Page 8 of Secrets at Dawn
Marric winced. “He talks a lot at school.”
“He doubles down when he’s on a date.” Griffin kind of sort of felt bad about leaving him at the restaurant. “When you see him at the school next time, if you can get a word in, tell him I said I’m sorry about leaving him at the restaurant.”
Marric sucked in a breath. “You seriously did not do that, did you?”
Now it was Griffin’s turn to wince. He nodded. “In my defense, I doubt he even knew my name. That’s how bad it was.”
Marric sighed. “It’s gonna be awkward when I drop Regan off at school now.”
“Where is he anyway?” Griffin didn’t think it was that late, and it was the weekend.
“Sleepover. Do you know Allison Perkins?”
Griffin nodded. “Yep. Fixed her front door last month.”
He went to high school with her, although she was a couple of grades behind him. But he remembered when she got pregnant in her senior year. It was the talk of the town for longer than it should have been. Her parents kicking her out had made the rumor mill even happier. But Allison had landed a good job with Louis Harvey, the local attorney. Louis took her under his wing and put her through legal secretary training. And the rest was single-mom history. “She’s a good egg.”
“Beckett and Regan became good friends.” Marric grabbed the pickle jar and fished out a pickle chip, popping it into his mouth.
Beckett was the name of Allison’s son. He’d asked a million questions about hanging the new front door. He’d even tried to help. “He’s a cute kid.”
“Allison isn’t dating anyone seriously.” Marric put that out there as if it were a natural part of the conversation.
“No way. Especially not in the wake of Mr. Chatty Cathy.” Griffin took a bite of his sandwich.
“Come on. You already know her. It’s not like Colin, where you didn’t. And besides, there’s someone out there who will love Colin’s chattiness. Just you wait and see.” Marric fished out another pickle.
Griffin grabbed a fork from the drawer and handed it to him. “No one wants your fingers all in the pickle juice.”
The front door opened and closed. There was some rustling around before Iven came into the room. He kissed Marric and then licked his lips. “Mmm, pickles.”
Marric giggled. “He doesn’t mind my fingers in the pickle jar.”
“That I don’t, honey.” Iven raised his eyebrows when he met Griffin’s gaze. “Bad date?”
“Talked too much.” Griffin took another bite of his sandwich.
“I figured it wouldn’t be a good match.” Iven went to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of beer. He held it out to Griffin, who took it before grabbing one for himself. “Colin’s a nice guy, though.”
Marric made a high-pitched squeaking noise. “Why didn’t you say something before I set them up, if you thought it wouldn’t be a good match?”
Iven shrugged. “You never know. I’ve been wrong about stuff like that before. It was just a hunch that it wouldn’t. And like I said, Colin’s alright. A normal guy, other than his penchant for gabbing so much.”
“So should I let Marric set me up with Allison Perkins?” Griffin asked.
Iven frowned. “Beckett’s mom?”
“Yeah. I thought maybe they’d like each other,” Marric said.
Iven shook his head. “They’ve known each other for a long time. If they had wanted to date each other, they would have already done so. And besides that, Allison isn’t Griffin’s mate. Neither is Colin, for that matter.”
Griffin shrugged. “Maybe I don’t have a mate. Mom doesn’t.”
“Your mother just hasn’t found hers yet, and even if she did, I have serious doubts she’d want to bond with them. She seems pretty happy in life to me.” Iven took a sip of his beer before sliding it across the counter to share with Marric.
Marric took it, smiling shyly, in the way he always did whenever Iven did something Marric deemed to be sweet.
Griffin wanted what his dad had with Marric. And what his brother had with Cass. He wanted a mate. He just hoped he really had one. Whenever he thought about finding his mate and what that would be like, doubt crept in.
