Page 21 of One Little Mistake
Rolling her eyes, she takes out her phone.
“Freaking Julia changes my ringtone to my grandmother laughing every chance she gets,” she explains. “I have to answer, though, or she’ll call in reinforcements. Ever since I went mis– ever since some stuff happened, she worries.”
Nodding in understanding, I gesture for her to take the call while pressing the elevator button.
“Hi, GG.”
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my little Locket. How’s it going there, missy?”
Curious, I glance over at Lexi and see her smiling into her phone. An older woman I have only met once sits smiling on the screen. Preston has warned us about GG and her meddling ways, but I haven’t seen them in action.
“You haven’t called me Locket since high school, GG.”
“Damn straight. That’s the last time you locked yourself away from me. It took well over a year to find you, but I did it then, and I’ll do it again.”
Lexi shifts from foot to foot, and I can tell this conversation is making her uncomfortable. When she angles her body away from me, I know it’s true, so I take out my phone to pretend I’m not listening.
“I’m not locking myself away, GG. I’m in New York for work.”
There’s silence on the other end, and I covertly sneak a glance in Lexi’s direction. Finally, GG speaks.
“Lexi Mae, I raised you. I know you better than anyone on the planet, and I know when you’re shuttin’ down. Remember what I told you back then?”
“The toughest job I’ll ever have is lovin’ myself,” she sighs and the weight of her emotion sits heavy in my chest.
Lexi’s voice wobbles, and every caveman instinct I never knew I possessed attempts to beat on my chest. I physically fight the urge to wrap her in my arms, and I don’t know how to process these feelings. I’ve never reacted this viscerally to another person. Not even with Van—
“That’s right, Locket. That cockamamie asstrigger, Miles, may have knocked you down, but he didn’t break you. You’re a Heart. We bend, but we don’t break.”
Jesus, that’s almost verbatim what Mason said to me earlier.
“Now, I’m callin’ ’cause I’m comin’ to North Carolina in two days. Lanie and Dexter are flyin’ me down there in some big ass plane ’cause they don’t think I should be drivin’.” The outrage in her voice is comical, but the woman has to be in her eighties. I’d side with Dex on this one. “We’re going to unlock you again, and I have a feelin’ the Grumpy Growler has the key. Where is he, anyway? His brother with the broken heart told me he was with ya. Put him on.”
I’m so invested in this conversation, I forget I was pretending not to listen, so when Lexi turns her uncomfortable gaze to me, I freeze.
“GG, don’t go giving nicknames to people you don’t know. We talked about this.”
“Don’t you go givin’ me no orders, young lady. I’m still the boss, and my cards don’t lie. Now put him on.”
Knowing she’s talking about me, I can’t help but smile. I can already tell the stories Preston said about her don’t do her justice, and I’m beyond curious to experience this kind of crazy firsthand. Taking a step forward just as the elevator doors open, I grab Lexi’s phone from her hand, then escort her into the lobby.
Lifting the phone up, I find GG holding hers far too close to her face.
“Hello, Mrs. Heart. I’m Lexi’s boss, Easton Westbrook. How are you, ma’am?”
“Cut the sweet talker bullshit, Grumpy Growler. I ain’t interested in none of it.”
“Ah, okay.”
Lexi laughs beside me, obviously accustomed to this type of abuse.
“Can I do something for you, Mrs. Heart?”
“The name is GG. We’re family, young man. Do you have any living grandparents?”
“No, ma’am.” I don’t tell her we never had grandparents because none of them approved of my parents’ marriage.
GG squints to scrutinize me, and it makes me uneasy. I can see now why she makes Preston uncomfortable.
