Six Days: Book One in the SIX Series

by Randileigh Kennedy

  “Do you want to go out? We can totally go out and grab food if you want, I just…”

  “Griffin, no, this is perfect. Trust me, a girl needs some crawdad in her life,” I interrupted. His smile widened.

  “Then join me in the kitchen,” he said, stepping out of the car and leading me up his garage stairs. I happily followed behind him. I noticed another vehicle, a large black SUV, parked in the garage bay next to his Audi.

  “Does someone else live here?” I asked, caught off guard by the other vehicle.

  “No, that’s mine too. The snow levels get pretty crazy up here in the winter, so I drive that one for a few months when the roads are bad. I know, it’s ridiculous for one person to have two cars. But that’s my dad for you,” he replied, shrugging. “Another tax write-off for him I guess. I’m sure he has it down as a business expense.”

  I could tell by Griffin’s change in tone that he didn’t like talking about his father. I followed him inside.

  His place was amazing, as I suspected it would be given the outside of it. It had really high ceilings with beautiful wood beams running across, and the floors were all dark wood. He also had a giant terrace as well, with a hot tub and even a small makeshift greenhouse with a garden in it. He showed me which plants produced which vegetables and pulled a few to have with dinner.

  “I figure it’s a way to justify all this other wasted space, by actually producing something useful,” he replied when I asked him about his gardening skills. There was something about Griffin. Most of the time everything about him seemed so effortless, but yet so genuine at the same time.

  Griffin cooked up the crawdad and sautéed some of the vegetables, and although small, the crawdad tasted better than I imagined. We recounted the day and Griffin laughed at me again for my panic on the first catch.

  “So, adventure one was okay for you then?” Griffin asked as we cleared the plates from dinner.

  “That actually felt amazing. I never would’ve imagined crawdad catching as a good time, but it was really fun,” I gushed.

  “Well, then I had better get you home. Tomorrow is another day. I know you’re working at the bakery early. When are you done?” Griffin asked nonchalantly, putting his hands in his pockets.

  “I’ll be there pretty early, so I’ll probably be done around three or four in the afternoon,” I guessed. “What’s on the agenda for tomorrow?”

  “Part of the adventure is not knowing,” Griffin replied, flashing his boyish smile yet again. “I’m really glad I met you, Addie. I think you’re a great addition to the group. We all really enjoy your company. You’re a good friend to have around.” Griffin picked up his keys. “Ready?”

  I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure I wanted to leave.

  The drive home took less than ten minutes and we mostly listened to music. As we pulled into my apartment lot, Griffin started undoing his seatbelt.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it Griffin. I actually don’t own the whole building, my door is right there,” I said teasingly, pointing to my door. I grabbed my bag from the back seat. “Thank you. I really had fun today,” I said, feeling a shiver through my entire body for a brief moment as I said it. I reacted by flinging my car door open and stepping out quickly. “I’m glad we’re friends too,” I spoke softly. Why did I say that? I was thinking about earlier, when he made the comment about being friends. I mean this wasn’t a date or anything, obviously, so that was a normal thing to say, right?

  I closed the door quickly, cursing myself for my awkwardness. I briskly walked to my apartment door, wishing I had ended that conversation differently. Griffin nodded and gave a small wave from his car window as I opened up my door and walked inside. I couldn’t decide in that moment if I was relieved to be alone, or disappointed.

  Chapter 7

  Six-fifteen came early, and my alarm clock chime was less than cheerful. I quickly showered and pulled my hair back into an effortless pony tail. I threw on some jean capris, a loose black shirt and some comfortable worn-in sandals. By the time I arrived at the bakery a little before seven, Mallory was already inside. She already had mixing bowls and utensils pulled out on the counter to prep us for our day.

  “Wow, what happened to you?” Mallory asked. She had an unusual grin on her face.

  “Sorry, do I look like a mess? I was tired. I didn’t even dry my hair,” I replied, my voice trailing off.

  “No, just the opposite. You’re glowing, which isn’t usually your look before seven a.m.,” Mallory said smirking. “What were you up to all night?”

