“I, um…yeah?”
His lips twitched as if he knew what I was thinking and what I was doing, but he didn’t call me out on it. “Come have something to eat before you go.” Without waiting to see if I was agreeable to his offer of breakfast, he turned and disappeared into the kitchen.
Since the rest of my clothes hadn’t magically appeared, I followed him into the kitchen. “Smells delicious.” I watched the muscles in his back move as he took food from the stove and counter to the kitchen table.
“Have a seat.”
I obeyed without question and took a seat as Grady set a tall glass of sparkling amber liquid in front of me. “Ginger ale?”
He nodded as if this act of kindness was no big deal. “You said your nausea is worse in the mornings so I got some for you.”
I blinked rapidly because the tears were imminent, but a few drops slipped out before I could catch them. “Grady,” I squeaked.
He froze. “It’s not your brand? There were only two in the supermarket, and I went for the fancy kind made with real ginger.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s perfect. It’s really thoughtful. Thank you.”
“If you cry over ginger ale, wait until you see breakfast,” he grinned arrogantly and set a plate in front of me piled high with food. “Shallot and spinach scrambled omelet with cheese. Buttered toast. Berry salad. Eat up,” he ordered and took the seat beside me.
We ate in silence like this was an everyday part of our routine, having breakfast together.
The scarier part was that I didn’t hate the idea. Not even a little bit.
In fact, I didn’t hate it at all.
Chapter 16
Grady
Payroll was the bane of my existence, but it was a necessary evil because employees expected to be paid. But the stupid software didn’t care, as evidenced by the half a dozen glitches in the first five minutes of the task.
“I should have done it daily,” I grumbled to myself the same way I did every single week. The system appreciated daily use, but adding in a week’s worth of shifts at once seemed to piss it off.
My phone rang and I reached for it without thinking, because anything, or anyone would be better than payroll. “Hello,” I barked into the phone.
“That is how you answer your mama’s call is it?”
I smiled at her thick Georgia accent and shrugged even though she couldn’t see me. “Didn’t know it was you Mama. How are you?”
“Fine. Is payroll gettin’ the best of you again?”
I laughed. “How did you know?”
“Mama knows,” was her only answer. “How’s life in your teeny tiny town?”
“It’s great Mama, which you would know if you ever came for a visit. How’s life in Georgia?”
“Quiet and peaceful, and surprisingly active.” She laughed and caught me up on every little detail of the lives of people I’ve never met. “I baked six dozen cookies for the elementary school bake sale, started a knitting circle that’s now turned into a dirty books and cocktails club, with some knitting thrown in,” she laughed. “It’s wonderful.”
I smiled, happy to see her settling into her new life. “I’m glad to hear that Mama. If that’s the stuff you like, you will definitely love visiting Carson Creek.”
“They put you on the welcoming committee, or do you all get some type of bonus for recruiting new residents?” Mama laughed at her own joke and I joined her even though it was at my expense.
“Are you becoming a stand-up comic for your second act?”
“Now who’s the funny man?” She laughed again and it faded to a wistful sort of happy. “I miss you Grady.”
“I miss you too Mama. I hope to make time for a visit before summer is over,” I told her honestly. It wasn’t that I couldn’t get away, it was a matter of trusting my bar to someone else.
“Are you comin’ up to tell me about the woman you knocked up in person?” Mama laughed as the silence went on and on, and dammit, even though I knew she was about to lay into me, I still missed her.
“Dammit Beth,” I growled.
“Don’t go blamin’ your sister. It’s your own fault for telling that girl anything when she can’t even hold water, never mind a secret as big as this.”
“It’s not a secret, and I didn’t tell her. We were on the phone when Margot showed up at my place and I forgot about Beth.”
Mama didn’t say anything for a long time, and then she let out an indecipherable huff. “Margot, huh? Sounds fancy. Does she spell it with an ‘aux’ too?”
“No,” I growled. “You have no idea how fancy this one is.”
“I have some idea, you always did like the fancy girls. But more importantly, are things serious with you and this Margot?”
“No. It’s less than that, we barely even like each other.” That wasn’t entirely true anymore. Over the past couple weeks we had become more than enemies, hell more than even frenemies. When we were alone and naked together we seemed to get on just fine.