Page 64 of The False Flat

“Would you like to come in?” I asked, stepping aside and unintentionally pressing my arm against Grant’s, who had stepped onto the porch with me since he and . . . Devina? seemed to be old friends. I didn’t pull it back right away, and he didn’t move.

“No, thank you. Appreciate it, though. Maybe another time, but Pen, can I speak to you a moment?” Devina motioned me toward her, and I stepped down the front steps. Once Grant had moved back inside and I was close enough, she took my hand in hers, squeezing with intention. I’d originally seen her as a nosy four, but she was definitely an eleven, two lines side by side, neighbors with something invisible connecting them in between. “Wanted to apologize for not being more neighborly. Tend to keep to myself, but glad you moved in, and I’m here for you if you need me. Should’ve said that before, but saying it now.”

She put her hand up to her throat and nodded, which I assumed meant she needed to stop talking.

“Thank you,” I said. “That means a lot. And thank you for the lemonade. That was very thoughtful.”

“Owed Grant. He makes a divine green tea.”

She started to back away and wave, so I quickly said, “Please let me know if you need anything.”

She nodded, waved again, and headed for her house.

Grant handed me lemonade in a glass I didn’t recognize when I stepped back inside. “Where did this glass come from?”

“Umm. I bought them,” Deanna said. “You can’t drink everything out of mugs.”

“I have glasses!”

She rolled her eyes. “This lemonade is magical. That was so sweet of your neighbor.”

I nodded. “You know that’s my first time actually speaking to her?”

“She’s a sweet lady,” Grant said. “She’s survived throat cancer on her own. She and her family had a falling-out. They don’t speak.”

“Wow, I didn’t know.”

“How do you know this, Grant?” Deanna asked.

“She talked to me and Grant outside,” William chimed in. “Sounds like she’s had a rough life.” He turned to me. “She’s been worried about you, too, a single woman in this area, so she’s been keeping an eye out. Apparently the neighborhood’s nice, but occasionally there’s an incident, especially during Titans season.”

“Proximity to downtown,” Grant said, nodding.

Erin started talking about her grandparents and some gunshot incident, and I probably should’ve been listening, but I was thinking about Devina and how I’d inadvertently misjudged her. She’d been looking out for me, and I’d assumed she was being nosy.

The conversation bounced from neighborhood safety to something called the Color Wheel, an upcoming cycling event, and then William, Deanna, and Grant stood to leave.

“They’re really nice people,” Erin said after I’d closed the door. “So you and Grant are a thing?”

“What? Why would you ask that?” I threw my hand out in an effort to appear casual and slapped it into the wall.

Her smile was devious. “Oh.”

“What?” I attempted to cross my arms but, forgetting how to configure them, gave up and let them flop by my sides like an ape.

“Nothing. It’s just that—”

“Grant has a girlfriend!” My voice had gone too high. I toned it down, brought it back to casual. “We’re friends. He’s that way with everyone.”

“He wasn’t with Deanna.”

What was wrong with her? “Deanna is his sister.”

“I see.” She was smiling again, like she knew something I didn’t. “I probably shouldn’t say anything, but I know when someone likes someone else. It’s a gift. And, he may not know it yet, but Grant likes you. He looks at you like he can’t get enough. So!” She clasped her hands together and looked around as if she hadn’t just ruined my life. “I can’t wait to see what you’ve done with the place.”

She scooped Hulk into her arms, and we moved in and out of rooms that had embarrassingly not changed all that much, while I tried not to freak out.

CHAPTER 25