Hes Been Sleeping Where?
Maisie
The front door jingled, and Franny breezed in, looking absolutely delighted, like she'd just caught a whiff of juicy gossip and couldn't wait to sniff it out.
I wasn't in the mood. Last night, Tessa had remained in her bedroom, I'd slept like crap on the couch, and Griff had remained utterly dark.
We hadn't texted. We hadn't called. And as far as I could tell, he'd quit the shop with no notice – even if he had sent a replacement.
It was incredibly thoughtful – and beyond annoying, because, well…the guy wasn't Griff.
The replacement was Ryder, who'd shown up first thing this morning like he'd been working here for weeks. And then, he'd refused to leave – even after I'd told him as nicely as I could that while I appreciated the offer, I could manage on my own.
That was four hours ago, and I was still trying to make sense of it.
Franny's eyes twinkled as she marched straight to the counter and announced, "I heard you've got a new one."
"A new what?" I knew what she meant, of course. But I was too despondent to play along.
She pointed toward the nearby window, where just outside, my new employee was chatting it up with two senior ladies who'd come in to rent bikes.
My stomach clenched as I silently watched. The women were giggling like schoolgirls while Ryder adjusted the seats and somehow managed to turn the basic process into a show of its own, complete with cocky grins and enough charm to power the island.
From inside the shop, I couldn't actually hear them, but I could see plenty. And it got me thinking. Griff wasn't charming. He was something better – at least for me.
Except he wasn't mine anymore.
More likely, he never had been.
I pulled my gaze from the window and looked back to Franny, who was still staring through the glass. She looked absolutely mesmerized, like Magic Mike had come to Mackinac and was dry humping a bike.
In a dreamy voice, she asked, "Where do you find these guys, anyway?"
The answer was too complicated for words. I hadn't found Griff at all. He'd found me when he'd proposed that outrageous work-for-food arrangement. And then, he'd found a new guy to take his place.
I couldn't help but sigh. "Heck if I know." But swapping one guy for another had wreaked havoc on my plans.
This morning, I'd woken up determined to take Tessa's advice and simply ask Griff where he'd been on that fateful night.
But I couldn't ask him if he wasn't here.
Yes, I did realize we both had cell phones, but some things required a conversation face-to-face.
Across from me, Franny looked away from the window and asked, "So why are you so glum? Two is better than one, right?"
I was still thinking of Griff. Absently, I asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well…you've got the one working the night shift and that one…" She pointed to Ryder. "…working the day."
I tensed. The night shift?
So, she knew that Griff and I had been staying late at the shop? I tried not to blush. Not just late. Really late.
There were times we hadn't left the shop until after 3 a.m., skulking out through the back door like thieves in the night.
On the upside, Franny hadn't mentioned what we'd been doing so late.
To know that , she'd need X-ray vision.
Then again, this was Franny.
And Franny knew everything.
I tried to look innocent. "I don't know what you mean."
This made her chortle. "Sure you do." She leaned forward and lowered her voice. "The way I hear it, you've been staying pretty late yourself." She said this like she could give a blow-by-blow of everything we'd done in that tent, complete with diagrams and sound effects.
Before I could stop myself, I'd already said, "Yeah, well not lately, we haven't."
Undaunted, she replied with a little snort, "Well maybe you haven't. But he has."
Huh? That made no sense. "Wait…what are you saying?"
She smiled. "What, you didn't know?"
With growing confusion, I asked, "Know what?"
"The first guy – Griff – he's been sleeping in your shop."
What? The words hit like a thunderbolt, and I almost staggered back. Did she mean the night Ryder had found Griff's apartment empty?
And what about last night, when I'd been home, crying on the couch?
If so, that would change everything. I stared, trying to catch up. "You don't mean…when I'm not even here?"
"Don't I?" she asked in a sly voice, as if the answer should be obvious.
"But…surely…you don't mean recently?"
Franny gave me a look – smug and satisfied, like a cat who'd just coughed up the juiciest hairball of gossip. "Don't I?" she said yet again.
The room spun a little, and I gripped the counter to steady myself. "You don't mean literally every night?"
She arched a brow. "Every night since last week."
"Starting when last week?"
"Oh, that's easy. The night of that big storm."
This was also the first night that Griff and I had slept together. But I wasn't thinking of that night. I was thinking of the night Ryder had found Griff's place empty.
More to myself than to Franny, I murmured, "But how? And when?" Like, was he just popping in for a couple of hours? Or was he staying longer?
"Well, he's not using a crowbar if that's what you think."
I wasn't thinking of a crowbar. I was thinking of that key, the one I'd given him after we'd slept together.
And Franny wasn't done. "As far as the when , he sneaks in after you leave and sneaks out at the crack of dawn." Her eyebrows lifted. "I've got it on excellent authority."
I was still reeling. " How excellent?"
"Oh, honey … a girl never reveals her sources."
"Oh, come on!" I protested. "You can't just drop a bomb like that and not back it up." I gave her a pleading look. "I'm serious. I really need to know."
"Oh, fine," she said with a satisfied little smirk. "Let's just say, a certain little gift shop has security footage of their whole back side, and not just theirs either."
I pulled up a mental map. Carol, one of Franny's best friends, owned a gift shop two doors down. That had to be it. "So…they can see my back door, too?"
"Not them ," she said. "The camera."
"But that's the same thing," I protested.
"It is not ," she said. "No one's lurking in the alley with popcorn. And the camera only eats batteries."
Popcorn? Batteries? "But – "
"And besides, it's motion-activated."
"So?"
"So if there's nothing to see, there's nothing to film. Except it's digital, so it never really sleeps." She shrugged. "Anyway, the way I hear it, the nighttime has been pretty darn busy in your neck of the woods."
My heart hammered as I took it all in. "And you're just mentioning this now – that Griff is sleeping here, I mean?"
"I didn't have to mention it before," she said with a knowing smile. "Until a few days ago, you were here to see for yourself." She paused. "Well…except for the part of him returning after kissing you goodbye – and not just a little smooch, from what I hear."
Good Lord. Was there no such thing as privacy?
Apparently not.
As if to prove it, Franny chose that moment to ask, "And what's this about a key party?"
I did a double-take. "Wait, what?"
"I'm just saying, I checked my mailbox, and I didn't get an invite."
Just then, Ryder shoved his way through the front door and headed toward the back, calling out over his shoulder, "I'm off to lunch. Cover for me, alright?"
He'd barely disappeared through the connecting door when Franny said with a lingering sigh, "He can cover me any time."