She leans back in her chair, takes off her reading glasses, and taps them on her mouth. “Don’t tell me that boy in Montgomery finally decided to put forth a little effort and come see you for a change.”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so.” She places her glasses on the desk, waiting for me to elaborate.
I stare back at her. She’s not going to let this go.
“You know the architect who came in yesterday?” Her face lights up like a Christmas tree. “I had lunch with him.”
“Oh, Micah! I’m so excited for you! He looks like he stepped right out of a magazine.”
“I am aware.” I try to be as curt as possible and not let her know I basically floated to work on a cloud.
“When did he ask you out? I didn’t hear him ask when he was in the store.”
“You were in the office half the time.”
“Honey, you know I was eavesdropping.”
I sigh and give her a look. “I saw him at Cattywampus last night. He asked me then.”
“I thought you were in Montgomery last night.”
“That didn’t work out.”
“Of course it didn’t.”
“Nana,” I say, warning her I don’t want to talk about it.
“So you broke up with Garrett and now you’re with Rhodes?” she asks. I don’t like how my life sounds like a soap opera coming out of her mouth.
“No, it was one lunch. That’s it. No big deal.”
“When are you going out again?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t ask me. He didn’t kiss me. He didn’t get my phone number. It was probably a waste of time.” I cross my arms and cock my head to one side.
“Don’t say that, sugar. You never know. Some men don’t know how to navigate these things.”
“He’s way too good for me.”
“Oh, hush up. No one is too good for you.”
“He is. You saw him. He’s tall and lean and handsome. I’m a fat frumpy mess.”
“You are not. If you keep talking like that, I’ll put salt in your tea.”
I roll my eyes. “He did say he wants the fountain. Are you willing to part with it?”
“If I get a good price for it, I will. It would be nice to see it back in the hotel.”
“From what he says, the owner has deep pockets and is a little nuts.”
“Nothing wrong with that, sugar. We’re all a little crazy.”
I check Nana’s pill case and it looks like she did take her meds. I take a sip of her tea and confirm yes, she did use artificial sweetener for once. She shakes her head at me. I know she hates me treating her like a child, but I can’t trust her to take care of herself.
“Oh!” she says, putting her glasses back on and flipping open her calendar. “I got a call from Julian George. You know that big farmhouse on the highway between here and Monroeville? It’s set way back off the road and has the white fence that’s falling down.”
