Page 44 of Mr. Risky

“I am 100% single and available.”

“Well--good. I’d love to ask you out.”

Granger’s baby lay in my belly, a tiny growing bean.

“Why not now?” I said. “Let’s go somewhere now.”

Granger’s chair legs landed on the ground with a thump.

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea. Shouldn’t you be practicing? For the performance tomorrow?”

“I know my piece very well,” I said.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Yes,” Pippa said. “I too am wondering why you don’t think it’s a good idea for Hayden to take Sosie out?”

“I just don’t want her being harassed at work,” he said with concern in his voice.

“Oh, you fucker—it’s none of your business⁠—”

I stared down at my steak, trying to compose my face so I wouldn’t laugh out loud at Granger’s hypocrisy.

But even this melt-in-your-mouth steak made me feel ill.

“What’s wrong, Sosie? You aren’t eating your food,” Granger put in.

“I think I must’ve gotten food poisoning,” I said weakly, saliva gathering in my mouth.

“From what?” Pippa said sharply.

“If you had food poisoning, why are you the only one sick?” Granger asked, and I wanted to strangle him.

He was sitting here with that little smirk on his face like it was funny to taunt everybody else with what they didn’t know.

It was like he wanted to get caught. What the hell was wrong with him?

“I don’t know.”

“Well, why else would you be sick?”

Fucking bastard. My face was heating up even more now, and everyone was staring at me. Well, maybe it was time for a counteroffensive.

“I’d love to learn more about the local myths and urban legends,” I said into the silence, watching Granger. “I know there’s so much more local history than what we learned in school.”

“Now, that’s very interesting, young lady,” Chamberlain said, wiping his lips with a linen napkin. “There are many fascinating legends here, some of them even set around Hollingworth House.”

“What are they?” I said.

Granger was too slick to outwardly move a muscle, or even bat an eye, but at this I felt his fingers over my thigh, biting down angrily on it.

“Some say a pirate ship sunk near here—long ago. Back in the 18th century. They say the pirate ship was full of gold dubloons and jewels. A necklace with blood-red rubies as big as a man’s fist. They say some of that treasure washed up on shore, and the townspeople were able to hide it, but the ghosts of the dead pirates still roamed about, trying to find the treasure that was stolen. So the townspeople were forced to hide their ill-gotten gains further and further away, and in deeper and deeper places, to keep them safe from the bloody depredations of pirates!”

At the last word, he thumped on the table, making me jump, and everyone laughed heartily.

Was that what Granger was searching for?

Everyone at the table began to laugh and chatter about the story, swapping other stories about pirates and buried treasure.