“Aren’t all these little shops cute?” Grams asks. She’s been working hard on selling the idea of me moving here all afternoon.
“It’s nice that they’re all so close,” I admit. The street outside her building is filled with all kinds of stores and most everything you could need is within walking distance.
“Here, this place has the best pie.” She holds the door open to a little bakery.
“Betty! How are you, sweetness?” the older man behind the counter shouts.
“I’m good. I brought my—”
“Sister?” he chimes in, and I hide my laugh behind my hand.
“Granddaughter, Erin.” She shakes her head at him, smiling.
“Yes, Erin. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” He holds his hand out over the display case. “I’m Johnny.”
“It’s nice to meet you too. I hear you have the best pies around.”
“You've been talking about me, sweetness?” Johnny winks at Grams and I’ve never met anyone that’s a bigger flirt than her. I wish I had a little bit of that in me. Instead I stand in shock whenever I see a handsome man. Exhibit A was this very morning.
“I’m trying to talk my granddaughter into moving here. What better way than with pie?”
“All right. How about you two take a seat and I’ll bring you some samples out.”
“That would be perfect.” Grams smiles at him. I notice her cheeks are a little pinker than normal. Grams is a flirt but no one ever turns her eye and it’s always in good fun. I keep thinking one day she’s going to fall face first into a man before she knows what’s happening.
We take a seat in the back corner and Johnny comes out a moment later with iced teas. Clearly he knows what Grams wants, because when I take a sip it’s as sweet as she likes it.
“So how are you feeling today?”
“Okay, actually. The building here makes me feel safe. I mean, it’s only us on that floor and there’s a doorman.” It’s not like my apartment, where people can come and go, and I never thought about how dangerous that could be for a single woman. “I think what keeps getting to me is what if I’d been home.” I try not to cry thinking about it because it kept me up most of the night. Grams reaches out and squeezes my hand. “How long would it have taken for someone to realize I was missing or to come looking for me?”
“Oh Erin.” Grams stands up and wraps her arms around me in a tight hug. “I never want you to think like that. If you don’t move out here then I’m going to have to move out there.” I shake my head no because that’s silly. She has a whole life here and there’s no way I’d ask her to give that up.
“I’m going to move here,” I reassure her.
“Pie!” Johnny calls as he carries a tray filled with more pie than we’ll ever be able to eat. Those don’t look like samples. They are full-on slices of every kind of pie you can think of.
“You’re so good.” Grams sits back down as Johnny places the tray on the table then hands us both a fork.
“Can I get you ladies anything else?”
“I think we’re good.” Grams pushes the tray closer to me.
“Thank you.” I smile up at Johnny, who is looking down at Grams, quite smitten.
“Anytime.” He walks back behind the counter and goes back to work.
“Try this one. It’s coconut,” Grams says, holding it out.
“Oh god, that’s good.” Coconut is my absolute favorite.
“See, you can come get this anytime you want.”
“That sounds dangerous,” I laugh while taking another bite. “You know Johnny seems sweet on you.” I wiggle my eyebrows at her.
“I can’t blame him, I’m a catch.” Grams shrugs, taking a bite of the apple cobbler. “What about your love life? Let's talk about that.” Always back to that.
“Well, since I’m moving I don’t have one.”
“So it’s official?” Grams’ eyes light up with excitement.
“Yes, I should have done it forever ago. I just have to find a place first.”
“We should see if there is something in my building.”
“I’m not sure I can afford your building. It’s really nice and Devin’s place is crazy fancy. I’m scared I’m going to break something in there.”
“Good, maybe it will look like someone actually lives there and liven the place up.”
I bite my lip wondering if I can get away with asking some questions without Grams realizing what I’m doing. I didn’t tell her about Devin popping in this morning or his talk about us having dinner tonight. It’s all still a little shocking. There really was a crazy-hot man asking me to have dinner with him as I stood there practically naked.
“Is he really never there? Seems like such a waste.” The place is beautiful. I’d never want to leave it.
