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That information did not help my memory one bit. Gram looked so cute, standing there holding an oven mitt, that I pretended. “Oh, right.”

“Were you really at Graylyn?” Celia asked.

I’d hoped we’d moved on and found another topic but apparently not. They would not let this go. If Celia decided to back Gram up on the interrogation I would fold before I could shove this destroyed muffin, liner included, in my mouth.

It was too risky to deny being at Graylyn. For all I knew this Charlotte person took a photo of me sitting there, trying to ignore Micah. But I had to hit the conversation sweet spot because an avalanche of details only invited more questions.

“Are your movements a secret?” Celia froze. “Oh... I didn’t... Was it a date?”

That came out of nowhere. “Who would I be dating here?”

Gram and Celia glanced at each other but didn’t make a noise.

“Hey. That’s enough of those looks and all the silent communication.” I pointed at both of them. “You’ve been doing that secret mind meld thing for years and I still can’t decipher it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Gram’s smile suggested she did.

Celia unwrapped another fully intact muffin and put it on a plate in front of me. “If not a date then why were you there?”

Plying me with food. Smart. But did they know? It felt like they knew, but how could they?

Now would be the perfect time to come clean. Admit that I’d messed up at work and dragged them along with me. Be mature. Apologize and stem the bleeding. Get this handled and done in an adult way then start looking for a new job.

I didn’t do any of that.

“It’d been a while since I’d been at Graylyn. I decided to have coffee and take a walk on the grounds.”

Gram frowned. Thetake a walkpart might have tipped her off to the lie. “You got coffee at noon by yourself?”

I could handle this. Coffee and food sat solidly in my conversation wheelhouse. But Gram referenced the time I left Graylyn. Very specific. She could know other stuff. She was a sneaky one.

Step carefully. “I picked up the habit at work. I now drink coffee all day.”

“Honey, no.” Celia winced. “That’s not good.”

“Sweet tea would be a better choice,” Gram insisted.

Not the way she made it. “I wonder if there’s science to support that claim.”

Gram moved on from her usual snort. This time she went with her famouspfftsound.

“We have a big day tomorrow. We have to prepare for a charity brunch.” Celia sighed. “It needs to be perfect because a lot of potential customers will be there.”

They bought the coffee thing. At least they pretended to. “We could get takeout tonight so no one, and by that I mean you two, have to worry about cooking dinner.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Gram believed food should come from her stove, not a bag.

Her comment touched off a wholenothing compares to homemade cookingdiscussion. With that, the energy surging through me eased. Balance restored. I could handle food prep chatter.

The main problem was that this reprieve wouldn’t last forever. Brock wanted a showdown. I feared he was going to get it.

Chapter Twenty

The summons arrived before nine the next morning in the form of a text. Brock picked the restaurant and set a time to meet, leaving no room for argument. Unfortunately, he had good taste or a phone app that told him about local eating spots because he chose one in Reynolda Village, Gram’s social hunting grounds. That guaranteed I’d see someone I knew, or Gram and Celia knew, when Brock lost it and fired me.

The reality of impending embarrassment didn’t make me rush to get dressed, but I did have a clear path to sneak away from the house. Celia and Gram were in the annex, finalizing their baking for that charity event. I left a note saying I had to run some errands. They’d need to depend on Charlotte, or some other person Gram knew, to be lurking around and report back about my real activities.

Ten minutes before the set time of the grand showdown, I walked into the Village Tavern wearing the only halfway-work-like item of clothing I brought with me to North Carolina, a short navy-blue dress with three-quarter-length sleeves and pin tucks in the front. It was cute and kind of casual and the best I could do on short notice.