Page 38 of Yours, Always

“Or the what?” Devlin questioned.

“Anything,” Prudence admitted. “He doesn’t remember anything.”

“You’ve broken up with Chuck now, though, should there be an issue at all?” Understanding dawned on Devlin’s face. “Unless…you’re not in love with Chuck, are you?”

“No! I don’t think I was ever in love with Chuck. There just wasn’t any romance between us.”

“You knew Chuck didn’t have a romantic bone in his body when you got together,” Annabelle said. “In fact, now that I think of it, you probably liked that about him. You knew things wouldn’t get too messy, so when the break-up eventually happened it would be no muss, no fuss. Which is exactly how it happened.”

“A journalist and a psychiatrist, who knew?” Devlin laughed while shaking her head.

“You’re obviously right. I knew whatever we had would be casual and ending it would be easy. What I didn’t know was that Greyson would be involved at all in the reason we ended it.” Annabelle’s eyebrows rose almost into her hairline at Prudence’s last statement. “I didn’t!”

“All right, I believe that. So, what are we going to do about Greyson?”

“He doesn’t remember anything. We’ve already gone over this.” Prudence huffed.

“Well, now you have to make him remember.” Annabelle closed her eyes in thought. “The hay bale maze!” she exclaimed, popping her eyes back open.

Devlin jumped in surprise. Prudence looked intrigued. “Tell me more.”

“So, the volunteers will get to the maze about an hour before it opens to make sure everything is ready.” Annabelle was plotting. “If we can keep them distracted, even for just a little bit, you and Greyson can go into the maze and at least get a chance to talk.”

“I like it. You can distract them by saying you want to…interview the volunteers for the Bee.”

“Why the maze?” Devlin asked. “You could just go talk to him tonight.”

Annabelle shook her head. “Even though this is Greyson’s hometown and people for the most part leave him alone now, there are still eyes everywhere.”

“Mrs. Crenshaw,” Prudence interjected, both girls nodding.

“They’re both going to be at the maze tomorrow, so why not give them a little privacy for their discussion. I’ll already be interviewing the landowner and taking pictures of the pumpkin patch, so it’s not a big stretch that I’d want to interview the volunteers as well.” Annabelle nodded decisively, seeing the plan take form in her mind. “While they get ready, I’ll send you and Greyson into the maze, to, oh I don’t know, make sure all the paths lead to the exit?”

“Yes! You can say a volunteer got stuck in there, and you want them to double-check the paths.” Devlin clapped her hands, getting into the scheming mood. “Before the interviews send them over to my apple cider stand, and I can keep them busy with a cup of cider or coffee while you get the trap set up.”

“Then I’ll block the exit so when the paths do converge you’ll be together.” Annabelle smiled, obviously pleased with their plan. “I love it. Nothing can go wrong.”

“Famous last words.” Devlin laughed.

“Sounds like a good plan to me.” Prudence’s eyes gleamed as she turned to Annabelle. “Now. Let’s talk about something else, please. How are things going with our friend Sebastian?”

Annabelle gave her a side eye. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Yes!” Devlin exclaimed, leaning forward. “Whatdoyou mean?”

“Considering what happened in Atlanta—” Prudence started.

Devlin raised her hand. “I need to know what happened in Atlanta.”

Annabelle rolled her eyes. “Nothing happened in Atlanta.”

“Everything happened in Atlanta.” Prudence pointed out.

“Fine,” Annabelle bit out. “Long story short, I met Sebastian in Atlanta. A friend did me a favor and got me a meeting with Locke Publishing. I pitched an idea, he did not like the idea and let me know in no uncertain terms.”

A silence filled the room for the first time since Prudence got there. She wasn’t sure why Annabelle didn’t want to go into any more details, considering how she’d just opened up about Chuck and Greyson.

Devlin broke the silence with a snort. “With an ass like that, I wouldn’t get any work done.”

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