“Exactly. Yes. I knew you’d feel that way!”
“Well, I mean…wouldn’t anybody? It’s a nice thing for her to do. A big commitment, I’d imagine.”
“Yes. Exactly. So much work to be done.”
Luna was beginning to get a hint of where the conversation was headed, and felt a pit form in her belly. There was already so much on her plate. How could she fit even more?
She decided to just play dumb until the last possible moment. “Yeah, I bet there is,” she agreed brightly, as if all of that work had absolutely nothing to do with her, no-siree-bob.
Grandma Grace raised her eyebrows and tilted her head forward in a very particular way she had, and all of a sudden, Luna was ten years old again. “Sorry, Grandma,” she rushed to apologize, “I meant, what does she need done? How can I help?”
Grandma Grace smiled. “Good girl. That’s what I thought you meant. Now, as far as what she needs, why don’t you give her a call and ask her? But I think a good idea to propose would be providing some food from the diner. That’s kind of like those what-do-you-call-’ems that you’ve been trying to convince us we need to do. Promotions. Right?”
Wow. A one-two punch. Not only would Luna be doing good for the community, she would also be helping promote her grandparents’ business. There was no way she could say no.
What she hadn’t figured out yet was why Grandma Grace was acting so sneaky about the whole thing. What wasn’t she saying? What was the catch. Luna couldn’t figure it out.
“And just think,” her grandmother said, going back to the blasé tone that she’d started the conversation using, “You’ll have so much time to spend with Connor, since he’s the one helping you run the diner.”
Luna nodded, suppressing the wry smile that wanted to come to her lips. Her grandmother was so many things. Kind. Big-hearted. Well-intentioned. But one thing she wasn’t, and would never be, was smooth. And Luna liked it that way.