Page 95 of Find You Again (Nashville Star 2)

“It’s early,” he complains.

“It is. And that’s why I’m goin’ to clean up the kitchen. You, however, are restin’.”

“Are you sure?” He wiggles his brows, his grin sly. “You could come to bed.”

She rolls her eyes. “Shut up and go to sleep, Griff.”

Griff settles back with a grumble but remains watching her as she opens the windows and dims the light, his face thoughtful, tender. Finally, he says, “My mom would love the house, Al. Thank you.”

Alabama’s chest squeezes tight. “You’re welcome.” She dips to press a kiss to his lips and then, remembering her musings on the porch, whispers, “I want my penny back, Greyson.”

Griff’s grin is dopey with sleep. “Hmmm,” he murmurs, his eyelids fighting gravity. “In the dresser ...”

By the time Alabama straightens up, Griff’s asleep. She smiles down at him, his face peaceful and adorably, misleadingly, innocent.

She goes to the dresser and slides out the top drawer. She’s rifling around under papers when she finds the penny. Two of them, in fact. Hers and Griff’s. A pang of sadness moving through her, she goes to scoop both of them up when her hand knocks something hard and square.

Alabama blinks as she pulls out a small jewelry box yellowed with age. She frowns, puzzled, and opens it.

She gasps.

It’s an engagement ring. A silver band with a princess-cut solitaire.

She stares, hands shaking. In that moment, the world falls away, sounds go silent, her vision tunnels, and Alabama’s back in that summer.

Her heart pounds furiously in her ears. The ring’s hers. She knows it. Or rather, it was supposed to be hers.

Lightheaded, Alabama snaps the case shut and puts it back where she found it. Quietly, she shuts the drawer, gripping the edge of the dresser so that her knees don’t give out.

Her eyes fill with tears.

She had thought she was okay. That she could move on without an answer from Griff, that she could forgive the past, but this. The ring—it’s Pandora’s box. It’s the sharp sting of rejection all over again.

Anger and pain swell up in her, the size of a tsunami.

Griff had a ring for her. He planned to propose. So why in the hell did he leave?

Alabama glances over her shoulder at a sleeping Griff. She feels her face, her blood, her heart harden. No more. Whatever he’s been hiding is coming out. She has to know.

Tomorrow.

She gets answers tomorrow. One way or another, she’ll make Griff talk.

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