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“About?”

“You know what, True. We didn’t do anything wrong. And I need you to come home. We miss you.”

He knew what he was doing by saying that and some of my bravado leeched out of me.

“I’ll be home tonight. After this.”

“Good.” A genuine smile graced his lips and my heart did a somersault. “What do you want for dinner? It’s my night to cook. I can make whatever you want.”

“It’s always been whatever you want. You just had to ask.”

His declaration from two nights ago played in my head and I blinked, trying to focus. “I think I’ll eat alone tonight.”

“True, don’t play with me.”

Thankfully, another customer walked up and Greyson stepped aside. But not before he said, “I’ll make stuffed shells and grab another case of the wine you like. See you at dinner.”

I didn’t confirm, but he turned away with a satisfied smirk anyway.

“I saw that,” my grandmother chided in my ear once we’d helped the next few customers.

“Saw what?” I asked, feigning innocence.

“You sold that boy a basket of bruised apples and charged him twice as much for them.”

I grinned, pulling the fifty from its hiding place in the waist of my skirt.

“We made forty-five dollars. I call that a win.”

“Girl, I ain’t foolin’ with you.” She shuffled over to her chair to sit down and I followed behind her.

“Didn’t he look happy with his purchase?” I asked with a brightness in my voice I didn’t have to feign.

My grandma kissed her teeth and shook her head. “You just like your damn mama. Got these men wrapped around your finger so tight they don’t know which way is up.”

“Hmm,” I hummed. “Isn’t that what you did to granddad?”

An impish smile broke across her wrinkled features and she waved off my comment. “Oh, gone on somewhere. Go take a lunch break.”

“Are you sure you can handle the booth while I’m gone?”

“I been doing this for years, ladybug. And your granddaddy will be back around here in a few minutes. He went to get us some turkey legs. Go rest your nerves for a while. And when you get back here, don’t pull another stunt like that.”

“Of course not, Granny.” I bent to kiss her cheek. “We’re all out of bruised apples anyway.”

I wasn’t hungry, but I somehow ended up at the Sinful Bites tent and walked away with a red velvet cinnamon roll, a bag of praline pecans, and a warm cup of apple cider. I stuffed my face and wandered through the festival slowly, eyeing the different vendors in case I wanted to circle back later.

When I reached the front gate, I was about to turn around and start another lap when I noticed a familiar van that hadn’t been parked at the front earlier.

“Goldyn’s Bookmobile” was painted on a wooden sign, propped up against a pot of yellow and orange mums and an instant smile was on my face as I made my way over.

Goldyn sat inside, alone, her head buried in a book while Boys II Men played lowly in the background.

“Hey, Goldyn.”

She looked up at me with that signature light in her eyes. “Hey! Come sit with me.” She patted the cushioned bench beside her and waited for me to climb inside.

Because I’d been going to her shop so much, I knew she used to live in this van before she met her boyfriend. Orboyfriends. There were three of them, to be exact, and now they were living happily ever after in a mansion in the woods.