Page 64 of The Puck Charmer

Grandma looks at me. “Have you talked to Alek?”

“No,” I say and turn from her to fix the flowers. Fresh tears threaten. I don’t want her to see that I’m still shaken up. She worries enough about me as it is.

“That’s a good thing,” she says. “He was a horrible person.”

“Well, he wasn’t horrible, Grandma.” I recall the first day he hit my car and insisted on helping. Even after I snuck out the next day, he’d showed up at Greenleaf, wanting to do all the heavy lifting because he was worried about me. “I mean, he helped me for weeks, and was really…sweet.”

“Too much sweet can give you a toothache,” Vivian says. “No one needs that in their life.”

“The Puck Charmer,” Grandma says. “He was probably stringing you along and hitting on all the women in town.”

“Actually, he wasn’t doing that,” I say. When he was with me, which was all the time—he never wanted me out of his sight—I was his sole focus. My God, no man had ever looked at me the way he did, making me feel like I was the most important woman in the world. Could that be faked?

“He’s no good,” Vivian says. “Tricking you into falling for him.” Vivian eyes me and lowers her voice to add, “Tricking you into his bed.” She makes a tsking sound. “Men these days.”

I cringe. I do not want to be talking about my sex life with these two, but I can’t let them think what happened was all on him. “He never tricked me,” I say, and think back. I was the one who wanted him, who decided to seduce him. He straight up told me he didn’t want to sleep with me and ruin things between us because he liked being with me. God, I loved being with him.

“Wearing that hat all the time so no one recognized him,” Grandma says with a shake of her head. “Here I thought that boy loved all the attention. Must have been hiding for other reasons.”

My mind goes back to his friend Tyler. What was it Alek said that first day?

“I guess all the media attention got to him and he just wants to fly under the radar. That’s understandable, don’t you think?”

I agreed with him. Who wants to go around all the time with a camera shoved in their face, never able to have a normal conversation with anyone without someone bothering you, or wanting something from you?

“Maybe he just wanted to fly under the radar,” I say.

Is that why he never told me? He just liked what we had between us, like me not knowing who he was.

“Doesn’t matter.” Vivian waves her finger in a scolding manner. “He should have told you.”

“You’re right,” I say. “He should have told me.” But there’s a small part of me that’s beginning to understand why he didn’t. I drop down into the chair and feel two sets of eyes on me as I lean forward and press my palms to my eyes as my mind goes back to my conversation with Quinn.

“His heart is in a good place, but sometimes he doesn’t always make the best decisions. I want you to remember that.”

“No one deserves a second chance, Alyssa,” Grandma says, and that’s when I get what they’re doing.

Sneaky old ladies!

I lift my head. “Was Alek just here?” Need gathers in a knot in my stomach simply from mentioning his name. They both look away and avoid my question. “Was he here?” I ask again.

“Mig

ht have been,” Vivian says and points to her head. “My memory isn’t what it used to be.”

“Why was he here?” I demand, and jump from my seat. “What did he want?”

“Can’t remember,” Grandma says. “You might have to ask him that yourself.”

“Maybe I will,” I say when my cell phone rings. I grab my purse, my heart leaping. Could it be Alek? My stomach sinks when I see it’s a call from the realtor. Maybe that young couple I spotted admiring the place decided to put in an offer. A mixed bag of emotions hit like a brick. On one hand, I’m relieved that I’m selling to help pay the bills, but on the other, there’s sadness that the one place I felt loved and wanted is no longer going to be a part of my world. It guts me.

I slide my finger across the phone, and catch the strange way Grandma is eyeing me. What does she know that I don’t? My realtor, Mr. Marshall lets me know we have an offer and I nod, fighting back the tears pounding behind my eyes. I hang up and try for my brightest smile.

“Good news, Grandma. We have an offer on the house. That was Mr. Marshall asking me to meet him to sign the papers.”

Grandma claps her hands together in joy, and Vivian says, “I do love it when a plan comes together.”

“I better go,” I say and give Grandma a kiss before heading out the door. Even though it’s only a short distance, I hop into Moxie and drive her to Grandma’s old homestead. I swallow hard and struggle to keep myself together when I pull into the driveway. I don’t see Mr. Marshall’s vehicle, but it’s possible he walked here.

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