Griffen’s jaw went tight again. He focused on the trees flashing by outside the car and said nothing else. Not when we pulled into the parking lot at the county jail. Not when we went through security. Not when Cole turned to me and said, with an accusing look at Griffen, “Hope, you shouldn’t come in. Why don’t you wait here? We won’t be long.”
I slipped my hand into Griffen’s and squeezed tight. “I’ll stay with Griffen, but thanks. Don’t worry about me.”
Cole shook his head and turned to the visiting room. I kept my eyes straight ahead, very aware of Griffen’s fingers wrapped around mine. He hadn’t let go. He was holding onto me with everything he had. I wished I could blink my eyes and spirit us anywhere else.
I don’t know what I expected to see when Ford walked into the room. That Ford had changed, I guess. That he was pale and thinner. Whatever I expected, it wasn’t what I got. The door to the sparse, concrete block room opened and Ford walked through, looking just like he always did, except wearing an orange jumpsuit instead of a suit.
I definitely didn’t expect how odd it was to see him in the same room with Griffen. I’d forgotten how much they looked alike. Ford’s hair was dark brown to Griffen’s sandy blond, but otherwise, they could have been twins.
I must have blocked out how much Ford reminded me of Griffen for all those years we worked together after Griffen left.
Seeing them face each other across the metal table, my heart ached for all they’d lost. Ford had screwed Griffen over, no question. Griffen had a right to his anger. But I knew that Ford regretted it. Knew he’d missed his older brother. And, knowing Ford, I wasn’t surprised he had too much pride to show it now that they were face to face.
Ford sat, resting his chained hands on the metal table in front of him. “Did you come to gloat?”
Griffen said nothing, just stared at his brother in silence and waited. For what, I didn’t know.
Ford turned his hard gaze to me. “Hope. What the hell are you doing here? What was Edgar thinking letting you visit the county jail?”
“Don’t talk to her like that,” Griffen said.
Ford leaned back, a sneer distorting his mouth. “Oh, so it’s like that. You have plenty of forgiveness for Hope, but nothing for the rest of us?”
“Hope doesn’t need forgiveness. She didn’t do anything wrong,” Griffen said, his eyes as hard as Ford’s.
I blinked, sure I’d misheard him. Did he have temporary amnesia? Everyone in this room knew what I’d done. Griffen most of all.
“Right,” Ford said, giving me a look of confusion before he aimed one of disgust at Griffen. “Because I remember her torpedoing your engagement and getting you thrown out of town—”
Griffen’s eyes were ice, but his voice was calm. “Funny you remember it that way. Because I remember you selling me out to Dad, marrying my fiancée, and cheering Dad on as he threw me out of my home. And then I remember the bunch of you blaming the whole thing on a teenager who told a secret. A big secret, sure, but Hope made one bad decision. That doesn’t stack up next to what you and Dad did. So, let’s just drop this story of Hope being the bad guy in that scenario.”
Both Ford and I stared at Griffen in shock. When had he decided I wasn’t the bad guy?
The idea wouldn’t fit in my brain. I’d been the villain in this story for so long. Was Griffen just trying to needle Ford, or did he really believe what he’d said? I was afraid to trust that he might have forgiven me.
Griffen rolled a shoulder back as if shrugging off the past like an old coat. “I didn’t come here to talk about ancient history. I’m not the same boy who walked out of Sawyers Bend fifteen years ago. None of us are the same. I don’t care about all that. I care about now. What are we going to do to get you out of here?”
I don’t think I’d seen Ford show so much emotion in years. He was usually so in control, so calm and even-tempered. Now, his eyes flared wide with shock yet again.
Before he could speak, Cole cut in. “The judge refused to grant bail.”
Ford shot an annoyed look at his lawyer. Eyes back on Griffen, he said, “You don’t think I did it.”
“I know you didn’t do it.”
“How? Because you did?”
At that, Griffen laughed. “I wouldn’t waste my time killing Prentice. He got all of me he was going to get years ago. And I have a rock-solid alibi.”
“Do you have an extra? Because I could use one.”
They shared a grin, and for a millisecond I shot back into the past when these two men had been boys who grinned at each other exactly like that ten times a day. All too soon the moment ended.