“Ma’am,” he says firmly. “I said very true, ma’am.”
She looks at him through narrowed eyes, and I’m torn between wanting to laugh and feeling the urgent need to defuse this bomb.
“He definitely saidma’am,” I concur, shooting him a look. “Have you gotten a hearing check recently, Grams?”
“My hearing has never been better, young lady.” She’s still looking at Beau suspiciously.
“Thrilled to hear that. Grams,” I say, hurrying to pivot the conversation, “I also wanted to let you know that I accepted a job offer.”
“You did? For what job?”
I steal a glance at Beau, who’s looking at me with an arrested expression because I haven’t told him yet. I just had the meeting with Noah and Cat this morning. “Starting in a couple weeks, I’ll be working for Noah Belacourt. On the island.”On a salary that may just let me buy your house.I don’t mention that, though,because I don’t have a final contract yet. I also canceled my interview with Starlight. And it just felt right.
Grams and Beau both stare at me like any second I’ll yell outjust kidding!
“I’ll be signing the contract tomorrow morning,” I say, secretly loving that I’ve shocked them both into silence.
“Did you know about this?” Grams asks Beau suspiciously.
He shakes his head, still staring at me.
All I can do is smile as our gazes hold. But now that he knows, I’m impatient for a minute alone with him.
Who am I kidding? I’m always impatient for time alone with him. “We should probably get going, Beau. Right? For that thing…”
“What thing?” he asks, frowning.
“The thing,” I say. “With the…”
“Ohhh, right,” he says, catching on. “Our date.” He gets up and takes my hand.
My eyes widen slightly. That’s a bold move in front of Grams—especially after he just called herGrams.
“See you later, ma’am,” he says as we walk toward the door.
Grams doesn’t respond, and I look back at her. She’s staring at the check in her hands. I smile slightly. For all her theatrics, sheistouched by it.
Beau grabs the doorknob and stops. “Oh, Virginia?”
“What?” Grams snaps. Her eyes fix on our hands, and her lips press in a thin, disapproving line.
“If you wanted me to stay away from Gemma, you shouldn’t have raised someone this easy to fall in love with.” Beau brings our hands to his lips and kisses the back of mine, then opens the door. We walk out to Grams’s huffing.
“You justloveto poke the bear!” I hiss once we’re in the hallway, but inside, I’m melting at his words.
“After that revelation in there, she’s just lucky I didn’t dothis.” He pulls me into his arms, and our lips collide as he kissesme in a way that would have every person in this facility clutching their pearls if they saw us.
He pulls away when we’re still mid-kiss, and I’m left reeling.
“I should take you home now,” he says, obviously enjoying how discombobulated I am.
“What?” I say breathlessly. “Why?”
He wraps his arm around my shoulder. “So you can get started planning our date. Just to be clear, my expectations areveryhigh.”
We start walking, and sure enough, one of the residents is standing in her open doorway, staring at us with wide, scandalized eyes.
I wave at her as we pass by, and her eyes follow us all the way down the hall. “I could knock your socks off with just five minutes of prep, Palmer.”
