“I’ll have her home by curfew,” he said, stepping back and grinning. He pulled the keys from his pocket and started to turn away.

He was startled to feel Whitney’s hand on his arm. “Cam.”

He looked back. “Yeah?”

“She’s…” Whitney pressed her lips together and glanced at her grandmother through the windshield. She smiled affectionately, then looked up at him. “Her memory is not great. And she sometimes loses track of what’s going on. She might get a little lost while you talk.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

She wet her lips. “Really?”

“It’s going to be fine. We’ll talk for a little bit, we’ll have some pie, and I’ll bring her home.”

“Okay.” She still looked unsure. “Call me if you need anything. If anything gets… weird.”

He smiled. “There are things I need from you, Whit, and I’m going to take you up on that offer to call you. But it won’t be about your grandma.”

She looked startled, and with that promise hanging between them, he took the chance to get in the car and start the engine. He was not going to let Whitney believe anything was settled between them, and the more she had to think and wonder about the things he said, the better. He wanted to be on her mind.

Cam looked over at Didi rather than watching Whitney watch them with that slightly dazed, slightly worried look on her face.

“So you need some pie, huh?” he asked.

Didi gave him a big smile. “Thank you for loving my granddaughter.”

Okay, so speaking of startled…

Cam tipped his head. “You think I love her?”

“You’ve always loved her,” Didi said with a nod, looking at Whitney through the windshield. “Even when that made things really hard on you.”

Cam thought about what Whitney had said about Didi getting lost on details. “You knew about us being together?”

They’d done their damnedest to keep their relationship from their families. He knew that Zoe had known about them. She’d caught them up in Cam’s bedroom once and another time in the basement. But Zoe had kept the secret. So had Aiden. But Cam wasn’t sure who had known about them on Whitney’s side. He’d always figured no one. She’d had a couple of girlfriends in high school, but he knew they hadn’t been people she trusted implicitly. He’d always thought it was really sad she didn’t have people she knew had her back no matter what.

He knew for a fact that her dad and brother hadn’t known about them because they’d never confronted him. And they would have.

So to think that Didi had known made him curious.

“I knew that she was in love for a long time before I figured out who it was,” Didi said.

“How?”

“You gonna take me somewhere there’s pie or not?” she asked.

Cam laughed and nodded. Right. They had a whole hour “date” ahead of them. “Sure. Of course. I know just the place.” He put the car into drive and headed for Buttered Up.

And, yes, Whitney stood in the parking lot and watched them drive away. He gave her a little wave.

She didn’t return it.

Okay, well, he’d just bring her grandma home safe and sound and she’d see everything was fine.

They pulled up in front of Buttered Up a few minutes later. Everything in Appleby was only a few minutes away from everything else. He helped Didi out of the car and into the bakery.

Zoe and Josie were expecting them and apparently there were several other people in town who were curious enough about this date to show up to witness it themselves. The bakery was full. Every one of the little round white tables that dotted his sister’s bakery had people at it, except one. They’d left one open. The one right in the center of the room.

He shook his head but escorted Didi to the table that was clearly for them, smiling and nodding at people as they went. What else was he going to do?

Zoe was behind the counter and she gave him a look that said well, this is weird, but it was Josie that came out to wait on them.

“Hi,” she greeted. “How are you?”

“In desperate need of pie,” Didi told her. “I would like peach, with the cinnamon whipped topping, and a cup of coffee with cream on the side.”

Josie looked at her. “Cinnamon whipped topping?”

It was an extra thing that only those “in the know” were aware of. His grandmother had always added cinnamon to her whipped cream topping for peach and apple pies. Those were the only things she put it on and she’d only done it at home. Not in the bakery.

Cam leaned in. “Did you have cinnamon whipped topping with my grandma?”

Didi looked like that was an extremely stupid question. “Well, of course.”

“They don’t do that here,” Cam said. “That was something she only did at home when she made pies.”

“Well, that’s ridiculous,” Didi said. “Tell her to do it now. I’ve been looking forward to having that topping on my pie again ever since Dean died.”

Dean, her husband, had passed away about a year ago. Cam blinked at her. “Why haven’t you come in before this?”

“I’ve been very busy with the funeral preparations,” Didi said.

Cam nodded. “I suppose so. When was the funeral again?”

He knew when it had been. He’d thought about coming home for it. For Whitney. But his friends had talked him out of it.

But it had killed him to know that Whitney might be sad and hurting. He’d finally sent flowers. To her directly. With only, I wish I could meet you at the bridge on the card. She would know it was from him. Meet me at the bridge was the note he’d slip into her locker or leave on the dash of her car.

“Last week,” Didi answered. “It was lovely.”

She thought Dean’s funeral had been just last week? Cam glanced at Josie, who just lifted a brow. She was clearly letting him take the lead here. “Do you think… the kitchen… could make something special?” he asked.

Josie was the kitchen here. Along with Zoe, of course, but Josie was the more creative cook of the two.

“I think we can manage it,” Josie said with a bemused smile.

“Thanks. I’ll have the same,” Cam told her.

Josie nodded and moved off.

“Dean wouldn’t have wanted you having Letty’s whipped topping?” Cam asked Didi. If Didi thought the funeral was just last week, that was something much different from her just getting a date mixed up from a year ago.

“Oh goodness no,” Didi said. “Dean didn’t like anything having to do with Charlotte.”

Very few people called his grandmother Charlotte, but it seemed that Didi was one of them. “Did she call you Dorothy?” he asked, very curious about their relationship. He had been at various times over the years, but Letty hadn’t liked talking about Didi so he didn’t know much. He liked the idea of getting more history about them from Didi.

“She does,” Didi told him, referring to Letty in the present tense. His grandmother had also passed away.

“Dean didn’t like you to have anything to do with my grandma then?” Cam asked.

“Oh, no. I couldn’t even make any of her recipes. He knew which ones were hers and he wouldn’t eat anything I’d learned from her.”