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Finally, giving up on the nachos, she decided she was more in the mood for coffee and a cookie than nachos and booze. She left a twenty-dollar bill, most of the nachos, and half her drink and ran next door.
“Hey, Kate,” Lucy greeted. “You just missed Adam.”
The look on her face must have been clear because Lucy laughed and said, “I guess that’s a good thing?”
“For now,” Kate said. “I never should have let Lizzie talk me into any sort of other-than-business relationship with him.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
“Nah. I just came for a cookie and a latte. Is that Nana?”
“Yeah. Adam introduced her to the three this morning, and now they’re apparently best buddies.”
“Oh, geez.” Kate laughed. “What could go wrong?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Adam drove to Kate’s office, still shaking his head at the reaction of the three old coots. Apparently, a good-looking woman could still get them riled up. When he arrived at Kate’s office, Brooke was in deep conversation with two coworkers. They stood next to a huge, beautiful bouquet of flowers. Balloons came out of the bunch, one announcing “It’s a girl” and the other saying “Congratulations.” Brooke held a small white card in her hand.
“Hey, Brooke,” Adam greeted. “Congratulations. I didn’t know you were expecting.”
“I’m not,” Brooke said.
“Oh.” Adam turned to the other women, Hope and Molly, if he remembered correctly. They both shook their heads.
“They came for Kate this morning,” Brooke said.
“Kate’s pregnant?” Adam stammered. All three women shrugged.
“If she is, it’s news to us,” Brooke said. “She called to say she took an early lunch but should be back soon.” Right as she said it, Kate’s BMW whipped into one of the front parking spots. She looked as put together as ever—not a hair out of place, clothes all pressed—but had a frazzled feel to her. He couldn’t help but look at her stomach—still flat.
A gush of hot air came into the building when she entered, carrying Luna’s purse and her satchel. “Man, it’s getting hot out. Ooh, pretty flowers.” She looked up, read the balloons, and freaked. “Aaah, who’s pregnant? This is so exciting.” She set Luna and her stuff on the front counter and approached, arms outstretched, looking between the women, clearly waiting for them to indicate who she should hug.
“Uh, Kate. The flowers came for you,” Molly said.
Kate’s arms fell to her sides, and her eyes narrowed. “What? Well, that makes no sense. I’m not pregnant.”
Adam released a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.
“You’re not?” Hope said.
“Pretty sure I’d be the first to know,” Kate said.
“Why would someone go to all this trouble? As a joke? It’s not even funny, and these flowers probably cost fifty bucks,” Molly said.
“Hold on,” Hope said. “I wonder if this has to do with the rumor I heard about you retiring. I meant to ask you about it. Cindy from the old brokerage said someone told her you were getting out of the business this year.”
“Why would anyone say that?” Kate asked. “I’m barely thirty and have no intention of retiring. And I’ve never said anything remotely like that to anyone.”
“Maybe to hurt your business?” Adam said. “If someone thinks you’re retiring, or pregnant, or retiring because you’re pregnant, why would they want to hire you?”
All heads swiveled to him, and all mouths fell open.
“You really think someone’s trying to sabotage the business?” Kate said.
“Oh, man,” Hope said. “I just thought of something else. We’ve had a few real estate signs vandalized in the last couple of weeks. I didn’t think much of it, figured it was punk kids messing around or something, so I just had them replaced. But what if that’s something too?”
“You don’t think Stella is still messing with me, do you?” Kate said to Adam. “I mean, how far will she go? Maybe I should have gotten that restraining order.”
