“Oh.” I frown again, shaking my head. “Nothing. Just checking my texts.”
“Looking for something from Noah?”
I notice Gran’s expression is smug, and I roll my eyes. “You are way too invested in this.”
“Is it so bad to want my granddaughter to be happy?”
“I am happy,” I stress. “Meeting Noah hasn’t had any effect on that.”
The coffeepot beeps, signaling it’s done, and Gran purses her lips as she gives her attention back to it. “Tell that to your phone,” she tuts. “Haven’t ever seen you so glued to it before.”
I could dodge the question, and that’s probably what I should do—but Gran already thinks that this whole thing is real. Maybe it wouldn’t be a big deal to get some advice.
“Is it weird when someone suddenly stops texting you as much?”
Gran turns to hand me a mug, setting it in front of me. “What do you mean?”
“I just . . .” I blow out a breath. “It’s not a big deal or anything, but Noah usually texts me back pretty quickly. Like, annoyingly quick, even, but . . . I don’t know. He’s been sort of radio silent for the last couple of days.”
“Did you two get into a fight?”
“No?” I think back to the last time I saw him. Sure, the whole debacle with him mentioning dinner with his mother and me having a whole-ass moment about it was uncomfortable, but I’d been pretty sure it was only me who had felt that. Noah had seemed oblivious to my inner turmoil. “He said he was tired last night. Maybe he just had a bad day and I’m reading too much into it.”
When I look up again, Gran is beaming, and I sense I’ve said too much.
“Don’t,” I say before she can start.
She shrugs, still smiling. “I’m just saying—it seems like you really like Noah.”
“Well, I . . .” I’m not sure how to navigate this conversation, knowing that Gran thinks this whole thing is real, and I struggle to find the right words. “I mean . . . he’s a nice guy. We get along really well.”
Gran takes a slow sip from her mug, thoughtfully eyeing me over the rim. She makes a satisfied sound when she swallows her coffee, staring at me for a long few seconds as she considers.
Eventually, it makes me squirm. She only gives me this look when she is about to scold me. “What?”
“I’m just wondering how much longer I have to pretend that I don’t know you’ve been trying to pull one over on me.”
My mouth falls open in surprise. “Wha—What do you mean?”
“Mackenzie,” Gran says, not looking upset but instead almost amused. “Have you forgotten that I raised you through the teen years? I might as well have a PhD in reading your lying face.”
I feel at a loss; there’s no way I could have prepared myself to be cornered by five-foot-three Moira Carter. In fact, I had been so certain that we were getting away with it, the possibility of telling her the truth hadn’t even crossed my mind.
“How long have you known?”
“Since you brought him over,” she says matter-of-factly.
I feel myself reeling. “How could you tell?”
“Honey,” she laughs. “The man didn’t even know you were an omega. His eyes got as big as saucers when I mentioned it.”
“I . . . Shit. Why have you let us go on like we have?”
Gran chuckles. “Because I could tell you liked each other. Even if you didn’t know it yet.”
“You could?”
“The both of you were sneaking glances every other second like you couldn’t help it. Seemed like the two of you were so deep in your lie you couldn’t even make out the truth of it.”
I consider that. Sure, at that point there had been attraction between us; I practically begged him up to my apartment that night, after all, but I can’t imagine that there had been anything deeper than that so early on in our ruse, right?
“I don’t know,” I sigh. “It’s still probably way too early to read much into it. We’ve been on one real date.”
“Well, you did spend your heat together.”
I almost spit up the sip of coffee I’ve just taken. “How in the hell do you know that?”
“Oh, Parker told me,” she says casually.
I close my eyes, pressing my lips together. “I’m going to kill him.”
“Oh, hush. He was worried about you. You were so off schedule!”