Hidden Deep (26 page)

“That’s good. I’m glad. You deserve to be happy.”

“I am happy.” She yawned widely, her eyelids droopy, though she still wore a sappy smile.

“Okay, I’ll let you get to bed. See you in the morning.” I closed her door and went to the kitchen, still shaking my head over the change in her.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the vial of saol water, the parting gift from my own amazing guy. Just holding it made me feel close to him while making me lonely for him at the same time. I was eager to find out how using the saol water in my sweet tea recipe would work.

I stayed up way too late, experimenting. Naturally, I sampled it as I went, and I had to admit, it tasted pretty unbelievable. Since the only thing that had changed was the substitution of saol water for sugar, I had to give the Elven sugar-making hotties their due.

For a while now, I’d been toying with the idea of taking a sample over to the manager at the Food Star grocery. Maybe now was the right time. With some luck and my new secret ingredient, I might be able to sell my tea there and help us inch out of the financial abyss.

Tuesday morning, I got up and dressed early. I planned to take a few gallon jugs of tea to the store before Grandma needed her car for the day. On the way I’d drop one off at The Skillet for Dory. She didn’t have me on the schedule until tomorrow, but she was always eager for a sweet tea delivery.

When I walked into the kitchen, Mom and Grandma were already at the table, having breakfast and sampling the tea I’d left out for them.

“Ryann, this last batch is the best yet,” Mom effused. “I’ve always said your tea was something special, but this… don’t you think so, Momma?”

She looked over at Grandma Neena, who didn’t answer. Grandma had closed her eyes after taking a sip, held it in her mouth, and finally swallowed. Then she opened her eyes and stared at me with such intensity I started feeling uncomfortable.

“Are you okay, Grandma? Does it taste all right?”

She waited another long moment then seemed to snap out of it. “Oh yes, honey. It’s wonderful,” she replied, once again the same twinkly warm Grandma I knew.

But when I sneaked a glance back at her while heading out the door, Grandma was staring after me, and the probing look was back in her eyes.

At The Skillet I gave Dory the tea and chatted with Emmy, whose breakfast shift was a little slow this morning.

She dragged me over to an empty corner, whispering, “So,
what
is going on with you? We didn’t hear a peep from you out at the lake. And I can’t believe you turned down the Atlanta trip. I would die for a little ‘city time’—any chance to get out of this po-dunk place. So, let’s have it.”

“What? There’s nothing to tell. I just needed some down time. I was…”

She wasn’t buying it. At all. Her hands came to her hips, one eyebrow practically grazing her hairline.

“Okay—I was with someone,” I confessed.

“I knew it!” Her squeal nearly took the roof off the diner. She looked around at the gawking patrons and lowered her voice. “Who is it? Do I know him? It’s Nox, isn’t it? Y’all are like, secret luvahs—I knew it.” She giggled and slapped the counter next to her.

“What? No.” I shook my head in irritation. “It’s somebody else. But… I can’t tell you who.”

She leaned in eagerly. “Why? Is he like, really old? Is he in
college
?”

I was shocked to find myself wanting to talk about Lad. Emmy and I had had so many conversations enumerating the glorious qualities of Jake McKee, and Lad was the closest thing I’d ever had to a serious boyfriend. Couldn’t I tell her just a bit? Change a few details, withhold the critical stuff, gush about his perfection for a minute?

The eager look on Emmy’s face made me giggle. I made her promise complete and absolute secrecy before agreeing to say anything.

“He’s
not
old. He’s perfect. Beyond cute—the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen. And he’s sweet and he reads a lot. Remember the guy I told you about a few weeks ago? The home-schooler?”

More gleeful laughter and squealing from Emmy was accompanied by an ecstatic little tippy-toe dance. I doubted she was ever this excited on Christmas morning. “Oh my God—Hot Geek Alert! You are
so
lucky. I never meet anyone new.”

