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“I don’t think that’s possible. Plus, that’s pretty boring. People who live by character don’t have any fun.”
“Maybe that depends on what your definition of fun is.” Griff used to think the exact same thing. That he had to be rebellious, break the rules, do all the bad things in order to have fun. He used to make fun of people who walked the line, did the right thing, were goody-goody people.
And then he figured out that he had everything backward. The only problem was, he wasn’t sure that anyone could have told him any different when he was Rodney’s age. He had to learn all those things for himself. Thankfully, God had protected him from a lot of bad things. Not everything, but a lot.
“My definition of fun is anything that doesn’t have to do with my parents.” Rodney sounded even more bitter.
Griff couldn’t blame him. If he knew his dad was cheating, he would be upset as well. Of course, Rodney might not know as much as what he thought he did.
“Maybe your parents aren’t as bad as what you think.”
“Maybe they’re worse.” Every time Rodney mentioned his dad or his parents, the bitterness crept back into his voice, deep and thick and nasty.
“What makes you think there’s an issue?”
“I saw him. Right under your nose too. You’ve probably seen him too.” Rodney gave Griff a nasty glance that almost made him take a step back. And he was just a kid.
“I’m not even sure who your dad is, and I’m in the kitchen most of the time. You mean he’s...brought a girlfriend into the diner?”
Honestly, he wouldn’t even recognize Rodney’s dad. There were a lot of people who came into the diner, and Rodney’s dad had never been introduced to Griff. What he said to Rodney was true. He spent a lot of time in the kitchen.
“Just talk to the lady.” Rodney said that like he knew Griff would know who he was talking about.
“What lady?” For the first time, a slide of unease went through Griff. He was starting to get an inkling of what Rodney might be talking about.
“You know. The lady. The one you work with. You and she run the diner. She’s sleeping with my dad. And he’s a married man. It’s disgusting.”
Chi and the lawyer went through his head. Surely that’s not what Rodney was talking about.
He knew she didn’t want to be with a married man. Knew she wanted more, but she didn’t think she was good enough to deserve anything better than someone who treated her like the lawyer. That was her problem. It wasn’t that she didn’t have values or morals, she just didn’t have a sense of her worth. She didn’t understand that it was because God loved her, because God saved her, because God died for her, that gave her worth. Worth that was so far beyond the way that man was treating her.
Could that lawyer, Chi’s lawyer, be Rodney’s dad?
“Your dad’s a lawyer.” He said that like a statement, although he was really asking. Because he wasn’t sure.
“Yeah. Says he is anyway. I guess I’ve never really read his degrees. I’ve been in his office in Chicago a few times, but I never read the stuff on the walls.”
“He has an office in Chicago?”
“That’s where he works. Sometimes he doesn’t come home at night. He’s got a penthouse there. Mom never stays there. She works from home all the time. Except when she’s taking business trips.”
His mom was away, never stayed at the penthouse, worked on her own business.
“Your parents come into Strawberry Sands and eat at the diner?”
“Mom never does. They say Strawberry Sands is too dinky for them. They always go to Blueberry Beach or some swanky suburb of Chicago. But Dad lied about that too. Because I saw him at the diner. I saw him groping that woman.” Rodney sneered. “She wasn’t telling him no.”
Griff grit his teeth. This wasn’t supposed to be any of his business. Chi could do whatever she wanted to. Including mess around with a married man. Except... He knew she didn’t know the man was married. She thought she was moving in as a precursor to getting a ring. He knew she did.
His heart was heavy. It felt like a dead weight in his chest as his mind whirled, trying to figure out what he could do.
It wasn’t just for Chi; he would be able to help Rodney too. Actually, he still really couldn’t help Rodney. If the man was going to cheat, he was going to cheat. And he’d find a woman who would cheat with him. Even if he had to lie to her. Which was what Griff was fairly certain Rodney’s dad had done to Chi.
He remembered seeing the faint white line on the man’s finger that clearly was where a ring usually sat.
Maybe he told Chi he was recently divorced. Maybe that explained the ring. In Chi’s mind anyway.
Could he tell Chi that the man she thought she was seeing was married?
