“You ask her,” Zoey muttered.
Figuring this could take a while, Violet pinned her cousins’ wives with a smile. “Spit it out. It’s the only way you’ll find out if the rumor’s true.”
Zoey blushed. “You know us far too well.”
“One more dollar,” Mason told Gabriel.
“Can you count them out for me?” Violet asked Gabriel, encouraging the five-year-old to use the skills he was so proud of.
“One,” he said, laying a dollar on the counter, followed by another. “Two.”
“Rumor has it you’re datin’ Holt’s friend,” Vanessa blurted.
“Three,” Gabriel continued. “Four.”
“Simon Jennings,” Violet told her, figuring they were referring to the quickly spreading news that she had dinner with Simon at the diner last night. “I wouldn’t call it datin’. We had dinner.”
“Five,” Gabriel said, waving his money before laying it on the counter. “Mama!Shh.I’m countin’! Six.”
“Only dinner?” Zoey probed with a laugh. “Because Ramona’s sharin’ the news that his car was parked in your driveway overnight.”
“Seven.” Gabriel added the last dollar, his expression fiercely determined. “Eight.”
“Good job,” she praised the little boy before glancing at his mom. “How does Ramona know?”
Zoey looked at Vanessa. “That’s a good question.”
Violet made change for Gabriel, hoping she had deterred the pair by changing the subject.
“Here you are.” Violet passed the coins back to Gabriel.
“Put ’em in your pocket,” Mason instructed his brother.
“Who lives on your street?” Vanessa asked Violet. “More specifically, are there any single men Ramona’s age?”
Violet didn’t want to get dragged into the gossip, but she felt the pull. Her brain began spinning as she mentally went door to door, ticking off the names of—
“Brett,” she blurted, though, technically, the man didn’t live on her street—his street address was Jameson Drive, and hers was not—but her street did dead end at his ginormous house, meaning he had to drive down her street to get there.
Vanessa and Zoey looked at one another again.
“Jameson,” Violet supplied.
“The school superintendent?” Zoey asked.
“One and the same.” Violet passed Gabriel his books. “When you’re finished with that one, come back and talk to me about it. It’s one of my favorites.”
He beamed up at her. “Okay.”
“What do you say, Gabe?” Zoey asked.
“Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“I thought Brett was married,” Vanessa said, clearly still intrigued by the idea of Ramona visiting a man.
“Divorced,” Violet informed her. “Almost four years.” She knew because Brett and Tracey had separated shortly before Violet opened the store.
