Three Rivers (12 page)

"Look at me Sweet Tea." Her mother pressed her cool hands into Althea's cheeks, forcing their eyes to meet.

Althea suddenly felt like an awkward teenage girl again, being consoled after their father deserted them for his new family two days before her fourteenth birthday. "You were always so serious, sweetheart. Even now you're trying to turn a one-nighter into an existential crisis."

Althea looked at her with big, sad eyes. She could sense in some back part of her brain that she was acting like that overly dramatic teenager from her memories, but if you can't be one with your mom, when can you be?

"You have done nothing wrong," Vivian continued. "Your whole life has been committed to honoring Jack's memory, from raising his son on your own to supporting and helping his mother, this thing with that hunky man in there is something you did for yourself and I couldn't be prouder. I know you want to take that baby step back..." "Why thank you Aubrey," she said as she took the large cocktail from Aubrey's hand and passed it to Althea, "drink up baby girl. I refuse to let you feel guilty because that boy is beyond handsome. Instead, you're going to let us touch up your makeup and you're going to go out there with your head high with a plate full of burgers and hot dogs and you're going to have a nice time. Got it?"

"Yes, Mom, you're right."

"That a girl, now give me a hug." With that, Althea hugged her as tightly as if she were turning five years old herself.

"Come on ladies. Let's get me out there, it's time for another baby step!" Althea exclaimed. The three women responded with a cheer that made her roll her eyes and grin at the same time.

Griffen watched as Althea and her entourage entered the living room, carrying trays of food with deliberately neutral facial expressions. He was just as thrown as they were. How could this woman that was the first — in as long as he could remember — that had gotten under his skin and wouldn't leave, be Jack's widow? Could fate be that much of a bastard? Christ, he'd been hours from hunting her down and making her get to know him just that morning.

He wasn't surprised that Jack's wife was stunning, that part was a given. Growing up, he and Jack had spent as much time having their pick of every pretty girl they wanted as they had studying and playing football.

It was also no shocker that she was charming, brilliant, and driven. That had been golden boy Jack in spades. Jack would have recognized Althea as a keeper right away and wouldn't have let her go.

What
was
surprising, shocking even, was that Griffen had found himself entertaining those same kind of thoughts.

"Nicky, I mean Griffen — sorry, still not quite used to that. How does it feel to be back in the Burgh after all these years?" Carol asked.

"Huh?" He'd barely been paying attention to everyone's chatter, being too busy watching Althea while she avoided his gaze.

"Being back in Pittsburgh? What do you think?"

"It's good, a little surreal, especially since the city looks so different, so much activity going on," Griffen replied, all the while craning his neck to try and see Althea as she walked to the kids’ table to check on Johnny and his friends.

"Johnny, come over and meet one of your daddy's oldest friends," Carol said across the room. "Tea, bring him over." Althea's eyes widened and she followed as her little boy ran over. He had some kind of spiked up hairstyle, a wild T-shirt and arms covered in fake tattoos.

"I'm a punk. Do you know what that is?" he demanded.

"I do. I actually like punk rock."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Ever heard of Maddie Hatter?"

"Duh! Of course," Johnny scoffed.

"Well, I know her back in New York," Griffen said, glad he could impress this kid.

"You know
the
Maddie Hatter?" Aubrey exclaimed and looked over at Jenna and Althea's blank faces. "She is only like
the
hottest female punk rocker ever, and she's super cute. How do you know her?" she asked Griffen with a raised eyebrow, that was suddenly mirrored in Althea and Jenna's skeptical faces.

Griffen quickly raised his hands in surrender, "We share a copyright lawyer and she's married to Captain Syringe, so she and I are just friendly acquaintances. Trust me." He couldn't believe how desperately he wanted to keep these women from thinking he was a womanizing jerk, when really, he pretty much was. But he didn't want Althea to see him that way.

"Anyway, Johnny, want her autograph?"

