“No. She doesn’t. She likes you. She likes you a lot.” Which meant that Cora was already picking out china patterns. “She understands that you’re trying to help your parents’ marriage, and she won’t rat you out, but she thinks you’ve overcomplicated things.”

Which was the fucking understatement of the year as far as Grady was concerned.

Brittle laughter punctuated the air. “Cora is a wise woman.”

They stood staring at each other for long moments. Suzanne looked miserable, and no matter how much of it was of her own making and how she’d caught him up in this web of lies, Grady felt strangely protective of her. She was a screwup, but right now, whether he wanted it or not, she was his screwup, and the urge to cross the room and pull her into his arms and tell her it’d be okay was almost overwhelming.

Which made him want to run in the other direction. “I’m going to work in the office for a while.” He knew they should probably talk about last night, but dealing with being a fake baby daddy along with a fake boyfriend had been more than enough for one day.

“Oh—” She took a step toward him. “Don’t you want something to eat? I made meatloaf.”

Grady shook his head. “Cora fed me.”

He didn’t wait for her acknowledgment, just headed in the direction of the arch. He only had two days to make plans before the weather came in. Suzanne was a big girl who could entertain herself.

He hadn’t quite reached the arch when her voice—quiet, almost plaintive—asked, “Who’s Bethany?”

The question stopped him in his tracks. A niggle started in his chest as he slowly turned to find her watching him, her teeth digging into her bottom lip. “Who told you about Bethany?”

“Cora mentioned her in passing. I got the impression you and she used to be an item.”

His aunt—of course. He supposed it was better from her than a gossipy member of the Credence community, but he’d rather not go there at all. “Yes.”

She stared at him as if she thought he was going to elaborate, but she was wrong. He didn’t talk about Bethany to anyone, and frankly, he didn’t understand why he hadn’t just kept on walking.

“Were you married to her?”

“No. I’ve never been married.”

“So she was what…a girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“She must have been significant for Cora to have mentioned her?”

“She was.” She’d been his only girlfriend.

“What happened? Did you break up? It must have been bad, because there’s nothing of her here at all. Not a photo or anything even remotely girlie.”

“There’s Zoom.”

Suzanne glanced at the tank to Grady’s right. “Zoom was Bethany’s?”

“No. She gave him to me as a birthday present.”

“For which birthday?”