“I am now.”
Laney eyes me.
I give her a slight shrug and hope she interprets it asif he were the same guy he’d been in Hawaii, I’d have a chance.
There are moments when I feel like he’s the same, quietly watching me and taking me all in. And then the next minute, he’s closed off and guarded.
No heart-stopping, crinkly blue-eyed smiles. No pushing to know more about me. No insisting he’s a truly terrible person at heart while he pauses to pick up a piece of trash or tell someone he loves her shirt.
“You ever talk to Chandler?” I ask Devi.
Her brown eyes sparkle in amusement. “So you’renottotally off gossip.”
“I haven’t seen him since the wedding. I haven’t even heard anyone’s seen him since the wedding, and I’m frankly pretty happy about that. Just wondering if—whenI should brace myself for a confrontation. Since the Bean & Nugget situation is his fault.”
“I’m on gossip,” Laney says to Devi. “You can tell me everything. Have you talked to him? I want to know how he set up this sale so quietly and how he knows this—ah!”
Jitter clamors to his feet under the table and bumps her leg.
“Jitter,” I say softly. “Down, boy.”
He ignores me and strains on his leash.
At the same time, I realize a slight hush has fallen over the restaurant.
And then there’s the tickle between my shoulder blades filling in the rest of the blanks before I spot the tall figure towering over everyone else.
Grey’s here.
He’s paused just inside the doorway, looking around at the clumps of people gathered between the tables like this is a private party.
“It’s the new café owner,” goes through the dining room in a lightning-fast whisper.
“Holyhotness,” Devi breathes as she turns to look.
“He is—wow,” Laney adds, twisting as much as she can with her leg still sticking out on a spare chair to get a better view herself.
“Personality,” I remind her.
She smirks. “Okay, Ms. Good Deeds.”
“Mr. Greyson,” Nani Parvati calls. “You come in. Come have dinner. Meet my grandson and granddaughter-in-law-to-be. Have dinner.”
“Nani, you said ‘have dinner’ twice,” Devi’s brother says.
“It’s the most important.”
Everyone laughs.
Everyone except Grey.
He’s in jeans and a button-down oxford under his thick wool coat, wearing gloves and his beanie and that beard that he’s growing out, and he’s more deer-in-the-headlights than I’ve seen him since I rescued him in Hawaii.
“Dammit,” I mutter while the locals descend on him.
“What’s he doing here?” Devi whispers. “You have food at Bean & Nugget.”
“He came from San Diego,” Laney whispers back. “He’s probably used to more options for dinner than soup, sandwiches, and pastries.”
