Page 49 of Charm

“You didn’t tell him your name?” She giggles. “What name did you give him, Greer?”

I cringe when I say it, “Summer Time.”

She laughs so loud that Olive comes running into the kitchen with a kite shaped like an owl trailing behind her.

“What’s so funny, Grandma?” She instantly goes to give her grandmother a big hug. “Tell me the joke.”

Martha taps the tip of Olive’s nose with her index finger. “It’s a grown-up joke, so this one is just between Mommy and me.”

Olive shifts her focus to me. “Grandpa and I are going to go fly my kite. Can you come, Mom?”

My gaze falls to the green T-shirt she’s wearing. It’s one of the Sweet Indulgence ones I had made just for her. Olive is oldenough to choose her own clothes for the day, although I’ve had to step in a few times, including when she tried to sneak past me in a sundress in the dead of winter.

Sweet Indulgence is a big part of my life. Seeing my daughter wearing that shirt today feels like a sign. It’s a sign that I need to have an honest and open discussion with Krista before I reach out to Holden again.

“Mommy has to work,” Martha intervenes. “She’s going to eat some of those eggs I gave her, finish her coffee, and go set the world on fire.”

“Don’t!” Olive screams. “Setting fires is illegal, Mom.”

Bruce laughs from where he’s standing behind her. “Grandma meant that your mom is going to make the most of today. She’s going to take care of business the way she always does.”

I lock eyes with him and nod. “That’s exactly what it means.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Greer

Krista takesa tiny sip of the iced tea she ordered. At this rate, we’ll be sitting here for three days before she finishes the glass.

I, on the other hand, polished off my water in one gulp. I’m halfway through my refill now.

Krista glances down at the lemon slice I discarded on the napkin in front of me. “You’ve never liked lemon or limes, have you, Greer?”

“I like them when they’re in something… like cake, or candy, but I don’t want a random one swimming in my drink.”

She breaks out a wide smile. “I like them in mine.”

That’s obvious since she always orders extra for her iced tea whenever we come here. We do that often since our store is just a block away. We even started calling it “our place” a few months ago. Now that Krista wants to move across the country, it will just be another coffee spot to me.

I texted her as I was leaving my house this morning, asking if she could make time before heading to New Jersey to handle some business there today.

She agreed without question, suggesting a time.

I got here thirty minutes before she did. The extra alone time gave me a few minutes to think about how I want to handle this situation. I have a long list of reasons why I believe we can still make it work if Krista retains her interest in Sweet Indulgence after her move.

I know it’s not what she prefers, but there has to be a compromise that works for both of us.

After another tiny sip, she pushes the glass away. “I can’t drink this. It doesn’t taste the same.”

“The same as what?”

“Regular iced tea,” she says, swiping her finger over the rim of the glass. “This is decaffeinated tea.”

I glance past her to the counter where she ordered her drink. The woman who prepared it is busy making a pink colored concoction for a little girl and her mom.

“Do you want me to get you a regular one?” I ask even though I’m already halfway out of my chair because I already know the answer to that question.

Krista is very particular about what she drinks and eats. Just last month, she sent a sandwich back to the kitchen of a restaurant we were trying out for the first time because it had a speck of cilantro on it.