Page 15 of Fake It Till We Fall
Grandma’s voice was calm, but there was a weight to it that stopped me. We were upstairs above the restaurant, in the little apartment I’d grown up in. It wasn’t much more than two tiny bedrooms, a small kitchen, and an only slightly bigger living room.
When I was young, I longed for an actual house with a yard like my friends had, but coming home after all those years away, the cozy familiarity of our little apartment was perfect.
Grandma sat at the table, her hands crossed in front of her. She stared at me, unblinking, with the kind of look that had mespilling the truth on whatever I’d been trying to hide from her, more times than I could count.
“About what?” I tried for casual.
“About you.” Her gaze softened when I shook my head. “Yes,” she insisted. “We need to talk about you, Harper, and how good it is to see you back home in the kitchen again after all these years.”
“You know I love cooking, Grandma. I got that from you.”
She smiled. “I’ve been hearing good things about the changes you’ve made to the menu. The specials you’re creating are getting people talking. In a good way. And that’s not an easy thing to do in a town like this.”
I laughed, and the warm glow of pride spread in my chest. “I’m just trying out a few of my favorites from years in the charter business.”
“Well, they’re going to turn into favorites here, too,” Grandma said. “It makes me very happy to see you here. Happier than you probably realize.” She reached for her glass of water, but set it back down without drinking. “You know…I’m not going to be around forever, Harper.”
The words landed hard in my chest. Logically, I knew that was true. Grandma was getting older, and this latest healththingor whatever it was seemed serious. Even if she was too stubborn to tell me the slightest detail about what was going on. Still, I’d been doing a good job keeping my head in the sand about the reality of an aging grandparent.
I swallowed hard, but before I could respond, she added, “Word around town is that you and Grayson Lyons looked pretty cozy yesterday in the plaza.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Word around town? Or just what youthinkyou saw, Grandma?”
“Oh, I know what I saw.” She wiggled her eyebrows and lifted the glass to her mouth.
“And what exactly did you see?”
She took her time before placing the glass in front of her once more. “I saw the two of you fitting together just as you always have. Just like no time had passed at all.”
I opened my mouth, but she cut me off before I could explain what had actually happened.
“You know, I think he probably likes having you around, too.”
My pulse sped up. I thought about the text message I’d received earlier.
It was great to see you. How about a coffee to catch up?
I didn’t even knowGrayson still had my number. Of course, he was still saved in my phone…
“He…asked me out for a coffee tomorrow.”
Her smile widened, and it felt like the sun coming out after a month of grey days.
“A date?”
I hesitated, the smart answer, therealanswer, on the tip of my tongue—that it was just coffee. Two old friends catching up on time gone by, and that it didn’t mean anything. Instead, seeing the hope on her face, the joy that the mere idea of me being back together with Grayson had brought her so easily, something entirely different tumbled out. “Yes,” I lied. “In fact, we’re going to see where things stand between us.”
The words hung there, surprising me as much as they seemed to delight her.
Grandma’s eyes lit up in a way I hadn’t seen in years. Bright and full of hope. “Oh, Harper. I knew it.”
“You knew it?”
She nodded. “I always knew things weren’t finished between the two of you. A love like the one you two shared…well, it doesn’t just fade away to nothing.”
My breath caught in my chest.
She leaned forward, her fingers curling around mine. “This makes me so happy, sweetheart. You have no idea.”
