Page 69 of Falling Again

“Tyler is a huge Swiftie! One time, he got so sloshed after karaoke and stumbled around campus, singing the chorus to ‘Blank Space’ to innocent college students. I think he scared a few of them.”

“Hey, I can sing that song with perfect pitch. They should be honored to witness the rare occasion of me singing.” Both turn their heads to me and start roaring in laughter. “I see you two have met.”

“I already texted Miles that I approve of Chloe.”

Chloe bites her bottom lip and smiles at me.

“I thought you were going to grill her to see if she’s worthy of me?”

“You were?” Chloe asks Griff, who suddenly brushes me off, pretending like he didn’t hear me. “Go ahead, ask,” Chloe says, sitting in a chair directly across from him. I take the chair next to her.

Griff clears his throat and pulls out his phone.

“Did you actually write questions?” I ask.

He shushes me and clears his throat again before speaking. “If Tyler woke up with a high fever and was violently sick, what would you do?”

Chloe’s eyes bug out, and she looks over at me. “Well—”

“It’s all right, take your time,” Griff says, nodding.

“I’d probably call Reid, even though Tyler would say I didn’t need to, then Reid and I would carry him to the car so we could take him to the doctor because he would refuse and say he could fight it off himself.”

My mouth falls open, and I chuckle. She has me pegged, I think.

“Acceptable answer,” Griff says. “Next, what is his favorite hobby?”

“Cooking,” Chloe says with zero hesitation, and Griff looks up, surprised.

“Cooking?” he asks and looks at me. “I would have accepted hiking, climbing, or playing guitar.”

“Well, Tyler loves all those things, but whenever I see a twinkle in his eye, it’s when he’s cooking and trying new recipes. He has a book from his mom that he likes to follow along with. I started making a minestrone from the recipe book, which is probably bubbling over now!” Chloe realizes, jumping out of her seat and scurrying to the kitchen.

“She’s great,” Griff says and nods to me, pocketing his phone.

“I can’t believe you actually wrote out questions.”

“I want to make sure my best friends have good people in their lives.”

“Did you do this to Alyssa?”

“I tried, and then she nearly bit my head off. Which meant she was perfect for Miles.”

“Well, whenever you have a lady in your life, we’ll be sure to interrogate her.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you all.”

Chloe joins us back at the table. “Griffin, show Tyler the social media posts we worked on.” Chloe points at his phone, which he picks up, tapping the screen a few times, then shows to me. I take it and swipe through photos. It starts out as a sky, then the arrow guides you to swipe, revealing the side of a mountain, and finally, the last photo is an incredible shot of Griff climbing free solo along the rock face. He’s wearing a pair of shorts printed with a sponsor’s logo.

“This is insanely cool. You guys did this in time before I got here?”

Chloe nods excitedly, and Griff says, “It was all Chloe. Seriously, I feel like a caveman when it comes to tech.”

“Griffin said he’s having trouble with his sponsors and might lose some because he isn’t posting enough, so I was telling him about my social media work at the shelter, showed him examples and offered to give him pointers.”

“I also offered her a job as my manager, which she said yes to.”

“You’re just throwing out job offers like they are free candy on Halloween.” I laugh. “Wait, what?”