No Limos Allowed

Almost Punching, Allegedly

Maisie

When I pedaled up to my house, Tessa was standing on the front porch with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed, like she'd just caught me sneaking in past curfew.

What the heck?

I wasn't even late. If anything, I was early, considering that sunset was nearly two hours away. I braked hard and barely got one foot on the ground before she asked, "Is there something you want to share?"

I glanced toward the rear of my bike. I'd left the bike trailer at the shop, and the front basket was mostly empty. I had nothing worth sharing, unless she wanted intel. And I wasn't quite ready for that .

Not yet, anyway.

Back at the shop, I had agreed to Griff's outrageous plan, but I had a plan, too. If any fakery were needed, I would ease into it nice and slow, giving the idea time to settle before going public.

Or, who knows? Maybe Devon and Sierra would never come back. Maybe the whole fake-boyfriend thing could die a quiet death, and I'd get to keep my dignity while skipping the public performance entirely.

And yet, judging from the look on Tessa's face, I couldn't help but wonder if that proverbial horse had already left the barn.

Still, a girl could hope. I summoned up a smile. "Something to share? Like…cookies?"

She just looked at me.

I put some extra pep into my voice. "Or those little bottles of booze?" I glanced in the general direction of town. "I didn't pick up any today, but – "

"Oh, come on," Tessa scoffed. "You know exactly what I mean."

Crap . Probably, I did. And who was I kidding? I would've confided in Tessa regardless. The realization surprised me.

A few weeks ago, when she'd first arrived, she'd felt like an unwelcome intruder.

Now she felt like a friend – probably the best one I had these days.

My childhood friends had all moved away.

I'd lost touch with most of the crowd from college.

And as far as Delaney…well, that was something I still didn't understand.

I was still searching for something to say when Tessa finally cracked a smile. "Don't make me get the bottles. Have I mentioned I have a million?"

I couldn't help but smile back. "You are gonna let me inside, right?"

"Sure, but it's gonna cost you."

"Cost me what?" I laughed.

She gave me a significant look. "The full story." And with that, she finally stepped aside, motioning me into my own house with a grand sweeping gesture.

Was she being nosy? Absolutely. But with that kind of flair, how could I be mad? Plus, there was something oddly comforting about her big-sister vibe, like she was looking out for me, whether I'd asked for it or not.

Fifteen minutes later, we held not booze, but glasses of lemonade, as we sat on two lawn chairs that Tessa had dragged out onto the front porch.

After taking my first sip, I said, "You know what I really want?"

"What?"

"A porch swing. I've been trying to save up, but…well, you know how it is."

This made her laugh. "Guess what I want."

I didn't need to guess. I shifted in my chair. "Does this mean that stalling time is over?"

"Oh, please," she laughed. "It was over ten minutes ago. You're just lucky I let you go to the bathroom."

No kidding. After she'd let me into the house, I'd put her off by saying that I had to go to the bathroom first. And then, I'd stayed in there far too long while debating how much I wanted to tell her.

When I'd finally emerged, I'd found Tessa out on the front porch with the chairs, two glasses of lemonade, and a look that suggested I'd better start talking – or else.

And here we were .

But first, I had a question of my own. "So…

I'm guessing you heard something?" While in the bathroom, I'd racked my brains, wondering what exactly had prompted this interrogation.

But then I recalled Franny's visit to the shop and its unfortunate timing.

She had scurried out barely thirty seconds before Devon and Sierra had skulked in.

Had Franny been lingering outside?

Possibly. But I almost surely would have spotted her.

More likely, she'd grabbed lunch in the café across the street. With a nice window seat, she wouldn't gotten a clear view of the little drama playing out inside my shop.

Of course, maybe Franny hadn't witnessed anything herself. She had an impressive grapevine when it came to gossip. This included her nephew Jason who worked in that same cafe. And really, almost anyone could've gotten a nice eyeful through my shop's big front window.

In my mind, I could practically see it – that whole crazy scene from an outside vantage point, starring me and Griff acting all lovey-dovey for Devon and the Centipede.

I was still speculating when Tessa replied, "Oh, I heard more than something."

I gave her a long, sideways look. "More than something? That sounds serious."

"Yeah, but only if it's true." She lowered her voice. "Just tell me…did Griff really almost punch out your ex-boyfriend?"

I almost spit out my lemonade. "What?"

Tessa studied my face. "So…did he?"

"No. Definitely not." Half panicking, half laughing, I leaned forward to set my glass on the nearby railing. "Who told you that?"

She lifted a brow. "Let's just say…a trusted source."

"Franny."

Tessa shrugged all innocent-like. "I'm not naming names."

I groaned and leaned back in the lawn chair, staring at the sky like the answers might be written in the clouds. "That can't be the whole story – the almost-punching, I mean."

"No. But it's the highlight."

"Or the low point," I countered, looking back to Tessa. "Maybe you should back up a little…like, where does this story start?"

"Oh, that's easy," she said. "It starts with Griff charging out of the back room, looking all pissed-off."

"Wait. Charging ?"

"That's what I heard."

The whole idea was ridiculous. "Oh come on," I laughed. "It's not like he's a bull."