  “What? Not what you think. Get that look off your face,” I responded, playfully smacking Mallory’s arm. “What did you think was going to happen? He’s a nice guy and all, but we’re just friends. We had a fun day together, that’s all.”

  “Then why didn’t you call me last night? I was worried about you,” Mallory said sincerely.

  “I’m sorry Mal, by the time I got home I was tired. I just forgot to call.” I recounted the story about crawdad fishing and the dinner we made. Mallory gave me a suspicious look, as if she believed there was more to the story.

  “It wasn’t weird or anything, it’s not like he was hitting on me. We just hung out and it was really nice. Don’t you guys do that all the time?”

  “Well, yeah,” Mallory said, setting down the baking dish she was holding, “but I don’t know, Griffin’s different. He takes longer to warm up to people. I mean, yeah, he’s fun and spontaneous and all that. We all love him, I’ve just never seen him like this. He has all this family stuff going on right now so he’s just been a little distant lately.”

  Mallory opened up the large refrigerator and pulled out a square white box. “Now, seemingly around the same time you came along, he’s all happy and laid back again out of nowhere. I like it, that’s all. And then there’s this,” Mallory said, pointing her hands at the box. “It’s a delivery for you.”

  “What is it?” I asked, stepping up to the counter to lift the lid off of the box.

  “I don’t know, but it has your name on it,” Mallory said, shrugging with a mischievous look on her face.

  I opened up the box. Inside was a beautiful small square chocolate cake with piped white icing that read: Day 2. There was a small tent card resting on top of the cake.

  Day 2: The Fountain of Youth - Modesty Optional. I’ll pick you up at 6:00 p.m. - bring the cake.

  “Mallory, what is this?” I looked up at her with a curious smile on my face.

  “Don’t look at me,” she said with her arms up in self defense. “I have very limited information. I just provided the cake.” Mallory’s laugh sounded innocent, as if perhaps she really didn’t know much.

  “Well, we’d better get to work. Apparently I have the possibility of immodest plans with a handsome stranger tonight,” I mused, rolling up my sleeves. I shot Mallory a sideways smirk. “Pass the sugar.”

  The day flew by as Mallory and I prepped recipes and drew up plans for opening the bakery seven days a week. Mallory really seemed motivated by her dare. She really wanted to make the bakery her full-time job, despite it having been more of a hobby the last few months since she started it. Work was a good distraction, and I was genuinely optimistic for Mallory and wanted to help her in any way I could. Mallory didn’t bring up Griffin again, which was a relief because I still hadn’t decided I wanted to give him much thought. After all, I ended up here in the first place trying to run away from the last handsome man I gave in to.

  We thumbed through some old recipe books she had found a month or so ago at a used book store, trying to get some ideas for some new things to bake. Mallory had already perfected cakes, cupcakes, cookies, normal things like that. We were now looking for some different items to stand out from the usual stuff you would find in a bakery, different options to eventually fill up her glass cases with. Mallory used to only spend two or three days a week in the bakery, whenever she had a large order or an open house to prepare for. Now that we were looking to ex
pand her business, we had agreed to spend even more time there. Mallory still had some spinning classes to teach on occasion because she still wasn’t quite ready to give those up just yet. I, however, didn’t really have much else going on. I enjoyed having more of a purpose to my day and agreed to spend as much of my week there as we needed. Of course, that was before I had my week planned out for me by Griffin.

  Finally as it neared four o’clock, Mallory shooed me out of the shop to go home and get ready for whatever plans I had tonight.

  What was I going to wear? With little details, I didn’t want to overdress or under dress, but that made it hard since I didn’t know where I was going. I settled for some grey leggings and a long dark blue tunic with a belt around it. I chose some medium height wedge shoes, thinking they didn’t really look either too casual or too dressed up. I figured Mallory would verbally reprimand me for my boring fashion choice. But without her expertise, that’s just how I felt most comfortable. I spent thirty-five minutes curling my long blonde hair, but it felt too overdone, as if the effort would make it look like I was trying too hard for something that wasn’t a date. I brushed my fingers through it, trying to soften it. I hoped that would make it look more natural, but then gave up on it altogether and tied half of it back out of my eyes. Why was I second guessing all of this? I cursed myself for getting so worked up over the whole thing.