“He’s a workaholic.”
“A lawyer, right?” He looked like one in his suit that screamed power and authority. Then he opened his mouth and was adorable as can be. Not to mention sexy. It took everything in me not to laugh when he was going on about sleeping naked then tried to backtrack. Let's not forget that one dimple either. It made me weak in the knees. He has a lot going on, all of which work for me.
“Yep, a fancy one too. You know he owns the building so he could easily get you a place. He might even give you a deal.” She pushes another piece of pie over to me. I’m not sure how much more I can eat.
“I’m not going to try and negotiate the price of an apartment,” I laugh. Plus, we kind of have a date tonight and that would make it extra weird. Or maybe it’s not a date at all. We both have to eat and maybe he was just being nice.
“Fine, we can look at other places if you want.” She gives in, but I can tell she’s disappointed.
“I still need to see about breaking my lease. I’m hoping I can get out of it with everything that happened, but who knows if I’ll get that lucky.”
“Have Devin call for you. He’s a lawyer.” Do all things lead back to Devin? According to Grams, yes.
“I don’t know him. I can’t ask for favors. He’s already letting me stay at his place.” I push the pie away from me because if I eat another bite I might explode.
“I’ll talk to him.”
“Grams,” I groan.
“What? I’m on the board in the building. I talk to him about everyone that moves in.” I know there is no stopping her at this point now that she’s already back on me moving in there.
“I’m going to look around and check some places out.”
“Fine, but try and be close. I know you hate to drive.” That’s really a fear I should try and get over.
“How was everything?” Johnny sets some to-go boxes down on the table for us.
“Wonderful, thank you so much.” My phone starts to ring and I dig it out of my bag. “Landlord,” I whisper to Grams and she nods as I stand. I give Johnny a wave as I head outside to take the call.
“Hello,” I say as I hold the phone to my ear.
“Hey Erin. I wanted to let you know we got the locks changed in your place. They really did a number in there. Do you have renter’s insurance?”
“Yes.” I haven't called them yet, but I’m going to have to go back and clean everything up and assess the damage at some point. I need to pack up whatever is salvageable and I wonder if I can hire someone to do that. Then I wouldn't have to worry about going back at all, but I need to be smart and that would probably cost a small fortune.
“That’s good. I know a few security places if you want to see about getting an alarm or something,” he suggests.
“I’m not really sure I’ll be coming back there to live,” I admit.
“Oh.” He sounds surprised. “Okay, we can talk about that the next time you're here. You still have some time left on your lease.”
“I know. I’ll worry about it when I get back.” Maybe he could keep my security deposit and we can call it even?
“All right. I went ahead and took some pictures. I’ll email them over to you. Your insurance company might want them.”
“Thanks. I’d appreciate that.” I really don't want to see them, but it has to be done. “Oh, and Peter is worried about you. He wanted to call you, but I didn't feel comfortable giving your number out even if he is your neighbor.”
My stomach turns at the mention of his name. “Yeah, please don’t.” The last thing I need is him calling me.
“All right. I’ll send those pictures over tonight. If you need anything else, let me know.”
“Thanks.” I end the call as Grams comes outside.
“Late night sweets.” She hands me the bag. “Where to now?” I look down at my watch and it’s almost four.
“I think I want to lie down.” Really I need to do something with my hair and find something to wear. Do I dress up or will I look like I’m trying too hard? What if I think it’s a date when it might not be one?
“A nap sounds good. I need to freshen up before I go out tonight. It’s ladies’ night over at the Alamo. Do you want to come?” Gram shakes her shoulders like she’s dancing.
“I think I’ll spend the night in.” I yawn, playing it up.
“All right. If you change your mind you’re more than welcome to join us.”
“Thanks.”
Now I just pray Grams leaves before Devin gets back tonight. I’ll never hear the end of it if she catches us together. I don’t want to get Grams’ hopes up about the two of us. Devin is in a whole other league than me and I don’t only mean looks. His whole life is in another world and I’m not sure I could ever fit in.