Still no answer.
Then I remembermy mom still has my dog, and I load up and head back downtown.
Jitter’s the toast of the salon, and Mom tells me I can’t have him back.
She also tells me if Mimi hurts Grandpa, I’ll be in trouble.
“Zen says Grey gave Mimi the café,” I tell Mom.
“And how do you feel about that?”
My eyes flood. I try to blink it all back, and I can’t. “Really good,” I whisper.
It feels like his way of saying he’s gotten what he needs to feel even with Chandler.
I don’t understand it, but Ifeelit.
I don’t see him the rest of the day.
Saturday, Grandpa hangs out with Mimi all day while she fusses over the menu, samples coffees, and asks if she can bake oatmeal cranberry cookies to put in the display case.
“Your café, Mimi,” Zen says.
Grey’s not in.
Zen goes flat-faced whenever anyone asks about him.
Including me.
It’s Valentine’s Day.
And I haven’t heard from him since yesterday morning.
Before yesterday, I wouldn’t have thought a thing about not hearing from him.
But now?
Now, this is weird. And worrying.
I know things happen. I know stuff comes up. I know this might not be about me at all.
But I still corner Zen when my shift is over. “Did I do something wrong?”
They pull a face, and then the unthinkable happens.
Zen hugs me.
Not a little hug either.
Atighthug.
“Can you chaperone Mimi and Harry tonight and make sure they don’t break anything?”
“What did I do?”
“You called Mimi and set them up, so them wanting to go skating at midnight on a frozen lake under questionable lighting isyourresponsibility.”
“To Grey.”
