“You should definitely do that.” He gave Maddy a forced smile. “Let me know the night, and I’ll save you a good table. We have a nice menu and reasonable prices.”
“Maddy manages a restaurant in Charlotte,” Emma said. “Pirouette. It’s very prestigious. It’s gotten reviews in some of the top epicurean magazines.”
“Assistant manager,” Maddy said.
“She’s up for a promotion, though,” Emma said.
Maddy winced. She felt Connor’s gaze on her like a heat lamp but pretended avid interest in her sandwich.
“That a fact?” he said.
She heard something in his tone, like maybe disdain. As though he thought she was hiding something. Okay, she was hiding something, but still.
“Our Maddy’s very well regarded in the local restaurant community,” Emma said.
“She should be,” Nora said. “She’s devoted her entire life to the place.”
Maddy squirmed as she finished the last bite of her sandwich. “All right, that’s quite enough. I think it’s time to get back to the attic—and let Connor get back to work.”
Ten minutes later Maddy breathed a sigh of relief as they settled back into their sorting. She didn’t know what it was about that man. All right, so he wasn’t a beach bum. He still stayed out till all hours. Entertained women much too young for him. Had that ridiculous flop of hair.
“Why are you so prickly with Connor?” Nora asked. “He seems like a nice enough guy.”
“I’m not prickly.”
Emma laughed. “You are too. If Nora and I agree on something, you know it must be true.”
Nora bristled as if that thought alone was unbearable.
“If I didn’t know better...” Emma let the thought drag on unfinished as she unwrapped a teacup, then wrapped it back up. She set the whole box aside and pulled another one from the dusty corner, sneezing hard.
“If you didn’t know better... what?” Maddy asked.
“I don’t know. It just feels like there’s a little sexual tension going on there is all.”
Maddy gave her a look of disbelief. “Sexual tension? That’s ridiculous. I don’t even like him.”
Emma laughed. “On the basis of what? He helps out Gram, he was concerned enough to call us—”
“Or manipulative enough.”
Emma spared Maddy a glance. “That again? Oh, come on. If he was a willing participant he only did it because he cares about Gram. You can’t fault him for that.”
“Leave her alone,” Nora said. “You don’t get to decide who she likes.”
Emma stiffened, the words hanging between them, lingering in the air.
“No, you’re right, Nora.” Emma’s eyes hardened on her older sister. “I don’t get to decide who anyone likes.”
Nora paged though a financial document, her nose twitching. “I’m not apologizing again, Emma. I was practically on my knees begging—”
“As well you should’ve been!”
Maddy held up a hand. “Come on, girls. You made a truce.”
“I was as sorry as I could’ve been,” Nora said. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“Sorry doesn’t change anything—and what’s that mean anyway? ‘I never meant to hurt you.’ You knew it was going to hurt me, but you did it anyway. You both did. That says everything right there.”
