accountability could definitely get into some trouble.
Not that she knew anything about disposable income. She’d never had it and doubted she ever would.
Anyway, Grant was still here. Possibly because Aiden and Dax and the others still needed overseeing. But how long was that going to go on? Aiden and Cam were almost thirty. Dax and Ollie were twenty-eight or -nine. Did they really need Grant looking over their shoulders indefinitely?
And if so, did he have to do it with Buttered Up muffins and scones in hand? Couldn’t he just go straight to the office in the morning? Oliver seemed to manage. He was the only one of the five partners who she’d only met a couple of times. Ollie didn’t make regular stops at Buttered Up. He survived.
Then again, his assistant, Piper, did come in regularly and took treats back for Ollie, so there was that. But surely Piper could get Grant’s scones too.
Now, though, Grant was showing up at Maggie’s for dinner too. That was way worse than the few minutes in the bakery. He’d been charming and sophisticated and polite and intelligent tonight. She assumed. She’d kind of tuned out a lot of the particulars of the conversation, but he’d smiled and laughed and made others smile and complimented Maggie, and in general, seemed like a really nice guy.
Great.
Hot and nice.
She really needed him to have a flaw. Or four.
No, just one. She could cling to one.
Like the hot-water-with-lemon thing. What was that? That wasn’t a real drink. At least not in the morning before starting the workday.
Yeah, that was a flaw. She could work with that.
That was good because she didn’t want to start avoiding Maggie’s dinners altogether, and she was not going to keep leaving early and missing dessert. Buttered Up bakery had been in the McCaffery family for three generations. These people knew how to bake. Plus, she really did love the camaraderie and fun of the dinners at the McCaffery house. Even with the lovey-dovey new couples who made her own romantic heart yearn for what they had.
Yes, she yearned. For love. She was the romantic of their group. Zoe had always been too picky to really fall in love, and Jane had been too busy to even entertain the idea of letting a guy into her life full time. Josie, on the other hand, had been wanting it to happen for… ever.
And now she’d had not one, but two, incredibly romantic moments with a guy who only wanted lemon slices—for hot water, for heaven’s sake—from her.
“Well, okay, honey,” Maggie said, still looking worried. “I could get you some hot water with lemon and honey.”
“No!” Okay, that was a definite overreaction. Hot water with lemon was not the problem here. Josie smiled. “No, I’m okay. I’m just going to head out.”
“All right. But text me tomorrow and tell me how you are.”
Maggie leaned over and kissed the top of Josie’s head. Josie did feel cared for with the gesture. Maggie had been like a second mom to her all her life. She and Zoe had been best friends since first grade. Josie’s own mom and dad lived about fourteen blocks from here, but she loved Maggie and Steve dearly.
“Okay,” she promised Maggie. Her smile was much less forced this time.
As Maggie moved away, Josie’s gaze drifted to her best friend, sitting a few seats down.
Zoe was looking at her with an eyebrow up. Yeah, Zoe wasn’t falling for it. They worked together long hours every single day. Zoe had known Josie most of her life. They’d shared all their secrets. Zoe knew that Josie was fine. At least physically. And she was going to want to know what was going on.
So far, it had gone mostly unnoticed that Josie wasn’t talking much or paying attention to the conversation. That was one positive about having Dax Marshall around. He could talk to anyone about anything and made it a personal mission to have everyone laughing and enjoying themselves no matter the occasion. She swore that he could make a root canal fun. But she should have been doing a better job eating. A too-full plate would not go unnoticed at Maggie’s table.
“You’re sick?” Jane asked, pulling Josie’s attention to her other best friend as Maggie and Steve carried dishes out of the dining room. “I saw you eat the last piece of carrot cake in three bites and chug a cup of coffee just before we came over here.”