Free How Forever Feels by Laura Drewry Page A

of flowers to Maya, but it was obviously more than that to the old woman on the third floor.
    —
    The smell of the river sent Pete into a tizzy before Jack even pulled the Jeep to a stop in the gravel lot, but he knew to wait until Jack gave the okay. Once free, Pete bolted straight for the river, where he splashed and dug around for rocks and sticks until Jack whistled him back up on the trail.
    Worn down by feet and bike tires, the leaf-covered path was just wide enough for Maya and Jack to walk side by side.
    “It’s usually so pretty here in the fall,” Maya said, looking up at the bare treetops. “But we’ve had so much rain lately that it’s like the leaves got washed off the trees before we could even appreciate the colors.”
    With the number of maples crowding in on both sides of the trail, Jack imagined it was something to see in the fall, spring too, probably. But he didn’t care; he wasn’t there to admire the scenery. He was there to be with Snip.
    “So what’s going on with you?” Maya asked. “Are you still with Christine?”
    “Nah, she dumped me a while back.” He’d liked Christine, maybe even loved her a little, but she was too smart for him. She knew he’d never love her the way she deserved, so she’d cut her losses and ended it. No drawn-out drama, no wringing her hands, just called him on it and left. “What about you? Is this thing with Griffin Carr serious?”
    “Yes and no.” Maya’s snort-laugh made him laugh, too. “It’s complicated.”
    “Yeah, I sort of figured it would be.”
    Maya’s eyes seemed to stutter over a blink then quickly looked away from him. When she didn’t say anything, he kept on.
    “What’s that like, anyway, dating a big movie star? Don’t you get mobbed everywhere you go?”
    “No.” She shook her head slowly. “Truth is, aside from Jayne and them, you’re the only one who knows I’ve been out with him.”
    “How’d you manage that?”
    “Easy. We didn’t actually go out.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “We’ve had dinner together twice, and both times we hid up in my apartment. The first time he brought sushi for us and the second time I made him dinner.”
    Quiet dinners alone in her apartment with Griffin Carr…nope, Jack refused to let his imagination take that any further. Instead he cleared his throat and struggled to come up with something to say. Considering he made his living with words, it really shouldn’t have been this difficult and it really should have been something a little less shallow than what he came out with.
    “I guess it beats finding your face plastered all over the tabloids, which is probably what would happen if you tried to go out anywhere together.”
    “Yeah.”
    “People like him can’t even sneeze without it making the front page.”
    “Mm-hmm, yeah.” Again with the spacing out, just like she’d done at the pub the other night, and it didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out it had something to do with Griffin.
    “What’s up, Snip?” Jack stopped walking and waited for her to turn before he asked, “Is there something going on with him? Did he do something to you?”
    “
What?
No!” Maya was many things but an actress wasn’t one of them, so Jack didn’t doubt her sincerity for a second. “No, it’s just…I actually haven’t even seen him in a while and, well, it’s complicated.”
    “You said that already.” They started down the path again, neither one saying anything for a while. “If it’s stressing you out, maybe you should just walk away, there’s lots of other guys out there, you know. Maybe not as rich or as famous, but still…”
    That made her smile again. “You sound like you’re in cahoots with Jayne.”
    “Cahoots?” Jack laughed. “Do people still use that word? What are we cahooting about?”
    “The ‘lots of other guys’ thing. Jayne considers herself our group’s Cupid, and while she’s been knocking herself out over finding me someone, she’s