Six Days: Book One in the SIX Series (17 page)

           
A few minutes later, there was another knock on the door.
Steve walked in, looking stressed out. He embraced me in a big hug.

           
“Did Mallory tell you?” he asked sincerely. I nodded my
head. Steve pretty much reiterated what Mallory had already said. He turned up
the news, looking for more information. Sure enough, they mentioned Griffin’s
name as one of the people busted in the investigation, and more about the fraud
involved with misreporting the numbers from the gaming equipment in two of
their casinos. The other casinos they owned were still being investigated, but
they insinuated having enough information on the people involved to charge them
with a pretty serious crime.

           
Mallory made some food, trying to piece a decent meal
together with the few things I had in my refrigerator, though I didn’t feel
like eating. I knew she had to get going to her parents’ house, but she didn’t
want to leave. I was only able to push her out the door after Steve promised to
stay around. Mallory didn’t want me to be alone, just in case the information
got worse.

           
“So, what do you think? Honestly? Do you think he did it?
What is going to happen to him?” I asked Steve after Mallory left.

           
“I don’t know, Addie, truthfully. I agree with Mallory, I
just can’t believe Griffin would have done anything on purpose. But there is a
lot of money involved, so either way, it isn’t good,” he said, motioning me to
sit down on the couch next to him. I complied.

           
“Why didn’t he tell me his family ran Dixon Industries? I
asked him his last name once, and he told me Hayes. He said he wanted to switch
over to his mom’s maiden name. I guess technically he didn’t lie, but why
didn’t he tell me about any of it?” I asked. It did seem unusual that Griffin
never mentioned his family had such a prominent connection to this town.

           
“I don’t know
,
Griffin has
always been weird about the whole thing. To some degree, I get it, especially
with new people. It would probably be weird to say ‘hey, I am disgustingly
rich’ when meeting someone. You can tell which women already know who he is,
they just flock to him. They act like they’re so interested in him before he’s
even said anything. I guess it was just his way to avoid all that. You know,
being judged by something like that before people really got to know him. I guess
I didn’t realize he hadn’t mentioned it to you though,” he said
sympathetically, staring at me.

           
“I don’t know, I mean, I guess I figured out by his loft
and his car and everything that he came from money. I’m not surprised by any of
that. I just didn’t realize it was casino money, I guess. Not that it matters.
I’m just surprised he never really told me much about what he did for a living.
He was always so vague about it. Do you think it’s because he knew something
was going on all this time?” I asked, my eyes welling up with tears again.

           
“I don’t know, Addie. I really don’t know,” he responded.
“I mean, thinking back to some of our conversations in the past few weeks, he
did mention there was a lot going on at work recently, but we just never got
into it. I know he’s always hated talking about work stuff, so I didn’t exactly
pry for more information. Even if he had mentioned there was an issue, I never
would have imagined it would be something this big.”

We
turned the news up. As soon as they mentioned the charges against Griffin, I
lost it. Tears poured down my face. It was bad. If Griffin was convicted, which
sounded likely, he would be going to prison for a long, long time. I wept.

           
Steve was very comforting. He wrapped his arms around me
on the couch and we
laid
like that for quite some
time. He didn’t say much, he just let me cry while he stroked my hair. Some
hours later I woke up, still on the couch with Steve’s arms wrapped around me.
My thoughts took me back to
Ardell
, holding me on the
couch the entire night when my world felt broken. Here I was again, being
comforted by someone because yet another person in my life had left.

           
I looked up at Steve and he smiled down at me. He was so
handsome with his blonde messy hair and green eyes. For a brief moment I cursed
myself for always choosing the wrong guy, when I knew there must be other,
better, choices I could make. But it didn’t matter, because no matter how
handsome and comforting Steve was, I still thought of Griffin. I drifted off to
sleep again, hoping for dreams like the ones I had the night I stayed with
Griffin.

           
The next morning I awoke, still wrapped up in Steve’s
arms. He had fallen asleep as well, but stirred when I moved.

           
“Good morning,” Steve said softly. “I’m
sorry,
I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Well, not here with you
on the couch anyway.”

           
“That’s okay. It was nice actually. Comforting,” I
replied genuinely. “So do you have to get to work? I hope you’re not late for
something.”

           
“Work is actually pretty light for me this week. I just
finished a big job, so I don’t think I’ll even go in today. My schedule is
relatively flexible like
that,
it’s more of a job by
job kind of thing. I know Mallory is out of town today, were you going into the
bakery at all?” he asked.

           
“I don’t really need to. But I don’t know, maybe it would
be good for me. Just to keep my mind off everything,” I replied, shrugging.

           
“How about calling Meg and Johnny to see if they can play
hooky today? Maybe we can all go to the beach?” Steve asked. “That would be
fun. I think it would be a good distraction for a day like this.”

