“Both.”
His short, clipped answer yanked her gaze to his. She raised an eyebrow. “Not telling?”
Griff looked at her long and hard. In his smoky gray eyes, she witnessed the debate of emotions going on within him. “I watched my father drink himself to death.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. How many times and in how many ways had he gotten hurt? No one stays. Reaching out, she covered his hand with hers. It gave her comfort he didn’t pull away. “I’m sorry. It must have been agonizing for you.”
He turned his hand, allowing her to lace her fingers with his. Long fingers; big, slightly rough palms… She loved the feel of warmth and strength there. “I’ve never had a drop. I saw the damage it did.”
“And the suffering it caused,” she guessed.
His silence stretched. The muted voices of the nearby customers, the clink of glasses, and clanging silverware settled around them.
“I tried a sip of beer once and couldn’t stand the taste. I just don’t get the appeal. Wine, yes, sometimes when I go out. Lately, I don’t even want it. Rico gets silly and loud.”
This made his lip twitch. “And he’s not already?”
She laughed.
Her phone blared. He pulled away. The intimacy evaporated right before her very eyes. Her heart sank.
“Maybe you should answer.”
She dug it out of her back pocket and glanced at the screen. Groaning, she shook her head. It wouldn’t stop ringing, so she silenced it and shoved it away.
“Trouble?”
“Ever since the Colonel left my mother, she won’t stop calling. Each message is a little bit more desperate than the last.”
“Here’s your root beers, guys.” The smiling waitress placed them on the table and tugged two straws out of her pocket. “Cheeseburgers will be out in just a few more minutes.”
“Thanks,” Priscilla said as the woman bounced to another table, where an older couple settled up their bill.
“The Colonel?” Griff’s question brought her back to their conversation.
“Her beau, I guess you could call him, for the last four months or so. He distracted her from us, her daughters, for a while. It was such a relief. I could breathe for the first time in my life.” She sighed, dunking the straw in her soda, and leaning in for a sip. Fiddling with the silverware, she said, “But, she couldn’t resist stirring the pot again. He didn’t like her antics. I’m sure you’ve gathered she’s not the nicest woman.” Her middle clenched. “She says she’s broken and lonely,” she winced, “and is begging me to come back home.”
“You’re not going, are you?” Was that concern?
Shaking her head, she said, “I’m trying to stand on my own two feet. She’s making it difficult, though.”
“How so?”
Priscilla blanched as she recalled the messages. “She calls four, five, sometimes more a day. At first, I answered, thinking she’d seen the light and would apologize. Wrong, so wrong. Then, she tried every trick in the book—from hollow compliments, to constructive criticism, to pressuring me, to trying to bribe me.”
“Bribe?” He sounded disgusted.
“My very own business—fashion or decor, whichever I want. All bankrolled by my mother, who will retain the controlling interest, of course. I get to put my name on the place and do everything else I desire.”
“In exchange for what?”
“A tax write-off and moving back home, to begin with.”
“Why don’t I like the sound of this?” he murmured.
“She wants to wed me to Francie’s cast off, a podiatrist with a foot fetish.” She felt the blush creep up her neck. “If he doesn’t work, there’s more to follow.”
“Not interested?” Why was he staring at her so hard?
“Me, marriage? Please. I’m free. I don’t want to be tied down.”
“It doesn’t have to be like that.”
Priscilla jerked her head up to catch his intense gaze.
“Your sisters don’t have that type of arrangement, so why would you?”
She chuckled. It came out strangled. “They were much smarter. Mother allowed Charlie’s marriage because Alex agreed to buy King’s and make her very rich, which, in turn, he later gifted the store to Charlie.”
“Francine and Marcus?”
“They went behind her back. She was livid about it. No, you don’t know my mother. I’m the last daughter. She won’t let her one last shot slip away. She’s intentionally selecting prospective wealthy grooms who will bend to her will and thus she can control the entire union .”