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“You need to talk to Piper,” she declares, then hurries off towards the office.
As Mia disappears from view, I take a deep breath. I’ll have to find Piper later and get more information on the situation.
I do a full turn and see the person I was just thinking about. Gizmo is nestled in her arms, eagerly trying to break free. “What’s going on?” she asks me.
Gizmo continues to wiggle in Piper’s arms.
I reach out to pet the sweet pup, “I overheard something that I probably wasn’t supposed to.”
“Oh?” Piper looks curious as Gizmo licks my face. “You overhead something?” she asks.
“I was—” I glance around nervously as I stroke Gizmo’s fur to calm him down. “Well, I heard Mia talking to someone about needing a new space for a bakery. I know it’s not my place to get involved.”
“I know that—” She stops as her cell phone vibrates in her hand. “I have to take this,” she says, not finishing the statement as the phone gets put to her ear.
An uneasy feeling settles over me, and I make a mental note to talk to my grandfather as soon as possible. I assume that he and Nolan might have made other choices with some of the other properties, but I can’t imagine them evicting Piper—this whole plan started with her. So why are they searching for a new space? Perhaps they are expanding and opening a second location? But Piper would have mentioned that, wouldn’t she? Or are they relocating entirely? Did Gene and I do something to upset her?
“I have to go,” Piper says, moving toward me to take Gizmo back.
“If something’s wrong, I want to help,” I try to press the matter with her.
She looks directly into my eyes, and for a moment, it seems like she might open up to me. But then, in the blink of an eye, her defenses are back up. It only strengthens my suspicion that something is going on that I’m not aware of.
“Piper,” I say, placing my hand on her arm. “If you—”
“Caleb,” she cuts me off then sighs. “Please just drop it. You’re here for such a short time, I don’t want us to fight or to cause any problems. I have it under control,” she finishes with a fake smile that doesn’t fool me.
Then, without another word, she heads out the door.
“Was that Piper?” Mia whispers from behind me.
“Yeah,” I frown as I turn to her, “she said she had to go.”
“She’ll be back for the rush,” Mia reassures me before returning to work.
My shoulders slump as I gather my things. A walk seems like the only solution to clearing my head and understanding how to handle women. It’s a skill I wish was in my arsenal right now.
A few minutes later, I join my grandfather at the park. He’s sitting on his usual bench feeding the ducks. I am supposed to meet him here in a bit, but he doesn’t even bat an eye that I’m early.
“I have a question about women,” I tell him as he lets out a sigh and shoots me a curious side-eye.
“I don’t know if I’ll have any productive answers for you,” he says. “I think women are God’s way of driving men crazy. You can never predict who you’ll fall for, and once you do, you’ll do anything to make her happy. And when she finds herself headed home,” he points up with a finger, “ahead of you, all you can do is wait with bated breath to be by her side again.”
“And what happens if you make her mad—so mad she won’t even talk to you?”
“Then you grovel,” Grandad says with a serious tone. “Find out her favorite candy or perfume, or maybe even buy her a car?”
“I don’t think Piper needs any of that,” I tell him and shake my head. “I really thought you could help.”
“Son,” he pats my knee with his hand, “if I had women figured out, I would be a lot wealthier and have far fewer grey hairs. Do you know where things went wrong?”
“Not a clue,” I murmur, thinking back to the interaction with Piper.
“And yet, you feel compelled to fix it still?”
“Yeah. Weird right? I’ve only known this woman for a short time, but her happiness and opinion mean a lot to me,” I tell him. “Hey, has anything changed about the fund? Or any issues with her lease?”
“No, we haven’t finalized anything yet, but Nolan is working with the legal team to get everything ready for that. Why do you ask?”