"Yes! Sweet!"

"Now, Johnny, I don't think you need to bother Mr. Tate with that. He's very busy," Althea said slowly.

"Nah, anything for Johnny, it's my pleasure." Their eyes met and something hot flashed in hers for a second before she looked away quickly and went to straighten more trays for the tenth time.

"Cool. Can you get me Captain's autograph, too?" Johnny was jumping up and down at that point.

Before Althea could protest, Griffen quickly answered, "Consider it done," and high-fived him.

Aubrey and Johnny jumped up and down excitedly. Point one for Griffen. Then Aubrey schooled herself and went right to eyeing him warily. And bam, just like that, docked half a point.

"Well, I guess you're okay," Johnny said through narrowed eyes, looking back at his mother and somehow seeming to catch on to her nervousness. "What else do you like?" he added cautiously.

"I played football. I saw you guys have a football over there."

"Yeah! I'm a quarterback."

"Just like your dad, huh?" Griffen had to look away, the words choking in his throat as they came out.

"That's what Grandma says." Griffen's heart twisted again.

This kid had the world's greatest guy for a father but he would only know him from stories and memories. From old football trophies and scholarship awards. He would be like a character in a book to him — only existing through the retelling of another. Jack would never be a flesh and blood man that could hold him. And that made Griffen want to hug this boy as tightly as he could and never let go.

Griffen composed himself and looked back to see that Althea was staring at him with tears in her eyes. He had to clear his throat before he could speak. "Are you on a team?"

"Yeah, but we aren't really good. It’s just a small local league."

"He’s still not old enough for real pee-wee football," Carol added.

"That’s no problem," Griffen said. "You gotta start somewhere, right? How about this? After lunch I take you guys out and show you a few things I picked up back in the day?"

"That would be awesome. Thanks!"

"Uh, Johnny, Mr. Tate probably has a lot to do. Don't you?" She looked at him meaningfully.

"Nope, I've got nothing but time," Griffen answered ignoring her widened eyes.

"Cool!" Johnny said.

"Fine. But you need to actually eat lunch first, Johnny, and don't forget about cake and presents."

"Yeah Mom. See ya later, Gwiff." Johnny ran back over and quickly gave his friends the good news.

Val smiled and glanced back and forth between Griffen and Althea with a look of interest that was not lost on Griffen. "Johnny is so funny. How did he even find out about punk music and tattoos?" Val asked.

"Aunt Aubrey, would you like to enlighten her?" Jenna asked.

Griffen caught himself staring at Althea again. He wasn't sure what his plan was here, except that he wasn't ready to let her out of his sight again. Not yet, at least. She was so beautiful. She was also Jack's widow. How come he didn't feel worse about it? Yes, he was completely thrown when he saw her standing in the kitchen and his emotions had been battling between guilt and lust ever since, but lust and a strong desire to just be near her were winning out handily by the time she'd emerged from the kitchen.

Just when Griffen wondered if he was obviously staring at her, he got confirmation from three sets of male eyes.

The first were Johnny's, looking at him with what could only be the sternest form of suspicion ever to grace the face of a five year old. Johnny looked Griffen in the eye and with two fingers gave him the universal
"I'm watching you"
gesture.
Dammit, I love this kid,
he thought. He may like that Griffen could teach him to play football and get a great autograph, but he was still protective of his mom. Good kid. Griffen would need to work extra hard to make sure Johnny was comfortable with him. If only because it meant a lot to him to know Jack's son.

The other two sets of staring eyes were far older and belonged to two clearly jealous men. One was a good looking doctor around Griffen's age, no need to worry about him, he followed her around like a puppy dog but Griffen saw nothing but polite tolerance from her in response.