“But listen—I haven’t told
anyone
about him. I don’t even know if we’re… dating or whatever, and my mom will flip if she hears I’ve been seeing someone she hasn’t even met. You have to promise not to say anything. To
anyone
.”

Emmy’s face took on all the solemnity of a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party as she attempted to convince me of her trustworthiness. “I won’t. I promise.” She gave me the zippered lips signal and then a huge grin.

I was really glad I hadn’t revealed more.

She gripped my forearm. “Well, now I have some news to tell
you
. Get ready for it… guess who got into Vallon’s fan pod?” She let out a scream. “I’m leaving for L.A. July first. One month. Can you believe it? I’m
in
.”

Every good feeling left my body in a rush. “Oh no, Emmy. You really shouldn’t do that.”

Her smile melted into an offended frown. “Hey, not fair. I know you’re not into the whole celebrity thing, but don’t be a snob.”

“It’s not that. It’s… I don’t think you really know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Yes I
do
. You said it yourself—nobody knows more about this stuff than I do. This is what I want, Ryann. More than anything I’ve ever wanted. I was happy for you—why can’t you be happy for me?”

I
couldn’t
be happy for her, and I couldn’t tell her why. I left the restaurant eaten up with worry. Maybe Lad could help me keep Emmy out of that fan pod where she’d be glamoured and used by a Dark Elf. I needed him—right now. How was I supposed to wait until Friday to see him?

What could I say to persuade her?
I suddenly wished for a bit of glamour of my own. “It’s just… Los Angeles is so far away. And how do you know you’ll be happy there?”

She lifted her chin, her eyes hard and defensive. “I
don’t
know—I
believe
. It’s fine if you want to live a bottled-up life Ryann, but I’m going to go with my gut. And I’d appreciate it if you’d stop trying to bring me down.”

“I’m sorry.”

We stared at each other, both troubled.

“Well, I have to go. We’ll talk about it more later.”

“Let’s not,” I heard Emmy mutter behind me as I walked to the diner’s exit door.

When I reached my car, Nox called out to me from the sidewalk—on his way to The Skillet, no doubt.

“Hey, where you going? Want to have some breakfast?” He smiled at me as if it had been months since we’d seen each other instead of only days.

“No thanks,” I said, still a little distracted. “I’m on my way to Food Star.”

He joined me beside the car and opened the driver’s side door for me. “You need groceries?”

“No. I’m not shopping. I’ll be attempting to
dazzle
the manager with my tea-brewing skills.”

“Well, that shouldn’t be hard. I’ve tasted it. It’s great. But why?”

“We need a serious cash flow increase at my house. Dory’s been great, but if I could get more customers, I could help my mom a little more.”

I climbed into the car, and Nox shut the door for me. He leaned into the open window. “Let me come with you. I’ll go in and testify on your behalf. I can be very persuasive, you know.” He grinned wickedly at me.

“Oh, I know,” I said dryly. “But that’s okay. If I’m going to attempt to be a businesswoman, I guess I should do this all by my big-girl self.”

“Well, at least give me a lift over there. I need to do a little shopping, too. And you
owe
me a ride.”

“Really? Okay then. Get in.”

Nox sat in the passenger seat and moved it all the way back, but his legs still looked cramped. I’d never thought of Grandma’s car as small. Nox had a way of dwarfing everything around him.

As we drove across town, he asked, “How was your holiday weekend?”

“Quiet.” An understatement, considering I’d spent it in a place where no one spoke out loud. “But it was good. What about yours?”

“Great—but why was yours quiet? You didn’t get to do much in Atlanta?”

I glanced over and saw his puzzled half-smile. Training my eyes back on the road, I considered how to answer. “I… didn’t go after all. I decided to stay here.”

“What? If I’d known you were around, we could have hung out. So what did you do the whole time?”

“Um… spent a lot of time in the woods. I guess I just needed to be alone.”
With my beautiful boyfriend, who, as it turns out, is an Elf.

There wasn’t much about the past few days I could share with Nox, or Emmy, or Mom, or any other human being for that matter. Nox’s smile had disappeared. I guessed he was hurt I’d chosen to spend the weekend “alone” rather than spend any time with him.