  Just then, there was a soft knock at my door. I opened it to see Griffin standing there, leaning against the door frame. He wore loose lounging jeans, designer flip flops, and a light blue polo shirt.

  “Ready?” he asked softly, staring at me with his deep piercing eyes. His mouth curled upwards into a sly smile. “You look nice. Oh, grab a swim suit. If you want one.”

  “If I want one? What’s the alternative? Oh, never mind, I’ll grab it,” I said, quickly walking back to my bedroom. I opened up my bottom dresser drawer. Wasn’t it too cold out to be swimming this late? It wouldn’t be too much longer before the sun began to set. I had two suits to choose from, which was a miracle given how little I had brought with me when I moved. What a typical girl thing to do, I could have been sensible and grabbed an extra pair of jeans, but instead, I had made it out of my past life with two different swimsuits. How practical was that? I quickly grabbed the more modest one with pink and white polka dots. I smirked at the line “modesty optional,” then felt suddenly nervous about what that really meant. I shoved the swimsuit into my purse, thankful that I chose more of a Boho style bag, rather than my clutch. I grabbed the cake off the kitchen counter and walked back to the door where Griffin still stood, watching me.

  “I’ll carry that,” he said, taking the cake box from me. He smelled amazing, like a crisp summer night.

  The drive lasted about forty minutes, and Griffin refused to tell me where we were headed. He introduced me to more of his favorite music, and we laughed again about our crawdad experience the day before. He also told me a little bit about his upbringing and I was surprised to find out he had a younger brother. His brother, however, made it out of working for the family business by choosing to go into the Marines. His father of course didn’t approve, but Griffin almost seemed jealous that his brother had found a way out while he was still stuck working for his dad.

  “Well, what else would you rather be doing?” I asked. “If you could do anything with your life, what would it be?”

  “That’s just it, I don’t know. Is that terrible? To already be done with school and yet I’m still wandering around trying to figure out what I should be doing with my life?” he asked sincerely.

  “That’s not terrible at all. I have been asking myself the same thing for a long time,” I answered in agreement. “You know when you’re a kid and you just know you’re going to grow up and be a ballerina, or an astronaut, or whatever? The problem with that is, no six year-old ever says they are going to grow up to be a tax auditor, or a sewer repairman, or a car rental counterperson. Then one day you wake up as an adult, and all of a sudden you’re auditing someone’s taxes, wondering how the hell you got there. Sometimes I wonder if it would be better for kids to just learn that, odds are, they are going to grow up to live a mediocre life. You know, working all day at a job they’re never really sure is the ‘one’ for them, hopefully a little better off than their parents, sure, but otherwise not really using any unique talent whatsoever.” I finally paused, wondering why I couldn’t stop rambling.

  “Wow, Addie, I’m going to put it out there that you probably shouldn’t become a teacher, at the very least. That was not a motivating message at all,” Griffin replied, laughing.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know where all that came from. I guess I’m just trying to say that I agree with you. I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing. Although I have to admit, even though I never imagined myself baking anything, it seems to be working out so far. So you never know, sometimes I guess life just decides for you, that’s all I’m saying.” I reached over and turned the radio back up, happy to end my random conversation. Griffin smiled at me, and I wasn’t sure if it was out of amusement, or if he was just glad I was done talking.

  We finally pulled up to a large metal gate baring a sign that read “Loganville Hot Springs, Two Miles.”

  “Hot springs?” I asked, looking over at Griffin as he pulled the car down a long tree-lined dirt road.

  “Have you ever been to one before?” he asked.

  I shook my head no.

  “It’s actually supposed to be like a health rejuvenation thing. They’re natural hot springs coming out of the ground, all full of minerals from the earth that are supposed to be good for you. I just like it because it’s fun,” Griffin said, glancing over at me to study my reaction.

  “So like a giant natural bathtub?” I smirked.