           
I smiled, happy to have these kinds of friends. To think
Steve was willing to give up his day to hang out with me, just so I might feel
a little less miserable, made me feel really good.

           
Megan had a promotional event to be at all
day
, but Johnny didn’t have to go into his restaurant until
four, so he agreed to meet up with us at the lake. They discussed a meeting
spot, and Steve and I made some peanut butter toast for breakfast. It was one
of the few foods I had around. We packed up a small cooler with some water and
the only two Diet Cokes I had in my fridge.

           
“Don’t you go grocery shopping?” Steve asked, amused by
my lack of food. It made me laugh.

           
“I used to. I actually love to cook, but ever since I met
you guys I feel like I’m barely home. Plus I’m eating frosting and cookies all
day at the bakery, so I guess I just haven’t really settled in to a normal food
routine yet,” I said, smiling.

           
“Well maybe after the beach we can hit up the store. This
is way too sad for a girl’s refrigerator.
A guy
, sure,
mustard, beer, maple syrup, the staples. But I thought girls always had food
around. We’ll need to work on that,” he replied, picking up the small cooler as
I grabbed some towels.

           
We drove in Steve’s SUV, making a quick stop by his place
so he could grab his swim shorts and a change of clothes. I realized in that
moment he was still wearing what he showed up in yesterday. He lived in a small
apartment close to downtown, only a few minutes away from my place. It was
definitely a single guy’s apartment. It had nice furniture, but it lacked some
décor and was clearly missing a woman’s touch. I was mildly surprised Megan
hadn’t decorated the place for him. That seemed like something she would do.

           
I stood in his living room, glancing around at a few
pictures he had in frames on a table next to the couch. They were pictures of
what looked to be a very happy, smiling family. It warmed me to think of him
growing up in a close-knit loving home, and it made sense to me why he was so
warm and giving himself. I smiled, always amused to think those types of
families actually existed. The thought of it used to make me angry, wondering
why I never got that kind of life. But to think of someone as nice and sweet as
Steve growing up like that, it made sense to me in a way that he deserved that
kind of upbringing.

           
Once Steve packed up his stuff, we drove up the highway
to a small dirt lot tucked off the side of the road. After we parked, we hiked
down a dirt path through the brush to a place called Hidden Beach. The name was
fitting, as there were only a few other groups of people, and the small beach
area was surrounded by large rocks on either side. I
smiled,
thinking of Griffin and our crawdad experience.

           
Johnny beat us there. He was spread out on a towel
with a pile random things
next to him. He had a book,
Frisbee, a small football, and an iPod. The sun was warm with only a few sparse
clouds in the sky, and the water was as clear and blue as any I had ever seen.

           
We talked a little bit about Griffin’s situation, but
Steve seemed mindful of his attempt to keep my thoughts away from it. The
morning flew by as we played Frisbee, threw around the football, and laid out
in the sun listening to Johnny’s music. It was a perfectly relaxing day, and I
actually really enjoyed myself despite the circumstances. I tried hard not to
think about Griffin, but I constantly wished he was there with us, laughing and
having fun.

           
Johnny left around two to go get ready for his restaurant
shift that evening, but Steve and I elected to stay a little longer. We played
tic-tac-toe in the sand, which seemed a little silly at first, but then became
rather addicting.

           
Steve was very funny and time passed easily with him. I
was surprised to find out he was an avid reader, especially into biographies,
and he really enjoyed documentary movies as well. He was smart and I was very
surprised he was single, given his obvious good looks and fun personality.

           
“So, you and Megan, what’s the story
there?”
I mused as we relaxed on our towels.

           
“Oh man, that was a train wreck. We were never meant to
be together, not in that way, anyway,” Steve replied, shaking his head. He told
me stories about how their last year in college on a bet they had gotten a
little frisky with each other one night. They tried to make that into
something, though they failed miserably. He laughed at the memories, and I was
amused at the fact that they seemed so normal with each other now, despite what
had happened.

           
“Meg is one of the reasons why I’m single now, though, in
an ironic way,” Steve continued. “The last few girls I was interested in, they
never really bought that Meg and I
were
just friends.
It made them uncomfortable that I would still hang out with her when they
weren’t around. I would argue with them about it, because obviously I wasn’t
going to give up hanging out with one of my best friends. But they never let it
go, so those relationships didn’t work out I guess,” Steve said, shrugging.
“Why are girls so threatened by a guy who has pretty female friends? I just
don’t get it.”

           
It was such an innocent comment, and I smiled at how
genuine and sincere Steve sounded when he spoke. He asked me a little bit about
Grant, wanting to know what was so bad that it forced me to pack up and leave,
moving to a new place where I didn’t know anybody. I gave him a generalized
explanation of it all, mentioning Grant’s drinking problem and how we just
essentially grew apart. That was the mild version at least. As comfortable as I
felt with Steve, I still couldn’t bring up the pregnancy and losing the baby
and all that. I hadn’t even told Mallory that part of the story. I tried so
hard not to give it much thought ever since I left, so I didn’t see the point
of bringing it up now.
Especially not to a guy.

