Page 12 of Too Delicious

“Hi Donna! The girls will be here in a few minutes but I wanted a moment to visit with you.”

“Aren’t you sweet. How’s that grandbaby?”

“Perfect! Obviously!” The clank of a glass carafe is followed by coffee pouring. “Don’t tell Owen, but I took Graham toMcDonald’s the other day and he ate his first Happy Meal. He got ketchup all over my bag!”

The bank manager cackles. “Not the Hermès!”

“Is that what it’s called? I told Stephan to stop giving me expensive things. When I’m not with him, I’m on babysitting duty.”

His interest piqued, Carter stands. The two of us inch toward the bank manager’s door, keenly listening to this conversation.

“That’s got to be their mom,” Carter murmurs.

“Yep.”

“Oh my goodness, Brenda,” chirps the bank manager. “I can’t wait to retire so I can get into trouble with my babies. Fill ’em up with sugar and send ’em on home.”

The two women laugh and swap quick anecdotes, one-upping each other on who spoils their grandchildren the most.

“The girls tell me they succeeded in finding some additional financial backing at that expo yesterday in Gold Hill,” Brenda says.

My ears heat. They’re talking about us!

“That’s wonderful. Was it from the Bryant family? That’s so exciting. I’ve always wanted to meet that Esme character,” says Donna, lowering her voice to a loud whisper. “You know, they say she never leaves that house.”

“I don’t think so. You know Harmony. She would have put blast all over me with that news. Or however the kids say it.”

“Hmm. I think that phrase means they’re actually calling you on the carpet.”

Brenda sips her coffee loudly. “Oh I can’t keep up with it all and I’m too old to care.”

“Well, maybe those two young men eavesdropping outside my office can explain it to us,” says Donna.

Yikes.

“Shit!” mutters Carter. “I’m not ready to meet her mother!”

I nudge him to stand up straight as Brenda marches out of the office, a genteel smile on her face. The resemblance to Harmony is uncanny.

“In or out, gentlemen!”

“We’ll wait here,” Carter says awkwardly, then dashes back toward the bench where we started.

I’m left standing face to face with the woman.

“Hi,” I say, extending my hand. “I’m Cooper MacKenzie and I’m here for your daughter.”

She draws her perfect eyebrows together, studying me like a new and strange insect.

Oh god. “I’m here to meet your daughter. Meet.”

She arches a brow. “Whatever Summer does on dating apps is none of my business. But I must tell you, a coffee date is usually the way to go, if you want my opinion.”

Her referencing Summer has the skittish Carter back on his feet. “He’s not dating Summer.”

“We’re here for both of them.”

“Suppose you tell me exactly what’s going on before I roust Roy over there from the thrall of the Reader’s Digest crossword puzzle.” Her eyes cut toward the vestibule, where an elderly security guard sits, peevishly erasing something from a magazine.

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