Page 11 of Mending Hearts

“Ground rules?”

“You have a girlfriend.”

“You keep coming back to that.”

“It’s a big deal.”

“Yeah, if I’d been dating her longer than a couple weeks. I wasn’t with her when I slept with you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

She eyed me for a moment, lips pursed.

I took in the skepticism on her face. Interesting. She thought I cheated on my girlfriend. Maybe she still thought that. She wasn’t giving me much credit. Not a great starting place.

“Okay, but you and I aren’t together. We’re not going to be together. I don’t do relationships. They’re too much work.”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time you said that.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I didn’t know where to start with building the lies. Cover stories. We would need those.

“My mother is going to be very suspicious that I’ve hired you. I never hire anyone.”

“So, what are we telling her?”

“You know Sarah Telling?”

“The singer? Doesn’t she judgeCenter Stage?”

“Yep. I’ll tell my mom you worked with Sarah, and she recommended you.”

I wanted to ask who I’d replace, but knew that wouldn’t make my job easier. Better to pretend the position was new, that someone wouldn’t be fired. “Three months on the road should be fine. We gotta figure out how to get you the time off from everything else once that’s done.”

“Have you ever toured before? Musicians? Theater? Anything?” Mia sat up, the lollipop still lodged in her cheek.

“Once. It didn’t work out.” I had no desire to get into that story.

“That’s it? Why didn’t you ever do something with your costume design degree?”

“Iamdoing something with it.” I rubbed my cheeks. Frustration stirred. “Local theater. My shop.”

“Don’t you want more?” Doubt clouded her expression. “Didn’t you go to school thinking you’d do more? I mean, you only live a few hours from New York City.”

“Just an FYI, but these are the kinds of questions relationships are built on. Exchanges of personal information. You know, in case you wanted to avoid that.” Mostly, I wanted to avoid talking about the choices that had led me back to Little Falls and to owning the shop. I didn’t regret it anymore, but she was right. The life I was leading hadn’t been the one I dreamed about when I went to college, when I graduated.

“Hmm.” Curiosity coated her. Would she push? I didn’t know her well enough yet.

“We need your schedule cleared long enough for you to have the baby and recover. Ideas? I don’t know your life, so they all have to come from you.”

She flopped down again. “Can I call Grady?”

“Grady?”

“Yeah. You told your sister, right? That’s how you found out I was here. Grady will know. She’ll have told him.”

“Maggie is good at keeping secrets.”

“He’ll know.” She sighed. “Can I call him or not? I trust his opinion, and he knows my life. He gets it.”

If we were together, her comment would have stung. I liked being the one who got it, the one who understood. “Whatever it takes to figure this out.”

---