“Are you objecting? I think this is nice,” Griffin said and produced a bottle of Perrier-Jouët. He opened it, and we both drank freely. With a little liquid courage, I got up my nerve to ask him a question I had been dreading.

“I haven’t seen Alex. Is everything all right?” Griffin didn’t say anything for a long time. I drained the contents of my glass. His eyes stayed focused on it.

“Alex decided to move on. Let’s change the subject.” We fell into an easy silence. I was starting to realize something. Our silences were always comfortable because we were terrible communicators. I let some time pass.

“I’d like you to do something for me,” I started.

“Anything … within our legal limits,” Griffin said as he refilled our champagne glasses.

“I want you to hire Lea. I think she could help us both around the shop. I have some other plans for her as well.” My request surprised him.

“Wow. That’s a great idea. We could actually use someone like her,” he said as he smiled at me for the first time in so many months. We toasted to Lea. It almost lifted my heart to think we had gone through a whole bottle of champagne with something resembling a carefree ease. As the clock neared midnight, we made our way to the sofa. The idea of celebrating anything had seemed so far away a few weeks ago, but the idea of having Lea as part of the team, having just seen my best friends, and now the fire, the champagne, and my current company boosted my spirits.

“You’re right. This is nice,” I said to Griffin. We relaxed side by side on the sofa. I had to admit I loved what I had done with this room. It captured Griffin perfectly. We sank into a long-overdue conversation I desperately needed to have as we waited for the clock to strike midnight.

“I know you knew about the stove,” I said. He nodded. “And the drugs?” He nodded again. “Really?”

“Your friends love you. They’ve been worried about you. It didn’t take a genius, Bae.”

“It shocked the hell out of me.” I drained my glass and held it out in Oliver Twist-fashion, saying, “Please, sir.” Griffin hesitated, but then he relented and filled my glass.

“That’s because you loved Elliott. You saw what you wanted to see.” He said this as softly as the embers burned in the fireplace.

“Do you think he ever loved me?”