Page 40 of A Perfect Match
I gasp.Then a squeal escapes me.Griffin pauses, leaning against the handle of the mop.
“What is it?”
“Bella texted!She’ll be here in three hours!”Bella is my cousin, but she might as well be my sister.She lost her parents at a young age and came to live with my family from about eleven onward.So my mom is basically her mom now.This is the first time she’s been home since a whirlwind work trip led her straight into the arms of America’s most famous rock star.
Griffin’s face falls.“Shit.There’s so much more to do.”
The pieces begin clicking together.“Is that why you’re mopping like you’ve been possessed by a disgruntled 1950s housewife?”
His brows draw together.“Piper, the floor is dirty.I’m cleaning it.I don’t know how else you’d rather I do it.”
“You’re using, like, 300% body strength when you only need 5%.”
He huffs.“I don’t have time for your bullshit.Bella is gonna be here soon and the house is not ready.”
“Not ready?”I laugh as I look out over his sparkling house.“Griff, this could be a model home.”
“I haven’t even touched the baseboards.”
“Do youneedto…?”
His death stare helps me understand.I nod slowly.“Okay.This is important to you.I can help.Even if I don’t understand how you were ever able to set foot in my apartment with these cleanliness standards, I can help.Also, please don’t go into my bedroom at any point while we’re living together because you may have a heart attack.”I live in what I like to call organized chaos, which is the opposite of how Griffin operates.
While he finishes mopping, I prep my coffee, take a fortifying gulp, and get to work.To my eye, there isn’t much that needs done, but I try to see things from his perspective.I head to the shoe rack and toe a few pair of shoes into alignment.I fluff the jackets hanging on the hooks on the wall, making sure the pockets are facing outward.I tweak the collar on Griffin’s team coat.
“Piper what are you doing?”
“I’m helping.”
Griff sighs and rolls his eyes.Thankfully he’s finished mopping so I don’t have to watch him punch morse code into the linoleum any more.I drift to the couch, gathering the throw blanket.I try draping it in an aesthetic way over the back of the couch, but that seems messy if I’m looking at it from Griff’s perspective.I wrap it into a tight little roll and stuff it behind the couch cushions.Griffin raises an eyebrow at me from across the living room.
"What?Is there a better place to stash it?"
"Pretty much anywhere other than behind the cushion.”He heads to the bookshelves and begins dusting off his various trophies and awards."That makes it look like contraband."
"This is faster," I argue."Time is of the essence.And they're not going to be inspecting your couch cushions."
"You don't know that."Griffin's gaze darts my way before he begins dusting the television screen."Bella's engaged to a rock star now.He probably has people who check for, I don't know, listening devices or something."
I snort."In Bayshore?Who's spying on them here, the seagulls?Let’s be real though—are you nervous about meeting Jackson Bedd?”
“Well, I’d like to make a good impression,” he stammers, which tells me all I need to know.
"Griff, seriously.Relax."I grab the dusting wand from him before he can start on the shelves for the third time."Bella's still Bella, and she has assured me that Jackson is normal.Yes, he might be the resident American heart throb and all over the radios right now, but he’s a small-town guy with a big talent, just like you.They don't care if your throw pillows are perfectly fluffed."
What he doesn't know is that I'm just as nervous.Life has changed a lot for Bella.She’s the first one to have a serious partner out of all of us.And she’s the youngest of the Keegan clan…so maybe that’s a little embarrassing for the rest of us.
Asher’s in his mid-thirties and still hasn’t even had a whiff of a girlfriend, though I suspect that’s because he’s secretly in love with his assistant.And even Dane, the only one with a child, didn’t date Lia’s mom before they had her, since Lia was the product of a one-night stand.And while I’m pretty sure Jett fucks his way through the female population, I don’t think he’s ever called a single girl twice.
As for Griff, I’ve caught him chatting to a couple girls on his phone before, but he’s never brought anyone home and never talks about his dating life.And since I’m not allowed to even think about a boyfriend according to my father-brothers, I don’t think any of us Keegans have a shot at significant others.
Griffin disappears into the kitchen, presumably to sanitize the refrigerator or alphabetize his spice rack.I drift toward the glass sliding back door, straining to see through the foliage into Kru’s backyard.It’s Sunday, so he’s probably home.Maybe I could slip outside and trim back the rose bush.Deadhead some of the plants so Jackson Bedd doesn’t see what secret heathens we are.Hell, it might be a good time to seed that patchy backyard before company arrives…
“Griff, you want me to clean up your patio?”I offer.If he tells me to do it, then it’s not me deciding to go snoop on Kru.
“Do the front porch instead,” he instructs.
Dammit.I sigh and head to the front porch.The crisp morning air is a beautiful refresh as I soak in the fall sun and sweep the leaves off the front porch.About halfway through my porch-cleaning project, I wonder about the Best of Bayshore results.Seeing the voting results in real-time is not the most helpful thing for my peace of mind, but I can’t help myself.I have the webpage bookmarked, and I quickly pull it up.There are about fifty entrants in the competition, a wide range of interesting dishes and offerings from all sorts of Bayshore eateries.I sink into one of the porch chairs as I scroll through the results.I’m number five.Not great.But what’s an unexpected relief is that Kru’s restaurant is currently number ten.
