“That surprises me, that he did his own thing. You guys seem so in tune with each other.”
“Yeah, that was the problem,” she said under her breath as she zippered her suitcase.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head. “I’m all set.”
She wrenched her suitcase off the bed, and it landed on the ground with a thud.
“If I hadn’t seen the contents with my own eyes I’d swear that thing is filled with boulders. Let me carry it down for you.”
“I’ve got it. Do I look that weak?”
“Not at all, but I like to help when I can. I’ve got it,” he said, gently taking the handle from her and heading down the steep stairs with the suitcase.
“Spence, come on. Time to go home,” Justine called to him. He was likely still exhausted from the outburst on set, and she hated to think about how it would impact him during the ride back to Rexford. As he jumped off the bed she realized too late that he already was sort of home, but both he and Griffin ignored the comment.
“Do you want some water for the road?” Griffin asked as he parked her suitcase by the door.
“Water would be great, thanks,” she answered as she grabbed her laptop and various cords.
Spencer stood in the middle of the apartment and glanced from Griffin in the kitchen to Justine packing up. Rather than going to either one of them, he sat down and watched with his head hanging and his ears pressed flat.
“Hey, don’t forget your apples. These’ll be good for the trip.” Griffin pointed at the bowl on the counter filled with massive pinkish red stunners.
“No, those are for you,” Justine replied. “We picked them up at the farmers’ market yesterday. I figured you’d be hungry if you got in late tonight. I left some goat cheese in the fridge and a loaf of crusty bread too.”
He stopped in his tracks. “Justine, you didn’t have to do that. Thank you. Why don’t you stay and have some before you head out?”
She paused and pulled her phone out of her back pocket. She was hungry and it sounded like the best idea ever, but it was already close to eight. She had to be back behind the counter at T&B the next day, and she wanted to get home for a good night’s sleep after the stressful day.
“I should really go. Besides, you’re probably tired—you don’t need us underfoot here.”
“You wouldn’t be underfoot. I’d like the company.” He shifted gears quickly. “I don’t get to see Spence enough; it would be a treat to hang with him.”
Spencer perked up at the mention of his name.
Once again it felt like they were tiptoeing dangerously close to Netflix-and-chill territory, which didn’t make sense given that he’d blatantly said he wasn’t looking for a relationship. But then again, wasn’t Netflix and chill, by definition, not a relationship?
“Stay,” he said, grabbing three apples and expertly juggling them. “I’ll cut them into slices, and it’ll feel like kindergarten.”
She laughed. “You really know how to tempt a lady.” But he did, because he looked even more adorable trying to keep the apples in the air and hold a conversation with her at the same time.
“Stay, just for a little bit, so you can drive home with a full stomach. You’re wasting away. You need nourishment.” He stopped juggling, held a single apple out to her, and deployed the dimples.
But Justine knew exactly what was going to happen if she didn’t walk out the door.
He’d get her a drink, and they’d sit at the bar in his kitchen tearing off hunks of bread and coating them in goat cheese, and she’d eat the apple slices he’d cut for her and drink a little too much red wine considering she had to drive. They’d talk and laugh, and Spencer would do something silly, and Griffin would do something naughty with Spencer, and she’d scold Griffin, not Spencer, and they’d pretend fight, and it would lead to the perfect first kiss she couldn’t stop thinking about every time she was in Griffin’s presence.
No.
He had his trajectory; she had her hiatus.
“I can’t, I’m sorry. Lots to do at home. Plus, he’s tired.” She pointed to Spencer, who had curled up in a ball on the floor.
“Okay, no problem. Maybe another time?”
He looked hopeful, so she nodded.
“I’m going to walk you to your car.”
“It’s a safe neighborhood; you said so yourself. We’re fine, honestly.”
“Then pretend it’s because I want to walk Spence. Let’s go.” He was already putting on his moto jacket and halfway out the door with her suitcase before she managed to get the leash on Spencer.
Once on the street she wished she’d agreed to stay a little longer. It was a freezing night, and Griffin’s cozy apartment was a much better option than two hours in the car with a drooling dog. “I’m down here a block or so.” She pointed as they started walking.
Justine rounded the corner and could see the paper tucked beneath her wiper from half a block away. When they got to her car she realized that she had two parking tickets.
“Damn.”
“Ah, the street sweeping got you. Sorry, I should’ve told you about that. Give them to me; I’ll take care of it.”
“Not necessary,” she said, standing a little straighter. “But thanks.”
She handed the leash to Griffin and maneuvered her suitcase into the Mini’s tiny trunk. When she reached out to take the leash back from him he was looking past her, studying her car.
“What’s wrong?”
“I hate to tell you, but parking tickets are the least of your worries.”
He pointed to her rear tire, which looked like it had melted into the pavement.
chapter twenty-three
Explain to me how it’s safe for you to drive a ten-year-old car without a spare tire?” Griffin asked.
“Minis don’t have room for spare tires!” Justine sputtered at him. “Plus, that’s a run-flat tire. I think I can still drive on it.” She walked over to the tire and pushed at it with her pointer finger.