“Okaaay…” He dragged out the word, sounding a little surly. No doubt he believed we still weren’t quite as “fine” as I’d said we were. “Will you be continuing your exclusive love affair with nature this week, or do you think you could squeeze me in to your busy botany schedule at some point?”

I pulled the car into a spot in front of Food Star and put it in park, turning to face him in the front seat. “Hey—don’t be mad.” I tried to appease him. “It’s nothing personal. I didn’t see any of my other friends, either.”

His expression brightened, his usual humor returning. “All right, I’ll overlook your cruel standoffishness… as long as you agree to let me whisk you away later today for a play date.”

“Sure. Well, we’re here. I guess I’d better do this thing.” On the short drive to the Food Star my confidence had faded, and now my stomach felt like a Jell-O Wiggler. “That is
if
I can speak without my voice shaking.”

Nox started to say something, but my cell phone rang and interrupted him.

“It’s Dory,” I said, looking at the screen. “I just saw her and dropped off some tea—mind if I answer it?”

“No. Go ahead.”

“Hello? Dory?”

I had to pull the phone away from my ear as her excited voice came through a few decibels too loudly. “Girl… what on God’s green Earth did you put in that sweet tea?”

My heart dropped. “Why? What happened? Did somebody get sick?”

Her cackling laughter hurt my eardrum. “Heavens, no. We sold out already. Once the first customer tasted it, my counter was basically mobbed until the jug ran dry. I hope you’re ready to get to work tomorrow
and
bring your secret recipe.”

“Yes, I am—I will,” I told her, feeling dazed, “See you in the morning, Dory.”

It hadn’t been my imagination or my mother’s flattery. The tea really was better. I felt even more hopeful my sales pitch would be successful.

Opening my car door, I looked over at Nox. “Wish me luck.”

He opened his own door and got out, grabbing the tea containers from the floorboard. “I’ll do you one better—I’ll carry the jugs inside for you. Come on.”

Inside Food Star the woman at the customer service counter paged the manager for me while I stood shifting my weight from foot to foot, listening to Karen Carpenter explain why rainy days and Mondays always got her down. My mom had always loved that song for some reason.

Instead of going off to do his shopping, Nox insisted on waiting with me. I was about to shoo him away when a thin, buttoned-down guy appeared at the service counter. He was younger than I’d expected. Still managerial, though.

“Hello. I’m Heath Marston. What can I do for you today, Miss…?”

“Carroll. Ryann Carroll.” I’d never made any kind of sales presentation before. My palms were wet and my tongue was dry.
What the heck am I doing here?
With a quick, panicked glance in Nox’s direction, I opened my mouth and started my speech, trying to make my product sound as appealing as possible. And yes, my voice was shaky.

“I make a specialty sweet tea I’ve been supplying it to The Skillet for a few weeks now. I’m expanding my business, and I’d like to give you the opportunity to carry my product line in your store.”

Mr. Marston’s eyebrows shot up, followed by a bemused smile. “Well, Miss Carroll, we already carry several brands of tea.”

“Yes, I realize that. But mine is different—secret recipe. You could carry it as a local gourmet brand. Maybe you could try it and see what you think? Please?” No decent Southern gentleman could refuse the double whammy of a potent feminine smile and a “please.”

Apparently Heath Marston hadn’t brushed up on the unwritten rules of Southern chivalry. “I’m sorry, Miss Carroll, but this is not—”

Nox hefted the jugs to the countertop, plunking them in front of the manager. He stared down at the shorter man, but he was smiling, as usual. “You
really
want to try this stuff, sir. Believe me—you won’t regret it.”

The manager lifted one of the tea containers and looked back to me. “All right, young lady. I’ll give this a taste and get back to you.”

It was hard to contain my excitement. Inside I was doing a victory dance, complete with fist-pump. “Thank you sir. My number’s taped on the containers. I hope you like it.”