Page 49 of Hide From Me

I grabbed out a ten and started to put it on the counter when Maddie raised her pierced brow.

“Girl, Gran will have my ass if you leave that. Take it back and go sit your ass down.”

I looked at her and wanted to protest. “But that doesn’t seem right. I don’t?—”

Gran, or Winnie, as she’d introduced herself earlier, came out of the Dutch doors that swung as she pushed through.

“Rylee Klein, I told you I look out for our building, and I know when I’ve seen a girl have a rough day. You need a little good news. Now put that fucking bill away and come sit with an old woman.”

My jaw dropped. Did she? What the heck kind of gran was she?

“Dear, pick up your chin and follow me. I enjoy the little chairs over here. My grandson insisted on buying me these plushy little things, like I’m old or something.”

I snorted and didn’t mean to, but what the hell kind of coffee shop was this?

“That’s very nice of him, isn’t it?”

She waved a hand.

“Yeah, yeah. That boy owes me. A plushy chair for my not-so-old bones is the least he can do. Now sit down and talk to not-so-old gran.”

Well, this was certainly more entertaining than I had expected.

“Tell me, what has you so down? Is it that boy that dropped you off last night?”

Maddie dropped off my coffee and scone at that moment, leaving me a second to think about what the hell to say. I didn’t exactly want to look like a whore here. Even when I’d tried to let go a little and do what was normal for girls my age, I never wanted that. I wanted to be anything that my father would have hated, and an upstanding woman? Well, he wouldn’t have known what to do about that.

“Yeah, maybe a bit. He’s a little controlling, I think. He says things that make me question everything I thought I understood. He has me all twisted up on what I think I should want, that I thought I knew, and, well, I don’t know what that hell is real and what I made up.” I sipped the coffee. “I sound unstable, don’t I?”

Gran seemed to be thinking.

“At some point, you are going to have to decide what matters. Does the truth matter more than the reality? Because sometimes the truth is blurred by what is required to get through this life.”

That didn’t make sense, or did it?

“I don’t understand. Why would the truth just be so hard?”

I startled at the laughter she broke into.

“Oh, sweetheart, you came back here. I don’t mean the city, I mean to the Spectors’ territory. Nothing in this world hasbeen created by a truth that wasn’t laced with violence and deception. Take it from an old woman who has seen it all change. Sometimes you have to love the man behind the mask.”

I was still lost in thought as the door dinged again, and someone walked through the door.

“I need to go run this place. Come see me again soon. Or when you figure out what you’re ready to know.”

She patted my cheek and walked away, leaving me far more confused than I was before. I drank down the coffee and ate the scone, quietly watching people come and go. Some patrons seemed normal, like me, and others were pretty obviously part of the Spectors. But one thing was clear: they respected this Gran. How did I become that?

I stood and grabbed my camera bag. Maddie waved from the counter.

“There’s a fight tonight. Meet me and a few of the girls down here at nine if you want to go.”

I nodded, but I didn’t have any intention on going to a fight. Probably. Things had really changed around here.

I left and headed home the twenty steps it took me where I absently unlocked the street level door and climbed the stairs as I tried to sift through my anger at Cas and my confusion at Winnie. That woman seemed to treat me like she knew who I was, but I swore, until moving here, I’d never seen her. I hadn’t even ventured next door for coffee yet. She’d been the one to bring me coffee, and sure, she said it was watching out for each other, but something just seemed different with her. It didn’t feel random, and it was kind of nice.

Still, I had too much to think about. What did she mean? Did I have to accept the lies? Then again, was he lying if he was telling me about it all when I asked the right questions?

I shook my head and realized I’d just been standing outside my door. Finally, I unlocked it and as I stepped through the doorway; I froze at the man leaning against my counter.