“Girl, you have no idea!” said Glenna, unaware of anything amiss. She even laughed at Deirdre. “Come on. You can’t seriously not know anything about that, right? Okay, so here’s the gossip. Mr. King and Brendan are actually really close. They’re so close they won’t mind lending underwear to one another if the other needs it.

“When Brendan got into this big trouble, Mr. King flew straight home from Germia without any warning that he shocked his own family!”

Deirdre was stunned. “When was that?”

Glenna made a production of counting on her fingers. “About… Huh, I don’t remember the details, but it’s got to be a year ago or something. Mr. King was trying to establish his footing in the Germian business scene, so he almost never returned.”

As Glenna prattled on, the smile on Deirdre’s face died second by second. She interjected, “No, you must have gotten all that wrong, Glenna.”

The young woman in question blinked in confusion. She broke out a smile. “Okay, why so serious all of a sudd