To knowthat, she'd need X-ray vision.
Then again, this was Franny.
And Franny knew everything.
I tried to look innocent. "I don't know what you mean."
This made her chortle. "Sure you do." She leaned forward and lowered her voice. "The wayIhear it, you've been staying pretty late yourself." She said this like she could give a blow-by-blow of everything we'd done in that tent, complete with diagrams and sound effects.
Before I could stop myself, I'd already said, "Yeah, well not lately, we haven't."
Undaunted, she replied with a little snort, "Well maybeyouhaven't. But he has."
Huh?That made no sense. "Wait…what are you saying?"
She smiled. "What, you didn't know?"
With growing confusion, I asked, "Know what?"
"The first guy – Griff – he's been sleeping in your shop."
What?The words hit like a thunderbolt, and I almost staggered back.Did she mean the night Ryder had found Griff's apartment empty?
And what about last night, when I'd been home, crying on the couch?
If so, that would change everything. I stared, trying to catch up."You don't mean…when I'm not even here?"
"Don't I?" she asked in a sly voice, as if the answer should be obvious.
"But…surely…you don't meanrecently?"
Franny gave me a look – smug and satisfied, like a cat who'd just coughed up the juiciest hairball of gossip. "Don't I?" she said yet again.
The room spun a little, and I gripped the counter to steady myself. "You don't meanliterallyevery night?"
She arched a brow. "Every night since last week."
"Startingwhenlast week?"
"Oh, that's easy. The night of that big storm."
This was also the first night that Griff and I had slept together. But I wasn't thinking ofthatnight. I was thinking of the night Ryder had found Griff's place empty.
More to myself than to Franny, I murmured, "But how? And when?"Like, was he just popping in for a couple of hours? Or was he staying longer?
"Well, he's not using a crowbar if that's what you think."
I wasn't thinking of a crowbar. I was thinking of that key, the one I'd given him after we'd slept together.
And Franny wasn't done. "As far as thewhen, he sneaks in after you leave and sneaks out at the crack of dawn." Her eyebrows lifted. "I've got it onexcellentauthority."
I was still reeling. "Howexcellent?"
"Oh,honey… a girl never reveals her sources."
"Oh, come on!" I protested. "You can't just drop a bomb like that and not back it up." I gave her a pleading look. "I'm serious. I really need to know."
"Oh, fine," she said with a satisfied little smirk. "Let's just say, a certain little gift shop has security footage of their whole back side, and not just theirs either."