No, it was the older one that garnered his focus. He'd introduced himself as David, Jack's former boss at
CMU
and he'd not stopped looking at Althea once throughout the party. David was supposedly a friend of Althea's, but there was no denying the possessive frustration that invaded everything he did. Oh yeah, this guy was obsessed with her, no two ways about it. Griffen was sure of it, if not in part because he was rapidly becoming familiar with the condition himself.
Oh boy. This is going to be a long day
, he thought.

"So, Griffen. Carol tells us you like to tell stories," Althea said with a raised brow that was mirrored in her two friends. Griffen jumped a little and then winced at her implication. She thought he was a liar — telling her he was just a professor — not a good start to getting her to feel comfortable with him.

"Oh he's a big time writer. Local boy done good," Carol enthused.

"I wrote a couple books."

"They're movies now! He and Jack used to make up stories all day long. When they were little I had to sew the costumes and they would create these elaborate plots. Everything from superheroes to aliens to cops and robbers. They kept me busy! Do you still have those stories Griffen?"

"Not on me, no," he chuckled.

"I know that, you're still such a smart butt Nicky Tate."

"Were they scholarly works, your books?" David asked in a snotty voice. Griffen hated him right away.

"Excuse me?"

"I write quite a bit as a professor at
CMU
, I thought perhaps we had that in common."

"No. I write blow 'em up, shoot 'em up type books. I think it’s safe to say we have nothing in common."
Other than an obsession with Althea Taylor
, he thought.

"Wait, are you Griffen Tate, the guy who wrote those Cade Jackson books?" This from the doctor.

"Yup, that's me."

"Those are a blast. Real brain candy." Griffen smarted at the comment. He knew he didn't exactly deserve the Nobel Prize for literature but he would rather his books not be compared to completely nutrition-free fluff.

"So great to meet you. I've been trying to get Tea here to watch a movie with me for months, maybe now that she knows you she'll agree to watch one of yours with me. You know, for the novelty of it." Griffen looked closely at him and decided,
yep, I hate this guy, too
. "Whaddya say Tea? Care to blow off some steam with an action adventure?"

Griffen noticed Jack's mother bristle at the question.

"Doctor Connors, Althea does
not
date," Carol said sternly.

"Excuse me?" he asked, visibly surprised by the interruption.

"I'm not sure if Jenna mentioned it, but Althea is married."

Griffen's eyes widened. He'd heard Carol introduce Althea as Jack's wife but he couldn't believe she was so visibly controlling of her.

"Carol!" Althea's mother said with exasperation.

"Uh, I know she was married, but I, uh," Doctor Connors stuttered out.

"She will always be married to Jack. Tea, maybe it's time for cake?"

The room stared back and forth at Carol and Althea. Carol looked totally unfazed and Griffen noticed David looked oddly pleased. Althea, on the other hand, was blushing and looking supremely uncomfortable in a way that made his heart go out to her.

Althea finally broke the silence, saying, "Wow, everyone ate lunch so fast. Carol, you're right. I'd better get that cake out." Minutes later, after hearing a couple small crashes in the kitchen, she emerged with the craziest kid's birthday cake he'd ever seen with a solo number five blazing on top. They'd barely sung happy birthday and Johnny made his wish before she jumped right back up and declared, "Can't keep these kids waiting too long, I mean who can resist eating black icing, right?" And just like that, she was gone again. Another little crash from the kitchen got her two friends to their feet.

"We should go help her, wouldn't want the cake to end up on the floor, would we?" Jenna said uncomfortably.

"No, let me. I haven't gotten a chance to get to chat with her, yet. It's the least I can do," Griffen said quickly. "Carol, sorry to leave in the middle of our conversation, but I would really like to get to know Jack's wife," he cringed at the words but didn't need her interfering with him being alone with Althea.

"Of course! Thanks," Carol said, as she smiled at him in motherly way.

Jenna and Aubrey stared at him blankly until Althea's mother piped in with the sweetest southern accent to say, "Yes, what a great idea. You get in there and help her out, darlin'. That will give us a chance to visit in here and get all these presents set up. Go on now."