After cleaning the cat’s mess and finishing my cold breakfast, I left to meet with John, Mary, Blake, and Emily about the Wyatt Foundation.
“Bye Gran. Don’t let that cat destroy the house while I’m gone.” I half-joked.
“He’d never. He’s a good boy.” She scratched his head between his ears. “Aren’t you?”
Gran and I had drastically different opinions of what defined a good boy. But I wouldn’t win any arguments with her, so I left.
During the short drive, I considered the challenges of working as a contractor. Redesigning the foundation’s social media sites and making them work seamlessly with the new website would be easy. It was the business part of contracting that’d be hard.
I was grateful for the opportunity to help the foundation grow and eventually help a lot more people, and it’d be fun working with Emily.
I was already thinking of myself as part of the team.I’d do the work for free if I wasn’t struggling.
I turned onto the main street where Grannie’s was located, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.I’m being watched. Only that made zero sense; I was driving. Unless. I glanced in the rearview mirror. Was that the same black car from Gran’s street? Were they following me? I should’ve paid closer attention when I pulled out of the driveway, but then again, why would I? It wasn’t like I expected someone to follow me.
I grabbed my phone out of my purse, ready to call 9-1-1.
It’s probably a coincidence.No need to overreact.
“John always says to trust your instincts,” I said to no one.
When I pulled into the parking lot across the street from Grannie’s, the car kept going.
If they were following me, they would have pulled in too.Right?
I convinced myself it was nothing. Using the mirror on my visor, I touched up my lip gloss to buy myself a few seconds and calm my nerves. If I walked into Grannie’s nervous, John would notice. He was a former county cop and detective; I’d never be able to fool him. And like his sons, he’d want to help. Technically, they were like him; he’d raised them to be kind, generous, and protective men.
People watching a tennis match turned their heads less than I did as I crossed the street to Grannie’s. I felt like an overreacting idiot. Plastering a smile on my face, I opened the door, setting off the bell.
“Morning, Ashley,” Mary greeted me.
After a round of hugs, we settled down.
“Are you okay?” Mary asked. I saw John’s eyebrow raise before I shifted my focus to Mary.
“Yeah, why?”
“You’re fidgeting.”
Crap.
“Just excited to join the team,” I lied, avoiding eye contact with John.
It occurred to me he’d probably heard all about his new employee and me making a scene here a few days earlier. I didn’t think he’d bring it up, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous he might.
She nodded. “We’re happy you’re here. Though I’m sorry you lost your job.”
“Thanks, I’m sure I’ll find something soon.” The confidence in my voice shocked me.
“You and Emily should open your own business,” Blake suggested.
“Maybe someday.” I smiled at Emily.
Blake didn’t know we’d just had this conversation, and that the idea was on hold because of Emily’s pregnancy.
A problemI might have, too.Though Emily didn’t think of her impending motherhood as a problem.
Beth set an iced vanilla latte in front of me. Beth Wyatt was the first recipient of The Wyatt Foundation funds, before it was a foundation. When John and Mary decided to create a foundation, they named it in honor of Beth’s late husband, a cop who worked with John and died in the line of duty. Beth was on the board of directors but wouldn’t be joining us today.
