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Chapter 2
Chi carried the tub of water out so she could scrub off some tables.
The diner had been dead that morning without Griff. He was the lifeblood. She, like everyone else, just orbited around him.
But she’d been thinking for two weeks about the proposition that James had made to her. He said because of his commitments in Chicago he couldn’t come to Strawberry Sands and date her, but he could move her into his penthouse in Chicago and they could live together. He’d insinuated that if it worked out, he would be asking her to marry him. The way he said it made it sound like it would be a very short time.
She hadn’t wanted to do it. That wasn’t the way she wanted to live her life. But she wanted the respectability of being with someone who was successful, rich, suave, and sophisticated.
Right now, as the owner of this dinky little diner, she was barely any better than she had been five years ago when she’d been down and out in every sense of the word.
She’d determined at that point, maybe a little like Scarlett O’Hara, that she would never be looked down on again. People would not stick up their noses as they walked by her, acting like they were so much better than she was. She had determined that she would be successful no matter what she had to do. Success being defined by money and prestige and position in society.
James had it all, and she intended to have it all as well. As his wife, on his arm, she would be in the upper echelon of Chicago society.
She wouldn’t have to worry about money again, and she wouldn’t have to be self-conscious about how tiny her diner was and how small her salary.
Sure, she would miss the small-town atmosphere and the friends that she’d made here.
She’d miss Griff most of all. But she wouldn’t allow herself to feel sad about that. Griff was self-sufficient. And he’d already bought the property that they’d been talking about purchasing for a while now. He’d done it without talking to her about it and telling her that he was going to. She wanted to turn on him, yell at him, ask him how he could do that to her. It was her diner. She should have been the one to purchase the property.
Of course, it had been for sale for a long time, and she hadn’t made a single move on it, so she could hardly get upset, but still. That was her property. And Griff knew it.
Not that it mattered, because she’d already decided that she was going to move to Chicago.
Once word got around about that, people had started showing up at the diner just to see if it were true.
It was a good thing that Griff had made so much extra food ahead. If he hadn’t had the foresight to do that, she would have run out of food. She could cook, but she couldn’t waitress and cook and bus tables at the same time. Plus, people wanted to talk today.
Thankfully, those people weren’t super eager for their food, since they came more for the gossip than out of hunger.
The only problem was, she had a nagging feeling that there was something that was just not quite on the up and up with James.
“I’m so excited for your new move,” Kristin said, smiling at Chi as her girls looked over the menu.
“I’m excited too. I’ve always dreamed of living in the big city, and this is my chance,” she said, finding that as the morning had worn on, she had to make more and more effort to infuse excitement into her voice.
When she had been face-to-face with Griff, she had almost chickened out and decided that she didn’t want to move after all. Avoiding his eyes was the only way that she was able to tell him without bursting into tears and begging him to... She didn’t even know what she wanted him to do, just knew instinctively that he could fix everything for her. She wanted to fall into his arms. Except Griff didn’t look at her like that. He looked at her the same way most people did, like she was a roach underneath his shoe.
Never mind that Griff was probably from the exact same background that she was. Maybe not with the Amish Mennonite roots, but he was just as familiar as she was with the bar scene and all the things that went with it.
“We’re going to miss you so much. The diner has become such a huge part of Strawberry Sands. And Griff, oh my goodness. And all of the strawberry creations? I just feel like crying. Even while I’m so happy for you.”
See? That was what she meant. Griff overshadowed everything. He was so good at what he did. Whatever he touched seemed to turn to gold. People loved it. Especially the ladies of the town; they swooned all over him.
He wasn’t even the kind of man that most small-town girls would be interested in. He was completely bald, with two hoop earrings in one ear, tattoos, of course the bulging biceps were a huge plus.
He must have nothing but weights upstairs in his apartment, although she’d never seen him moving any in. Maybe he just spent the evenings after he cleaned the kitchen doing push-ups or something.
Regardless, with his signature work boots, worn blue jeans, and tight T-shirt... He was the stuff of any girl’s dream.
Hers included, except she didn’t want to like him. Not like that. And she’d made a concentrated effort to only see him as an employee.