Tessa took a long sip of her lemonade and then continued like she was reading off a checklist. "And then he grabbed you and yanked you next to him, all protective-like."

Grabbed? Yanked? This wasn't what had happened – or least, not exactly. "Okay, fine, he wrapped an arm around me. But it wasn't some grabby-yanky thing like you're describing."

Her chin lifted. "Hey, I'm just repeating what I heard."

"Well, trust me. Your secret source was exaggerating."

Undaunted, she continued. "And then you leaned into him like you might swoon or something."

On this, I remained silent. Had I felt like swooning? Maybe a little. Still, I wasn't prepared to confirm or deny, even to myself. It was time to shift gears. "But what about the punching?"

" Almost punching," she corrected. "Like Griff really wanted to, but he was holding back."

Was that true? I'd definitely heard anger in his voice, but I'd spent most of that confrontation with my eyes focused elsewhere, like on Devon and What's-Her-Face. Yes, I knew that her name was Sierra, but why give her the satisfaction?

Tessa said, "So? What about that part? Was that true, at least? Did Griff want to punch somebody?"

I hesitated. "Actually, I'm not sure."

She made a sound of protest. "But you were right there. How could you not know?"

"Well…I wasn't always looking – not at Griff, anyway."

Her tone grew pensive. "So it might be true."

"Maybe," I admitted. "But honestly, it seems unlikely." I turned in my seat to face her head-on. "Was that the whole story?"

"Not hardly," she said. "At the end of it, your ex-boyfriend and some blonde ran screaming out of your shop like Griff had pulled out a butcher knife."

The image was hysterical, but I was too distracted to laugh. "Trust me, they weren't screaming."

"But they were running?"

"Not really."

"So…they were what? Just walking fast?"

"I guess a little ." I paused and then frowned as an idea took hold. I would need to play this just right. Keeping my tone casual, I asked, "And how'd Franny know that the guy was my ex?"

Tessa shrugged. "Lucky guess?"

Jackpot. I gave a triumphant grin. "Hah! I knew it was Franny."

Tessa looked at me for a long moment, her expression blank. And then, with a groan, she slapped herself on the forehead. "Damn it!"

"Eh, don't worry," I said. "I knew it was Franny from the start."

Tessa slumped in her chair. "I really suck at this whole espionage thing."

"Yeah, you and me both. I've never been good at sneaking." Come to think of it, I wasn't good at catching people sneaking either. Even with Devon, I hadn't realized that he had somebody else until he was in the middle of breaking up with me.

"But really, that's a good thing," Tessa said. "Sneaking is seriously overrated." She gave me a no-nonsense look before asking, "So was it? An ex-boyfriend, I mean?"

The term hardly did it justice, considering that Devon and I had been careening toward forever – until a week before college graduation, when he'd broken my heart along with my trust.

Making everything worse, I had officially met his parents the prior weekend at their estate in Bloomfield Hills. They were nice, but just a little snooty, and I'd had the distinct impression that they thought their son could do a lot better than me.

His mom had kept calling me 'Marcie' – even after I'd corrected her. Repeatedly. And there'd been a lot of forks at dinner – too many for me to track without a little help, which no one had seemed eager to provide, not even Devon, who'd been seated on the far side of the table.

Was that why he'd dumped me?

Because I hadn't fit in?

I couldn't help but notice that his next girlfriend – Sierra the Centipede – had come from a wealthy family, too. Even back then, I'd wondered at the coincidence.

Birds of a feather and all that.

I heard myself sigh. "Yup, that was Devon, alright."

Tessa did a double-take. "Wait. The Devon? The cheater?" She made a face. "I always hated that guy."

My brow wrinkled in confusion. "But you never even met him."

"Yeah, but I heard plenty. Delaney was so furious. You should've heard her."

I had heard her. After Devon's betrayal, Delaney had spent nearly as much time ranting about him as I had.

But these days I heard nothing from Delaney, not even through Tessa. In fact, this was the first time Tessa had mentioned Delaney at all. As for myself, whether out of pride or pain, I hadn't mentioned her either.

It was funny in a way. The one thing that connected me and Tessa was something that neither of us discussed.

Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with curiosity. "So…what's she up to?"

"Who?"

I stared. This should be obvious . "Delaney."

Tessa blinked like I'd just said something strange. "You don't know?"

I felt the color drain from my face. Judging from Tessa's expression, it was bad. Really bad. I shook my head. "I don't know anything . What's going on?"

Her eyes searched mine. "Seriously?"

In spite of everything, panic rose in my throat. "Just tell me, okay?"

"I can't."

I felt like screaming. "Why not?"

"Because," Tessa said, "I haven't spoken to her in months."

My mouth fell open. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah. She ghosted all of us like a year ago."

The news hit like a thunderbolt. "Really?"

Tessa nodded. "Yeah." She turned and looked toward the interior of the house. "If you want the truth, I was kind of thinking…" Her words trailed off into silence as she continued to stare as if searching for a ghost.

I leaned toward her. "You were thinking what?"

Her eyes returned to mine. "Well…I was kind of thinking she might be here ."