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“I heard that you’re the CEO of Vision Tech. How did you manage that at such a young age?”
Flattered, I open my mouth.
The old woman covers her own and makes a shocked sound. “Oh, wait. I’m sorry. I forgot. You don’t have to answer that.”
My eyebrows cinch together.
She pins her lips shut and offers me a nervous smile.
Weird.
I fiddle with my watch and take a seat around the counter. My intuition is screaming at me that there’s something I’m missing.
“Mama Moira, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Is… there some kind of rumor going around about me?”
She looks genuinely shocked. “What? What rumor?”
“It’s just that,” I gesture to the deck that we can see through the balcony doors, “everyone is acting strangely. They seem to be avoiding speaking to me.”
“Honey, isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Me?” I balk.
“Give me a minute.” She patters to the door. I watch the conversation stop and every eye turn attentively to her when she gets close.
She motions to her daughter.
Sunny Hastings leaves her husband’s side and follows her mother into the house.
Standing side-by-side, I can see the family resemblance. Although Sunny isn’t wearing her mother’s indigenous clothes and is much taller, she’s got a similar reddish-brown skin tone. Her hair is long, black and shiny and I could picture her rocking pig tails.
Sunny looks surprised to see me sitting in the kitchen. “What’s going on?”
“Nova wanted to know why everyone is being quiet around her.” Mama Moira plants a hand on her hip. “Sunny, didn’t you tell us our guest wanted to be left alone tonight?”
Sunny groans. “Mom.”
“Well? It’s the truth.”
“It’s okay.” I gesture to Darrel Hastings’ wife. “I’d like to know what happened. Who told you to leave me alone?”
Sunny chews on her bottom lip. “Adam said you’d been dealing with a lot today and that you were tired. He also said it was his idea to drag you here, even though you’d had a rough day. He asked if we could hold back on the usual interrogation.”
“Hold back?”
“I didn’t think anything strange of it when I saw you,” Mama Moira fills in. “You look like a quiet, private lady.”
I have no idea if that’s a compliment or not.
Fiddling with the salt container, I murmur, “So… Adam asked you to keep your distance from me?”
“Just for today,” Sunny rushes to clarify. “He wanted you to be comfortable and not get too overwhelmed.”
My head snaps up and I glance at Adam through the glass doors. The string lights are hanging low around the back deck. They cast a gentle glow on his head. He’s smiling at something Vanya is saying to him, his grin wide and endearing.