“No, that’s a flat flat tire. You’re not running anywhere.” He sighed and looked up at the sky. “It’s getting late. There’s no way you’re going to find a garage open tonight that has the right kind of tire in stock. Do you have AAA?”
“No. Damn it!” Justine exclaimed. Spencer walked over and bumped her leg with his nose as if he knew that petting him would help make her feel better. “Shit-shit-shit.”
“You could take an Uber maybe?” Griffin suggested.
Justine was already scrolling through the app with her eyes wide. “Yeah, that’s not an option.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Absolutely not; you’re already doing way too much to help us.” Justine shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and groaned in frustration. “This sucks!”
“Just come back to my place and we’ll figure out what to do. It’s too cold to stay outside, and staring at your tire won’t blow it back up.”
“No, that’s okay, we’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about us.”
Griffin didn’t say anything as he gave her a “you’re insane” look.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out or interrupt your plans.”
“Justine, do you want to know what you’re interrupting? Take-out pho and a few dozen rounds of Robot Wars on my iPad. Let’s figure this out. Sergeant Boltdriver can wait.”
She gave him a little smile. “Thank you, Griffin, yet again. I feel like all I do these days is say thank you to you.”
“I’ll always help Spencer. And you,” he added quickly. He turned his attention to the dog and put on a silly voice. “Come on, Spence, I’ll race ya.” He jogged a few steps and Spencer hopped down the sidewalk beside him.
Twenty minutes later Griffin had Justine set up at the bar with a glass of red wine and she�
��d prepared a cutting board with sliced apples, bread, and cheese to share. There was no easy way to make it back to Rexford in time to open Tricks & Biscuits the next morning, so she tried to get creative. Both Sienna and Ruth had offered to make the drive into the city to pick her up, but Justine refused to allow them to do the four-hour round-trip.
Griffin was silent for most of Justine’s negotiations, tapping away on his computer, until he finally spoke up with a single word.
“Stay,” he said quietly.
“Excuse me?” Justine asked, turning around in her chair to face him. The sight of Spencer curled up next to Griffin on the couch and his hand resting lightly on him triggered a tiny spark of jealousy.
“Just spend the night. It’s getting late and unless you want to take a sketchy bus that gets you home at midnight, you might as well stay here. I saw that you still have some food here for Spencer’s breakfast. You can get a new tire tomorrow morning and head back. If you go back tonight you’ll still have to make another trip in to deal with your car tomorrow, which will still mess up your day.”
“But where . . .”
“You can sleep in the loft again and I’ll sleep on the couch.” He didn’t look up from his computer. “It’s very comfortable. Wouldn’t be the first time for me, or Leo either. I mean Spencer.”
It made sense to stay, but it still felt like the worst option possible given that all she could think about was that chubby bottom lip of his. For a second she imagined trying to go to sleep knowing that Griffin was just a few feet below her without a wall separating them. Despite the noise from the street outside, they’d be able to hear each other breathing.
She hadn’t packed cute pajamas, just an ancient white summer-camp T-shirt that was thin enough to be transparent, black leggings with tan paint splotches on them, and a Temple hoodie with a broken zipper. The whole ensemble was comfortable and hideous, and it made her look like a homeless person. Had she known that she and Griffin were going to be in the apartment at the same time she would’ve packed something effortlessly sexy, but she quickly realized that she didn’t own anything that would qualify.
“I know it’s sort of weird to be in the apartment at the same time, but I promise you won’t even know I’m here,” Griffin added, still focused on his computer. “You can go up to bed and I’ll keep my headphones on and watch Netflix down here on the couch.”
When he said the word “bed” Justine felt an involuntary flutter in her low belly. Once again he made the word flip from noun to verb.
Spencer twitched on the couch next to Griffin and let out a deep, contented snore.
It was no longer a question; they were staying.
“If you promise it’s not too much, then yes. Thank you, again and again and again. A never-ending thank you.”
“Of course. Glad you’ll both be safe,” Griffin replied. He never stopped typing.
Justine texted Sienna to see if she could open Tricks & Biscuits the next morning, but rather than face an onslaught of eggplant emojis when she told her why she couldn’t make it in, she kept it vague and said she’d explain later.
Exactly what she’d be explaining, she had no idea.
* * *
• • •
“What do you mean you’ve never seen it?” Griffin asked from the kitchen as he poured them both another glass of wine.
“I mean I’ve never watched a single episode of Galaxy Force.” Justine shrugged from the couch. “It’s not my thing. I don’t really like sci-fi.”
“That’s it, I’m officially revoking your overnight privileges. Out.” He pointed at the door with a stony face.
“Oh, come on, what’s so good about it anyway? It’s just explosions and space crap.”
He froze in place halfway back to the couch. “Excuse me?”
“I said what I said.”
Griffin sighed and placed the wine on the coffee table in front of her. “One episode. Give me one episode to change your mind.”
