anything to risk harming it. I don't want to mess this up. I want us to be forever. I don't want to hurt you, or risk you leaving us, just because I feel overwhelmed."

"You could never do anything to make me leave," he whispered, moving his hand to hold her jaw, kissing her deeply. When he pulled away, Tea's eyes were heavy and almost drugged-looking. "I know I've been pushing, but that's because I want us to have everything this life together entails, right now. If you aren't honest with me about how you feel, then I'll just unknowingly push more."

Tea grinned and nibbled at his chin.

"That's because you're incorrigible, Griffen Tate. I don't want you to change, but I will try to be more open with you about how I'm feeling. Losing the last parts of Jack that are in my life is terrifying to me. I won't lie."

"You can't lose him from your life. I would never let that happen. He'll always be with us."

"I know that, Griffen. So, I've been thinking. How do you think the name Althea Taylor Tate sounds? I would change my middle name to Jack's last name when you and I get married. I'll still take your last name, though. Would you be okay with that?"

Jenna's heart swelled with relief to hear Tea had apparently been handling her issues just fine without her and Aubrey constant meddling into her life.

"Gorgeous, I think that is the most beautiful name I've ever heard."

"And please know I love everything you're doing with Johnny. I appreciate it so much. I'm sorry I wasn't more receptive to your idea to adopt him. Of course you're worried about what could happen if you don't have a legal claim to him. What if I died…"

Griffen clutched her arms and moved closer to her body.

"Don't even say that, Althea."

She giggled lightly and stroked his hair.

"Sorry. See, you share your feelings with me right away. That's so wonderful. My point is, I get it, and I think it is a beautiful thought. I know it would make Johnny happy, too. And your idea about moving…"

"I've had a lot of ideas lately, haven't I?" he laughed.

"You have. To show you how much I love them, I found a house on Shady Avenue in the Squirrel Hill area of the city. It's kind of big, but it's old and historic and completely beautiful. It has an amazing yard and a wrought iron gate, just like in some nineteenth century novel. I won't have a view of the rivers anymore, but maybe that's a good thing. Plus, it's really close to Jenna and Aubrey. I think it would be good for them, so we can make sure they see Johnny as much as possible."

"Althea, it sounds perfect. I'll buy it for you today."

"You haven't even seen it!"

"Don't have to. If you love it, I love it. I love you."

"I love you so much, too. Not sure if the realtor will pick up the phone on New Year’s Day, but I'm getting excited!"

"Speaking of excited…" Griffen growled at her, creeping his hand underneath the hem of her shorts.

Jenna started to realize just how inappropriate her snooping was becoming. As Griffen moved his hands to start undoing the buttons of her pajama top, Jenna turned and quickly ran toward the kitchen. In her haste, she knocked a book off a small table in the hallway.

She cringed and heard footsteps behind her. With a blush, she turned and saw Tea walking toward her, cheeks completely flushed, as her fingers fumbled with the buttons of her pajama top.

"Jenna…um, you're early."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, let me just get dressed. Johnny is playing with my mom at that little park nearby. There's only an inch of snow from last night but he was insistent he wanted to make a snow man."

"No rush. I'll just go watch the parade. Go spend some more time with your man," Jenna instructed her with a wink.

"Thanks, Jenna," Tea said, giving her a hug.

Jenna relaxed in the kitchen for half an hour, watching the parade on the little TV Tea had on her kitchen counter before Vivian and Johnny barreled into the room.

"Dang, Miss Jenna. You are positively glowing. What have you been up to?" Vivian asked after pulling her into a warm hug.

"Auntie Jenna! Hi," Johnny exclaimed, waiting for her to sit back down so he could climb into her lap. Tea and Griffen joined them, both looking flushed and relaxed in a way that had Jenna very eager to see Wyatt again.

"Hi, Jenna, good to see you again," Griffen said, with a happy grin, as he put an arm around Tea's shoulders.

"Hi, y'all. I'm so glad to see all of you. I'm hungry, too. Tea, I swear you and Viv make the best expatriated Southerner’s New Year's Day dinner on earth."

"It helps a lot to have my mom here to help."

"I'm sure."

"I love those earrings, Jenna. Where did you get them?" Tea asked.

"They were a gift."

"Oh, really? Who is this generous person?" Vivian asked meaningfully, as she handed the grown-ups mimosas, with a plain OJ for Johnny. "Could they be the reason you're fixing to make me need to dim the lights with how bright that smile on your face is, girl? Who is he?"

"What?"

"Come on, you can't kid a kidder. I know that look, and it's pretty obvious since you're usually the serious one amongst all these maniacs," Vivian added with a conspiratorial wink.

"Wait, Jenna, are you actually seeing someone?" Tea asked. Jenna caught Trey's knowing gaze out of the corner of her eye as he entered the kitchen. He was holding a very expensive-looking bottle of French wine.

"What's everyone so worked up about?" Trey asked.

"Jenna has a new man in her life," Tea said effusively.

Trey looked at Jenna with the hint of a conspiratorial smile, but didn't comment.

"Well, um, it's Wyatt McCoy. Oh, speak of the devil," she added when her phone began buzzing. Wyatt was calling her, but she would need to call him back. Sharing this with them was too big a moment.

"What? Oh my God, that's amazing," Tea said, clearly shocked. "Are you two a thing?"

"Yeah. A very real thing. I was wondering if you'd mind if I had him come over today to have dinner with us?"

"Of course, we don't mind," Tea exclaimed. "This is so neat."

