"Wait.Charging?"
"That's what I heard."
The whole idea was ridiculous. "Oh come on," I laughed. "It's not like he's a bull."
Tessa took a long sip of her lemonade and then continued like she was reading off a checklist. "Andthenhe grabbed you and yanked you next to him, all protective-like."
Grabbed? Yanked?Thiswasn'twhat had happened – or least, not exactly. "Okay, fine, he wrapped an arm around me. But it wasn't some grabby-yanky thing like you're describing."
Her chin lifted. "Hey, I'm just repeating what I heard."
"Well, trust me. Your secret source was exaggerating."
Undaunted, she continued. "Andthenyou leaned into him like you might swoon or something."
On this, I remained silent.HadI felt like swooning?Maybe a little.Still, I wasn't prepared to confirmordeny, even to myself. It was time to shift gears. "But what about the punching?"
"Almostpunching," she corrected. "Like Griff really wanted to, but he was holding back."
Was that true?I'd definitely heard anger in his voice, but I'd spent most of that confrontation with my eyes focused elsewhere, like on Devon and What's-Her-Face.Yes, I knew that her name was Sierra, but why give her the satisfaction?
Tessa said, "So? What aboutthatpart? Wasthattrue, at least? Did Griffwantto punch somebody?"
I hesitated. "Actually, I'm not sure."
She made a sound of protest. "But you were right there. How could you not know?"
"Well…I wasn't always looking – not at Griff, anyway."
Her tone grew pensive. "So itmightbe true."
"Maybe," I admitted. "But honestly, it seems unlikely." I turned in my seat to face her head-on. "Was that the whole story?"
"Not hardly," she said. "At the end of it, your ex-boyfriend and some blonde ran screaming out of your shop like Griff had pulled out a butcher knife."
The image was hysterical, but I was too distracted to laugh. "Trust me, they weren't screaming."
"But they were running?"
"Not really."
"So…they were what? Just walking fast?"
"I guess alittle." I paused and then frowned as an idea took hold.I would need to play this just right.Keeping my tone casual, I asked, "And how'd Franny know that the guy was my ex?"
Tessa shrugged. "Lucky guess?"
Jackpot.I gave a triumphant grin. "Hah! I knew it was Franny."
Tessa looked at me for a long moment, her expression blank. And then, with a groan, she slapped herself on the forehead. "Damn it!"
"Eh, don't worry," I said. "I knew it was Franny from the start."
Tessa slumped in her chair. "I really suck at this whole espionage thing."
"Yeah, you and me both. I've never been good at sneaking." Come to think of it, I wasn't good atcatchingpeople sneaking either. Even with Devon, I hadn't realized that he had somebody else until he was in the middle of breaking up with me.
"But really, that's agoodthing," Tessa said. "Sneaking is seriously overrated." She gave me a no-nonsense look before asking, "Sowasit? An ex-boyfriend, I mean?"
