In Too Deep (Grayton Series Book 4) Read Free

seen her do before. Mrs. Mette had always kept a very keen eye on her movements when she was there, almost like she didn’t trust her to not steal anything or, worse, drop something and make a mess.
    “Is everything all right?” she asked, turning to the older woman when she noticed a sad look cross her eyes.
    The woman glanced back at her and then blinked a few times. “Yes, of course it is.” She straightened her shoulders and Missy saw that she was back to her old self. She turned back to the task at hand.
    “Are you married?” Mrs. Mette asked out of the blue.
    For the six and a half years that Missy had been delivering this woman’s groceries, she’d never asked her a personal question. Until now.
    “No.” She frowned as she put away the last can of tomato soup. Then she turned towards Mrs. Mette.
    “Have you ever been?” The older woman had her arms crossed over her chest and was leaning back on the marble counter-tops.
    Missy shook her head, unsure of what had brought on the line of questioning. Sure, she was friendly with most of the customers she delivered for. Most of them knew her life story and she knew theirs. It wasn’t as if she’d been hiding anything from anyone. A deep feeling in her gut made its way to her heart and she felt it skip a beat. Okay, maybe just a few things.
    “Why?” She set the empty box back onto her cart and glanced at the older woman again. The woman sighed and glanced out of the window once more.
    “It’s hard.” Her eyes moved towards Missy’s. “Living alone. Being alone all the time.” She shook her head and Missy thought she saw a tear pool in the corner of her eye before she turned her head to look back out towards the water. “We’re not meant for it.”
    “Mrs. Met—”
    “Ruth.” The woman turned towards her. “You’ve been delivering my groceries for how many years?”
    Missy blinked. “A little over six.”
    “And in all that time, you have never once been unkind to me or shown me anything but respect. You should be able to call me by my first name. Ruth.”
    Missy nodded and smiled. “Ruth, are you sure everything is all right?”
    Ruth smiled and nodded. “Your first name is Missy, correct?” Missy nodded. “Missy, do me a favor…”
    Missy’s heart sank as she thought about making another trip back to the mainland to grab an item Ruth had forgotten.
    “Don’t let life pass you by without letting someone into your life. Someone who’ll love you.” She turned her head and looked out the window again. “Someone to be there in the silence of the night and hold you tight.”
    When Ruth’s eyes moved back to hers, Missy nodded. There was a knot deep in her throat, which she tried to swallow the entire trip back to Dog’s Landing.
    When she walked through the door of the store almost an hour later, she heard Jenny laughing in the back room. Walking towards the sound, she stopped cold when she saw the back of a man’s head, leaning over her employee.
    “Oh!” she exclaimed and started to turn away. She’d never seen Jenny involved with anyone before, even though she knew the girl had in the past had a few boyfriends.
    “Wait.” Jenny rushed after her. “It’s not like it looked.” She giggled. “Roman was just…”
    Nothing else Jenny said could get past the loud ringing she heard in her ears.
    Roman.
    Roman.
    She’d just been thinking about her Roman, thanks to the conversation with Ruth.
    She blinked a few times when Jenny’s fingers dug into her shoulders. Then her hearing returned.
    “Are you okay?” Jenny was frowning at her as they stood in the small hallway just outside of the break room.
    The knot that had built in her throat from her talk with Ruth had traveled farther south and now sat directly over her heart. Missy’s fingers shook. She felt a slight sheen instantly coat her skin as she moved her eyes slowly towards the man who was standing just inside the doorway.
    He’d changed. A lot, she thought, just as