Justine grabbed her glass, then crossed her legs and pulled her bare feet beneath her. “Okay. One episode.”
“We can turn it off if you hate it, you have my word. But I guarantee you won’t. It holds up.” He turned off the overhead lights. “Sorry, but we need darkness to get into the Galaxy Force universe and Anderson’s incredible acting.”
Justine choked on her wine when she realized that they were going to be sitting next to each other in the dark. Spencer had moved to settle in Griffin’s spot the second he’d left to get the drinks, so only the middle section of the couch was open, or the ottoman.
“Thanks, dude,” Griffin muttered to Spencer.
“There’s room,” Justine said, squishing closer to the arm of the couch. She patted the open space next to her. “Sit.”
Griffin settled on the couch so that he didn’t bump the peacefully sleeping Spencer or the wide-awake and anxious Justine. She glanced down and realized that his thigh was only a few inches away from hers. She pulled her legs a little closer in, just to make sure she didn’t accidentally graze him. There would be no cozy behavior during their watch party, because it would undoubtedly lead to something they’d both regret.
He grabbed the remote and scrolled through the options until he landed on the famous Galaxy Force logo.
Justine snorted. “The first episode is called ‘The Legend Awakens’? That sounds like a total Star Wars rip-off.”
“I knew we were going to have to have this conversation.” Griffin sighed and shifted so that he could look her in the face like he was about to teach her something important. “I won’t get too deep, but you need to know that the show is based on a book written in 1964 called Our Time in Space, so it predates Star Wars. There are endless subreddits that explain how George Lucas lifted themes from the book.”
“And if I wanted examples of stuff he stole you could provide them?”
“You know it.” He settled back against the couch. “You can’t bitch about my show if you don’t have all of the facts.”
“Can I ask you one more question?”
“Shoot,” he replied, putting the remote down on the couch beside him.
“Are you”—she looked around and lowered her voice—“an undercover sci-fi geek?”
“How dare you, madam?” Griffin boomed, trying to keep a straight face. “There is nothing geeky about loving Galaxy Force. Nothing!”
Justine threw her head back and laughed because she could tell he was a little embarrassed she’d called him out on his not-so-secret obsession. Now that she understood the depth of his fandom she wondered why he didn’t have any Captain Zaltan Funko action figures or collectibles in the apartment.
“Okay, are you ready?”
Justine threw her fist in the air. “Galaxy Force is on!”
He rolled his eyes. “The line is ‘Galaxy Force is go,’ thank you very much. But you’ll learn, my young cadet, you’ll learn.”
Forty-six minutes later Justine was sitting straight up with her hand over her mouth as the credits rolled.
“Holy shit, that was good! I had no clue Galaxy Force had depth. The planetary caste system totally has parallels to race and class in our country. And I’m in shock that half the crew were women. And Anderson! I’m sorry but he was really snackable back then.” She fell back against the couch and accidentally jostled Spencer awake.
Griffin gave her an indulgent smile. “So, you liked it?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Much more than I thought I would. Let’s do another.”
“Seriously?”
“One hundred percent serious.” She paused. “And are you still hungry? Because that apple and cheese combo was just an appetizer for me.”
“Yeah, I’m starving too,” he answered, grabbing his phone. “What are you in the mood for? Because we’ve got Pho Grand right around the corner, Curry Heights a few block
s down—”
“I know,” Justine interrupted and smiled at him. “I’m a local now, remember?”
“So you are.” He grinned back. “The country mouse is finding her way in the big city.”
“Psh, please. You should see me jaywalking.”
Justine watched Griffin as he scrolled through dinner options on his phone. Bathed in the blue light from the TV home screen with his hair messy, his button-down rumpled, and slumped against the couch with his hand resting on Spencer’s flank, he looked handsome in a totally new way. He looked . . . comfortable. Like he’d be perfect to lean on.
Which absolutely wasn’t going to happen.
She squished herself into the corner of the couch like a contortionist and settled on a safe topic. “Can we talk about those canibots?”
Griffin looked up from his phone. “I love them. Tread carefully, please.”
“I mean, obviously they’re adorable. Who doesn’t love a space dog? But if you think about it, they’re a major plot hole. They had technology that allowed them to create hyperrealistic robot dogs to be their companions in space, but the rest of the robots looked like tin cans. Why is that?”
“Do you really want to know? Because I watched a YouTube video that suggests the DNA samples taken from the remaining life forms on Earth enabled them to . . .” He trailed off when Justine started to giggle. “What? Too much?”
“A little?” She laughed and held up her thumb and pointer finger an inch apart.
He ducked his head and changed the subject. “Did you catch the name of the lead canibot?”
“Yeah, Leonidas X, the battle bot.” She paused as the realization hit her. “Wait. Leonidas. Leo.” Spencer opened his eyes and looked at her when she said his old name. “Oh my God, you named him for the dog in the show.” Her heart twisted at the realization. “That’s really sweet.”
“And geeky,” he replied as he scrolled through their dinner options.
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