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“Don’t go,” I begged, hoping to entice him to stay.
His smile was generous. “I have to go check on my dad.”
“We’re in quarantine.”
And then he said, “It’s day sixteen,” and my bubble popped. “Stay in bed. I’ll be back, and when I do, I’ll make the wait worth your while.” He was almost at the door when he turned and added, “I’m expecting a grocery delivery if I don’t make it back in time.”
“Sure,” I said.
By the time I got up, I was starving. I made a bowl of cereal and swallowed a mouth full before realizing the milk was spoiled as it curdled in my stomach. I was heaving in the trash when there was a knock at the door, so I couldn’t check the date on the milk.
I answered the door and found bags already on the porch and I remembered Grant mentioning a grocery delivery. A pretty blonde was headed back to her truck. When she turned, surprise lit up her face.
“Oh, is Grant here?”
She wore a smile, but it didn’t feel all that friendly. She pulled a mask from her pocket and put it on her face.
“He went in town to see his dad.”
“Oh,” she said. “Are you two related?”
I stepped back when she approached with more bags. Though Grant and I passed the two-week mark, I had no idea if I was contagious or not.
She stopped and I remembered her question and how she asked it. There was no holding back a frown.
“No, actually.”
“Oh,” she said, setting the last of the bags down.
“Are you two together?”
Who was this woman?
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
She glanced down before shaking her head. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m Cara by the way. I own the grocery store in town with my husband.”
If I hadn’t been so shocked to hear her name, I might have been able to stop myself from blurting out the next question.
“Your husband being Grant’s best friend. The one you dumped him for?”
Her humorless laugh only annoyed me more. I felt protective of Grant in a way I’d never felt about another guy.
“I see he didn’t tell you the entire story.”
I should have stopped her there, but damn, if curiosity had me waiting for more.
“He asked me to marry him,” she continued.
That showstopper gave me pause. Grant hadn’t gone into detail about his relationship with her, but I hadn’t expected that.
“I was eighteen going to college, and at the time it seemed insane he’d asked me. But I’d considered it. However, when we talked, he made it clear that he didn’t want kids, and that was a deal breaker for me.”
Okay, that was news to me as well. Then again, we hadn’t talked about that.
“And you believe that hooking up with his best friend was the best punishment?” Though I’d posed it as a question, it was really a statement.
“It wasn’t like that,” she snapped. “I left and came back a week later. I thought we could work things out. When I couldn’t get in touch with him, I reached out to Jeff.” I assumed that was Grant’s former best friend. “I forced him to take me where Grant was. Guess where that was?”