"Wait, why does that name sound so familiar?" Vivian asked.

"He's the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Roughnecks, Mom. And he's insanely good-looking. Not as handsome as Griffen, of course," Tea added, kissing Griffen's cheek. She grabbed her laptop and started messing with it before adding, "Let me
Google
him for you."

After tapping on the keys quickly, Tea gasped loudly and threw her hand to her mouth.

"What is it, Althea?" Griffen asked, looking over her shoulder, before gripping the edge of Tea's chair so hard it looked like it would break in his hands.

"What's wrong, you guys?" Jenna stood and walked around to try and catch sight of what had them so upset.

"Jenna, I don't know if you should look. Oh, honey…"

Violent waves of nausea racked her body with each photograph that flashed across the screen. It was so surreal Jenna could almost convince herself she was dreaming…
almost
.

Almost every moment she and Wyatt had shared were somehow now broadcasted for the world to see, and mock, in vibrant high-definition.

Oh God, these pictures are everywhere. Was every day together a setup? An attempt to discredit me? How could Wyatt not have known — not been involved with it?

These had been special and exciting experiences for her, but now, they were all frozen in time with a patina of betrayal and hurt. Every memory of falling in love with him had morphed into something evil and ugly, as though the last few weeks were being twisted in the reflection of a fun house mirror. Where beauty and hope had previously been, now only remained disgrace.

She felt hands on her shoulders and the nudge of a chair behind her knees. Jenna was so light-headed, she thought she might actually faint. In the distance she saw Trey smack his hand hard against the wall of the kitchen.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him," he growled.

"Not if I kill him first," Griffen added.

Jenna kept staring at Tea's laptop screen, pulling up one Web site after another. It seemed like the whole world was looking at her — laughing at her. Distant voices were trying to speak to her, but she could focus on nothing but her own internal words of shame.

"Jenna, say something," Tea pleaded.

"You need to stop looking at that shit. I'll throw that laptop out the window if I have to," Trey threatened. Practically mute, she shook her head and clicked over to another Web site.

Tea grabbed her hands and yanked them away from the keyboard, forcing Jenna to look at her.

"Let me go! I have to see it. I have to see what he did to me!" Jenna suddenly shouted, trying to pry her hands out of Tea's grasp.

"Auntie Jenna, what's wrong?" Johnny asked her.

"She's okay, Johnny," Tea answered. "Mom, can you take Johnny to his room to watch cartoons?" Tea quickly looked back over at her, ready to deliver a command. "Jenna, you need to snap out of it. Now. Maybe it's not as bad as it looks."

Jenna breathed deeply and finally responded, "They quoted him, Tea. They don't do that unless they aren't worried about being sued, right?"

"Well…"

"That's what I thought."

"But maybe there's something we don't know. Remember when you told me to talk to Griffen after he admitted to investigating Jack's death?"

"You were mad because you didn't like
what
he told you. I don't even have that luxury. Griffen didn't make you learn about what he'd been doing from the
New York Times
."

"I just don't want you to jump to a bunch of conclusions you'll regret. It's hard to know exactly what to think about his motives. I only just learned you were dating him."

"Tea, don't add guilt to the mix. We can't really talk about keeping a relationship secret," Griffen interjected.

"I didn't mean that at all," Tea insisted, as she began stroking Jenna's hair. "It's just I can't really know if all these things this reporter, Olivia 'whoever,' says about him using you are true without knowing more. Maybe he has an explanation. The existence of these pictures may look bad, but you can't deny how happy you look in them."

"I look happy in them because I am…I mean, I
was
. I love him, Tea…"

"Oh, honey." Tea wrapped her arms around Jenna trying to soothe her, but she wasn't even sure if she remembered how to breathe.

Leaning back, she stared into her dear friend's shimmering hazel eyes, watery with emotion, and whispered, "It looks so bad, though. Like he set me up. How could she have all these pictures of us — know where we were all the time?"

Tea furrowed her brow, clearly trying to come up with a good counterargument. Before she could speak, Jenna jumped in her seat at the sound of a loud knocking at the door.

"I'll get it," Trey said as he strode over, motioning for everyone to stay seated. "We don't know who it could be."

Jenna heard Wyatt's voice in the distance and her heart was overcome with pain. She wanted so much to run to him and let him say it was okay, but the weight of her fears had immobilized her.

Tea stared at her intently before asking, "Jenna, do you want to talk to him? Give him a chance to explain?"

Jenna looked at her worried eyes and shook her head, "I can't see him right now. I don't trust myself to even know what is the truth or a lie. Tea…I don't think I know how to love the right person."

"Don't say that, honey. Maybe it
is
better you have a little time. Come here."

Tea drew Jenna back into her arms and she could feel her friend shake her head in the direction of Trey. He must've been watching for her answer because she saw him turn back to the door.

"She doesn't want to see you, man."

"Move it, Trey. I need to talk to her."

"Leave before I make you leave," Trey growled at him and slammed the door.

"Jenna!" Wyatt was screaming on the other side of the door, banging on the wood for several minutes.

"Dammit, that boy needs to quit while he's behind," Vivian said, from the other end of the room. "I put Johnny in his room. He doesn't need to hear all this. Let me mix up something stronger than mimosas. I have a feeling we're going to need them. Let's each have an old-fashioned. Tea, honey, where do you keep your sugar cubes?"

When the pounding and shouting finally ceased, Jenna thought her heart stopped beating with it.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN