“One of the many reasons I love this town.” He smiled at her and sipped at his water.
She smiled back, though she felt a pang of sorrow deep inside. Russell not only loved the town, but his family was here. His friends. She’d been starting to play with a foolish notion about asking him to come down to Florida. Maybe for a visit or maybe for more.
“Have you figured out what to do about Emma yet?”
Cat sighed. “No. But if I don’t do something, we’re going to part ways with this silliness between us and I don’t want that.”
“You’re still planning to give her the house?”
“Definitely. John and I both wanted her to have it, and that was before she grew up and made it her home.” She took a bite of her salad, at a loss as to what to do.
“You said she got upset at the Fourth of July barbeque when you mentioned giving it to her as a wedding gift. Have you mentioned it again?”
“No. That day I thought she was on the verge of confessing everything and we didn’t want that. We meaning Mary Kowalski and I. We wanted Sean and Emma to have a little more time together.”
He nodded as though it all made perfect sense to him. “But now the time’s running out anyway.”
“Maybe I’ll push her on the subject tomorrow. I need to see a lawyer about it anyway, so I might as well start the process before I go home.”
“And you think she’ll confess?”
“I don’t think she’ll accept the house as a wedding gift knowing it’s a lie. I know she won’t.”
He toyed with the mashed potatoes on his plate, dragging his fork through them in a grid pattern. “And what are you hoping will happen between her and Sean when that happens?”
That was a harder question to answer. “I’m hoping that, when faced with going their separate ways, they’ll both realize they don’t want to do that. And maybe they’ll go on as they are now, only they won’t be pretending.”
“They do seem like a nice couple.”
“They really are good together, though I’m not sure they see it.” She chuckled. “Leave it to my granddaughter to accidentally choose her Mr. Right to be her fake fiancé.”
Chapter Nineteen
Even with her alarm turned off, Emma was up at the crack of dawn. They weren’t working these last three days before Gram flew back to Florida, so she slid out of bed without waking Sean and threw on her boxers and T-shirt.
Not surprisingly, Gram was already up. There were no signs of breakfast yet, but she told Emma she’d brewed a pot of coffee along with making her tea, so Emma poured a cup and sat down at the table.
“I can’t believe we only have three days left,” she said after the first bracing sip.
“I know. And I’ll miss you, honey. You know I will, but I miss being there. My friends and all my activities.”
Emma smiled. “I’m glad, Gram. You know I miss you, too, but it’s great that you have all that in your life.”
“Before I go, I’m going to go into town and talk to a lawyer about giving you the house.”
The little bit of coffee she’d gotten into her stomach did a slow roll. “I told you I want to buy it from you, fair and square. We’ll get a fair market value for it and then you can sell it to me.”
“That’s ridiculous. It’s a gift.”
“I don’t feel right about that. And it’ll be good for my business to build credit.”
Gram snorted. “Then you buy a new truck and lease a tractor or something. You don’t buy an old farmhouse. My mind’s made up, Emma.”
Crap. Once she said that, it was over. But there was no way she would let Gram give her the house without knowing the truth. She stared down into her coffee for a minute, and then took a deep breath. They’d almost made it, but it was time.
“It’s all a lie, Gram. All of it. There’s not going to be a wedding.”
There. Now it was done and the entire month had been for nothing. Now her grandmother would be angry and maybe sell the house to a stranger anyway. And Sean would have no reason to stay. She wasn’t sure which hurt more.
“Maybe you should explain yourself.”
“I made up a boyfriend so you’d stop being so nervous about me being alone. Sean’s name just kind of popped out. He was still in the army until a month or so ago. And I met him for the first time four days before you arrived, when I knocked on his door and asked him to pretend to be my fiancé.”
Gram actually chuckled. “That must have been an interesting conversation.”
Emma was confused. The very last reaction she expected from her grandmother was amusement. She’d been hoping and praying it wouldn’t fracture their relationship beyond repair. Laughter wasn’t something she’d anticipated.
“You’re not upset?” She looked into the older woman’s eyes and reluctantly recognized the truth. “You already knew.”
“Of course I knew. Couples who’ve lived together for a year are comfortable with each other. There’s familiarity. I could tell as soon as I got off the plane you and Sean didn’t have that.”