           
“Are you ready to head out? We can swing by the grocery
store on our way back. We need to get you some food. I’m starving, actually.
That toast, although delicious, wasn’t enough to make up for us missing lunch,”
Steve said, sitting up.

           
“Sure. Maybe we can call Megan and see if she wants to
come over to my place for dinner? I can cook a real meal,” I replied, sitting
up as well, throwing my shirt over my head. “Are you interested?”

           
Steve nodded and we packed up our stuff. We headed back
up the trail to the car. As promised, on the way back to my house we hit up the
store to stockpile my fridge and pantry, and Megan agreed to come over for
dinner.

           
I had just thrown the pasta in to boil when Megan knocked
on the door.

           
“Addie, I’m so sorry to hear the news. I know you and
Griffin were spending a lot of time together recently,” Megan said, hugging me
sincerely.

           
“Yeah, well, the past six days really. I guess in the
grand scheme of things it wasn’t that much time. What’s six days?” I responded
,
trying to sound like this whole situation bothered me less
than it did. “I don’t know
,
it just really surprised
me I guess.”

           
“You’re telling me, I had no idea anything was even going
on. Griffin barely ever talked about work. I just hope somehow this whole thing
blows over. Is that even a possibility?” Megan asked Steve as he thumbed
through the newspaper, looking for more information.

           
“I really don’t know, Meg. Everything being reported
sounds bad, but I just don’t know,” Steve said sympathetically. “From what I
gather there’s a hearing set for Friday to set bails, if they’re even granted
to everyone. But I’ve heard those hearings get pushed back a lot, so I’m not
sure.”

           
“Well what happens after that?” Megan asked
inquisitively.

           
“I really don’t know. I’m guessing there has to be a
trial. If Griffin is really innocent though, I imagine he’ll still be caught up
in this whole thing for
awhile
. He would have to
testify to what he knows, even if it's information against his father. That has
to be a tight spot, I can’t even imagine. Especially given the relationship
they’ve always had. He did say something to me recently, but I don’t know if I
should really talk about it,” Steve said, his voice trailing off.

           
“What do you mean? Do you know something about all this?”
I asked nervously. If Steve hadn’t said anything about it thus far, it made me
think it had to be bad news.

           
“Well, he had just made a comment a few weeks ago, around
the time of Johnny’s party. I didn’t really think much about it, but now that
all this is going on I’m piecing it together a little bit I guess,” Steve began
to explain.

           
Megan and I leaned in, eager to hear what he knew.

           
“A woman at the company, her name was
Denise,
she has worked for Griffin’s dad forever. Well for Gregory’s dad I
guess,
who owned the business before him. I actually met her
years ago at some birthday parties, get-togethers, that kind of thing. She was
a long-time friend of the family. Anyway, she had mentioned to Griffin that she
was concerned about something. I don’t know what it was.
Finances,
company business, something of that nature.
He didn’t think it was a big
deal, but he told her he would look into it anyway. That’s all I know. It’s
vague, but I was just thinking maybe someone knew something was up before all
this happened. That’s what makes me think Griffin is innocent, but I don’t
know. Technically he oversaw some of those departments, so I don’t know how
that works, if it still falls on him anyway. Maybe he signed off on something
without really knowing the details? I’m really not sure. But after Denise had
mentioned the issue to him, that’s when Griffin started to
really
get frustrated with work. His tone really changed while talking to his dad. He
seemed more flustered after that, noticeably different,” Steve said shrugging.
“I’m just wondering if that had anything to do with this whole thing. Maybe she
knew something was wrong?”

           
“Why didn’t you say anything about that before?” Megan
questioned.

           
“Because I still don’t know what any of
that means.
I don’t know if that even has anything to do with this whole
situation,” Steve replied. “I mean he’s always been frustrated with his job, so
I just really don’t know. You know him, Meg. He’s not the easiest guy to read.”

           
“Yeah, that’s true,” Megan agreed.

           
I finished making the pasta and we all sat around eating
together. We had some general conversation about movies, the bakery, and
Steve’s new enthusiasm for running now that Megan had been making him train for
the half-marathon they planned to run in October. We left Griffin out of it,
for the most part. Steve didn’t seem to want to speculate any further so we
just let it go, waiting to hear more information.

           
After dinner we drank too much wine and stayed up late,
giggling about past camping trip dares they had all been through. Megan had to
work early the next morning, so she left around midnight and took a cab back to
her house.

           
“I should go too, Addie. You’ve probably had enough of me
after two days in a row of my company,” Steve said, smiling.