“Wait. I’m—” She didn’t turn around or break stride. Gabriel stared after her, stunned. He’d been enjoying their banter, but obviously that was the wrong thing to say. He guessed he had a lot to learn about women living in small towns. He shook his head and finished shopping.

Two hours later, he drove over to pick up his grandmother. She was out the door before he got out of the car.

“Gabriel! Oh, I’m so glad to see you.” She grabbed him in a crushing hug.

“Hey, Nana.” He kissed her smooth brown cheek. Her familiar floral scent surrounded him. Even in her late seventies, Della Williams was still a striking woman and wore her age well. Had his mother lived, he knew exactly what she would’ve looked like at that age.

She reached up, palmed his face, and studied him through eyes that mirrored his. “How are you, baby?”

“I’m okay. Still a little tired from the drive, but I got everything put away.”

“Good. Come on in. I need to get my handbag, and then we can go.”

He followed her inside and watched her walk down the short hallway to her bedroom and smiled, grateful that she had no lingering effects from the stroke she’d had a year after his parents’ deaths. He wandered over to the photos hanging on one wall of the living room. His heart clenched, seeing a picture of his parents that was taken at one of the lakes in town. Losing them had devastated him, but he’d kept his grief hidden in an effort to be strong for Andrea.

“I’m ready. I can’t wait to see what Serenity has on the menu tonight. Ooh, she can cook!”

“So I heard.” He could do this. It was just one dinner.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Serenity muttered under her breath about rude people as she cut the corn off the cob.

“Girl, you’ve been fussing since I got here,” Natasha said, taking plates from the cabinet. “What are you so upset about?”

She blew out a long breath. “While I was picking out corn at the grocery store, some guy came up to me and made a snippy comment about the corn being dried out because I pricked a kernel. I had accidentally squirted him in the eye and apologized, but after that remark, I wanted to squirt the entire ear in his face. Then he had the nerve to diss my cooking skills.”

“Whoa. Who was it?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never seen him before.” Living in a town with a population of just under two thousand, she knew pretty much everyone here. “Probably one of the employees from that new manufacturing company that recently opened right outside town.”