Page 29 of Whisk Me Away

"Do sit down and take a load off. You don't have any other customers at the moment,” she grinned at me cheekily.

"Okay," I said slowly before pulling the chair across from her and sitting down.

"How are you doing today, my dear?" She asked sweetly.

I took a moment to take her in. I hadn't seen her since the Landon family had my family over for dinner a few months ago. Her grey-streaked hair was pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck. She wore a floral blouse with a pair of khaki pants. She had a timeless beauty about her that I wished I’d have when I was her age.

"I am well today, Gram. How are you?" I replied.

She gave me a knowing look. "I'm doing great. So…how are things going with you and Brant?" she asked, a smile spread across her face.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, unsure how much I wanted to divulge, knowing this was Brant's Gram. "Oh, you know, Gram, things are... good," I replied vaguely, hoping to deflect her curiosity.

Gram raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed with my evasiveness. "Just good, hmm?" she teased. "Well, I suppose that's better than bad. But you can tell me, dear, I won't breathe a word of anything you say to Brant."

Feeling a bit cornered, I decided to share a little. "Well, we're still getting to know each other," I admitted, deciding to give her the bare minimum. That was an accurate enough statement. I don't need to tell her that we shared a life-changing kiss. Well at least life-changing for me.

Gram nodded thoughtfully, her expression softening. "Ah, yes, Brant's been through a lot," she said, her voice tinged with sadness. "He's a good boy, but he's been hurt before."

Her confession confirmed what I’d been thinking. As much as I tried, I still hadn't been able to get the redhead from his past out of my mind.

"I can understand that," I said, not really sure how to respond.

The look on Gram's face told me she had more to say. "That girl had his whole heart, and she threw it away. She tossed it aside like it wasn't more than an old bag of trash. Ever since then, he hasn't wanted anything to do with relationships. Such a shame. That boy is a good one. That ex-fiancée of his,” she blew out a harsh breath. “I could just wring her neck."

The words came out of her mouth so fast I'm not sure she realized what she said until it was too late. Her words caught me off guard, and I couldn't help a sudden surge of emotions I couldn't quite name.

Her eyes went wide as she sipped the last drink of her coffee before picking up the remnants of her scone and patting my hand.

"Well, dear, thank you for the lovely coffee and scone," she said, rising from her seat. "I really should be going now."

As she walked out the door, I was left with a whirlwind of confusion and mixed emotions, wondering what other secrets lay hidden behind Brant's charming smile.

CHAPTER 18

BRANT

Something was off, I just knew it. Something happened between when I saw Karis two days ago in the bakery and now. Her responses to my text had been short and to the point. She was normally one to use every kind of emoji to complete her text, but she hadn't used one in the last two days.

I wasn’t able to drop by yesterday like I'd been doing for the last few weeks because Mrs. Beechman demanded my presence to handle the noisy dog next door. I did everything I could to make sure I had time to stop by Whisk Me Away, but I just couldn't pull it off.

I sent her multiple texts letting her know I wouldn't be able to stop by and explained why, but she didn't seem interested in responding.

Now, standing right in front of her, I knew my suspicions were valid. There was something off with Karis, and I was determined to figure out what it was.

"Talk to me, Peach,” it was small, but I didn't miss the flinch at the nickname I'd been calling her.

What the heck was that?

I stood on the other side of the counter while she worried her bottom lip between her teeth and fidgeted with her hair. Something was eating at her, and I wanted to fix it. But I couldn't do that if she wouldn’t open up to me.

"It's nothing. I'm just busy, is all,” she said quietly without making eye contact.

I was really trying to be patient, but quickly losing the battle against myself to push her for information.

"Quite the crowd you have in here,” I knew the comment wouldn't go over well, yet I said it anyway.

As if in slow motion, I watched her fortify the walls already erected between us.