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“I am, just for a little bit. It’s our bye week.”
She nods. “I know. You think I don’t follow your schedule?”
Zoe peeks her head out of The Grind. She’s the owner and was my mom’s best friend. They started The Grind together, and after my mom died, my dad gave it to Zoe. “X, want anything?”
I shake my head. “Nah. I’m heading to the library.”
“Clara?” She smiles.
“Why else would I go?” I laugh and she does too.
“Let me grab you her usual so you can take it over. She’s been working like crazy lately.” The door shuts before I can say anything.
“She’s been busy with the auction, I assume?”
My grandma’s lips purse for a moment. “Well, since you haven’t been here, let me fill you in. Gavin said there’s nothing in the budget for a library extension. Gave her some five-year plan and even then, it would still be a maybe. So, she has the auction and some other fundraisers. The poor girl is fighting for something I’m not sure she’ll be able to pull off. But I’m sure it keeps her from thinking of—” She sips her coffee as though she wasn’t midsentence.
“Grandma?”
“Huh?”
“You were saying something.”
She shakes her head. “No. I just meant the poor girl has been through so much. First her dad lost at sea, her mom dying, her grandma dying, and then, you know.” She nods at me.
“Are you suggesting she lost me?” I point at my chest in disbelief. “Because she gave me up.”
“I’m sure she had her reasons.” She gives me a “tell me I’m wrong” expression.
I shake my head. “Has she told you something?”
She leans forward and pats my leg. “Grandmas know these things. You should talk to Cade. Hear how happy he is with Presley and now little Leighton.”
I crinkle my eyebrows, trying to follow her line of thinking. Maybe her mind is going. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She raises a shoulder and lets it drop. “It was bound to happen. You each have your own scars from that day.”
My chest tightens. “I should go.” I move to stand, but she pats my knee again.
“It’s okay to love again. Those models you’re dating.” She shakes her head. “They aren’t the ones for you.”
“Giulia and I broke up.”
“Yes, but then I saw pictures of you and another one the other day.”
“That was just a dinner.”
She sighs, finishes her coffee, and leaves money on the table under her mug. “Well then, you go to dinner with the wrong women.”
“Great, thanks.”
She shakes her head at me as though she’s disappointed.
“Clara and I are—were—just friends if that’s where you’re going with this.”
She’s quick to hold up her hands in defense. “Hey, it’s none of my business.”
“Yet you’ve been harping on it since I sat down. Here I thought maybe you just missed me.” I stand and shove my hands in my pockets because damn, it’s cold up here.