  “Yeah, kind of. There’s a bunch of them though, that’s why I like this place. There are a couple big ones, full of a lot of people, and some smaller ones. It’s an interesting group of people. It’s a nature park, so some people are more, well, natural than others.” His mouth curled up into that perfect smile again.

  “Oh my gosh, so I’m supposed to sit in a ground bath with naked people? What kind of adventure is this?” I asked anxiously, not sure if this was my type of place.

  “Don’t worry, it’s not like that. There are different areas, depending on your preference. Besides, it’s a Monday night, and still pretty early in the year. I doubt it will even be busy,” Griffin said matter-of-factly. “Besides, you brought a suit, so you don’t have to do anything crazy. We’re just here to relax,” Griffin said, smiling at me. His grey-blue eyes pleaded with me to just trust him.

  We pulled into a small dirt lot with four other cars parked in it. “This will be perfect,” Griffin said, opening his driver side door and reaching for a cooler he had sitting in the back seat. “Don’t forget the cake,” he reminded me, slinging a bag of towels over his shoulder.

  We walked up a small trail marked with various signs and side trails. I did feel a little ridiculous in my wedge sandals, but I guess it was still a better choice than heels which I’m guessing Mallory would have urged me to wear. We came to a little clearing that was marked “Serenity Springs,” and passed two older couples who were just gathering up their blankets and towels to head out. There was no one else in sight.

  “Wow, so this looks like the same setting you see on Dateline where all the serial killers take their dates,” I murmured, a little creeped out that we were only surrounded by trees and various nature sounds. It was a pretty area, it just felt a little isolated. “Is that the spring?” I asked, pointing to a small cement-type pool in the ground. “Is the water orange?”

  “It’s orange from all the minerals coming up from the ground,” Griffin replied, spreading out some towels on the ground alongside the small pool. “Feel it,” he urged.

  I plunged my hand into the water, surprised by the heat of it. At least I finally felt better about stripping down to my bathing suit tonight, given i
t was a little cool out. Griffin opened the cooler and pulled out various plastic containers which made me smile, wondering if his mom packed them. “Hungry?” he asked.

  “Starving, actually,” I replied. “Did you pack all those?”

  “What do you mean? Of course I did,” he said, sounding a little confused by my question. He neatly emptied the cooler, laying out everything on one of the towels he had spread out.

  “Wow, you just seem well prepared, that’s all. What are we having?” I replied.

  “Well I don’t have any leftover crawdad because you ate them all,” he snickered, “but I’ve got some fruit, some chicken veggie wraps, which yes, I made myself if you were wondering about that too. Do you want some wine?” Griffin pulled out a dark bottle and a corkscrew. “Damn, I forgot some glasses though. See, not a perfectly executed plan. Would it be classy enough of a scene for us to just take pulls from this straight from the bottle?” Griffin looked up at me with a shrug. I laughed and sat on the towel next to him.

  “So where do I get dressed? I didn’t realize we’d be somewhere so remote,” I said, reaching for the bottle of wine he just opened. I took a sip, surprised at how sweet and delicious it tasted.

  “Well, it depends on how much of this wine you drink, I guess,” Griffin said with a smirk. “Although, I guess the appropriate answer would be that I’ll just turn around and you can get dressed by those trees. It doesn’t seem like anyone else is out here. Would you be okay with that? I don’t want you to feel weird about it. Otherwise the bathroom is a little ways down the trail. I’m sorry, I guess I should have thought about that before now.”

  “I can manage changing here,” I replied, popping some grapes into my mouth. “Just no peeking.”

  I stood up and walked a few feet behind where we were sitting, hoping the trees were enough to cover me from anyone else who may be lurking around the hot springs. Luckily it didn’t seem as though anyone else was around. Moments later I was in my polka dot two-piece, happy the sun was low enough to dim the light around me. I quickly stepped into the water, forgetting about how warm it was until the water hit my thighs. My feet tingled. I hadn’t even noticed Griffin changing, but he was already in his swim shorts stepping towards the water. We eased into the pool, which was only about five feet wide and less than four feet deep. I stood on my knees so the water was around the top of my shoulders.