His eye twitched as he responded with a “Hi” of his own.
“Do you visit Roni often? I just love her,” I said. My mom backed away slowly. I saw her joining Roni, and both of them looked over our way with expectant looks.
“Not really,” Ben replied. “I mostly see her at Thanksgiving, but mygirlfriendis at a work conference nearby. She’s at a dinner with some important people in her field right now.”
“Oh!” I was relieved to hear this wasn’t a setup, but then bummed out when I deduced all of my mom’s friends must be pitying me because I’d been heartbroken. “That’s cool that you got to come along with her.”
“I’ve been mostly spending time with my aunt because mygirlfriend’sbeen so busy. Some time at the beach.” His emphasis on the word girlfriend almost made me laugh out loud. The warnings not to get any romantic ideas could not have been any clearer.
Don’t worry, buddy. I won’t be jumping into your lap.
“That’s nice. I’m here visiting my mom for a few days as I’m swearing off men for a while. But I suppose you’re safe to hang around since you’re taken.”
His newly relaxed smile had me giggling, and once I’d reassured him that I wouldn’t drag him into some dark corner and have him question the ethics of having a drink with someone who wasn’t his girlfriend, we were able to chat about the beach town, the retirement community, and our jobs. He showed me pictures of his girlfriend and their new puppy.
As I gave a fair amount of oohs and awws over the adorable pet, the karaoke was in full swing, and it was my mother’s turn.
She had picked a song I’d grown up listening to with her. When she called me onstage to join her, I hung my head down, gave Ben a pleading look, and winced when he started clapping.
I took a deep breath and embraced the moment, jogging up to the improvised stage. My mother put her arm around me, and I slid my arm around her waist. We belted out the tune in the only way we’d ever done it—full force and no holding back.
As we got to the last verse, a figure entered the bar and made me do a double-take. Sure enough, as I got to the final high note (which I was sure I’d butchered), Grant made his way to the bar, leaned back on it, and watched as we finished.
Racing over to him after the thunderous applause and whistles, I couldn’t imagine why Grant was there.
“Hey,” he said, reaching over to grab the beer the bartender had just slid over.
“Hey? What are you doing here?”
He looked around and then fixed his eyes on me. “I’m glad to see you’ve survived your illness.”
“I needed some time to recuperate. Besides, if Maggie can disappear for a week, I can call in sick.”
“You’re going to be gone the whole week?” he asked.
“Maybe. Maybe I don’t go back.”
“Hmm. Listen, K, Colin told me you told him everything. I gave him the keys we found. He told me to back off and let him handle the rest of the investigation. What do you think?”
“I don’t think anything. Nothing to do with me anymore.” I planted my hands on my hips. “You came all the way out here to talk about that?”
“I came out here because your phone kept going to voicemail, and I was worried. After Maggie’s disappearing act, I didn’t love the pattern. But seeing you up there singing your heart out, I see all is well.” He took a long swig of his beer.
“All is not well. Now that we know Colin had nothing to do with Maggie’s disappearance, he’s probably the perfect man. But I found out he only asked me out because he suspectedmeof sharing company information with our competitors.”
Grant raised an eyebrow. “He told you that? That’s not what it seemed like to me when he asked me if I was in love with you.”
I almost fell to the ground. Grant jumped forward and caught me.
“Maybe youaren’tokay. Colin asked me to keep quiet about the investigation, and then came out and asked me that question. No lead-up, no follow-up after I answered.”
I’d gotten my footing back and stood on my own. “What did you say?” My heart hammered against my chest.
He leaned back against the bar again. “I told him I amnotin love with you.”
I sighed with relief. I’d tried to keep Grant at arm’s length all these years, but I wasn’t entirely sure what his answer would be.
“But, K, why would he ask me that if he didn’t care about you?”
