Hang Tough(103)
Jade turned her head and kissed Tobin’s knuckles.
“But I knew I couldn’t force it. Heck, if I would’ve introduced you two to each other, you really would’ve rejected my attempt at matchmaking.”
“Too true.”
“And it wasn’t like I thought ‘these two are perfect for each other’ from the start. It never crossed my mind, to be honest. But that changed when I watched you getting more and more discouraged, Tobin. Your life wasn’t bad; it just wasn’t the life you wanted.”
GG looked at Jade. “Same with you, sweetheart. You never ventured far from your life in the city. I started to think it was just a habit, easier to stay than go. It’s pained me knowing you were working yourself damn near to exhaustion as you struggled to find your own place in the world. You weren’t to the miserable stage yet, but that’s where you were heading.”
“GG, how did you know all of that?” She squirmed under her grandmother’s increased scrutiny. “I’m not trying to be contrary, but we see each other less than half a dozen times a year. We talk on the phone every couple of weeks. So that doesn’t seem like enough contact or context to fill in the blanks about the level of happiness in someone’s life.”
She nodded. “You’re right. But your dad and mom have always kept me in the loop when it comes to you. Sometimes they even asked for parenting advice.”
Jade’s jaw dropped. “They did?”
“Uh-huh, and I’ll be gol-durned if they didn’t even take it a couple of times! Anyway. Your daddy’s been a lot more worried about you since you had that breakdown.”
For once, she didn’t even bother to correct her and claim it was the flu. “How often do you and my dad talk?”
GG tapped her fingers on her arm as if she was counting. “Oh, at least twice a week. Sometimes more.”
“Then he knew you’d be fine living by yourself! So his ‘I won’t make a decision until I hear from you’ promise was a lie. He signed those papers for the moving van the day after I arrived in Wyoming. So regardless of what he said, he—”
“Now, just a dadgum minute, girlie. Don’t you be blaming nothin’ on your daddy.”
Tobin squeezed Jade’s shoulder to keep her from lashing out.
“But he signed the papers. We saw it, Grandma.”
“Nope. You saw G. Evans’ signature and assumed it was his, when it was mine.” She smirked. “Neat trick, huh?”
“You wouldn’t say that if you saw how upset Jade got over this today,” Tobin said sharply. “And I was plenty upset myself, Miz G.”
“Oh pooh. Lemme finish and then you can throw rotten tomatoes at me.” She shook her finger at them. “Some of those are past canning stage and I don’t gotta ask what the two of you have been doin’ instead of putting up my tomatoes.”
When Jade felt Tobin’s abdominals shaking she elbowed him.
“So where was I?” GG closed her eyes and mumbled to herself before she said, “Aha! Now I remember. So Jade is unhappy. Tobin is unhappy. I knew you’d be happy together, but I couldn’t force it so I had to . . . resort to tomfoolery.”
Tobin snorted.
“It started months back. I got a drunk and disorderly charge on purpose. Pearl made sure that happened.”
Jade noticed the hard set to Tobin’s jaw. He’d been there the next morning to take her home. He’d told Jade that in retrospect, he felt he’d failed Garnet by not keeping a better eye on her.
“You know, I wondered at the time why you weren’t more embarrassed about that, Miz G.”
“I don’t know what I was so gol-durn afraid of. I had my own cell. And those jumpsuits are pretty comfy. I thought about getting some purple plaid material and having Tilda make me a couple of pairs to wear around the house.”
“Getting offtrack again,” Tobin said. “Back to it.”
She sighed. “Anyway. Pearl called Garwood and told him about the arrest. She’s been feeding him stuff, mostly baloney, ever since.” GG looked at Tobin. “Then you gave notice at the Split Rock. We had to think fast. So the next part is kind of a blur for reals.”
“Was my dad in on this?” Jade asked.
“Not really. After Pearl tattled to him about the pistol-firing incident, Gar did call me. I told him I had a friend staying with me. A male friend. A young male friend.” She slapped the table. “That put the starch in his spine. I told him if he didn’t like it maybe he oughta send Jade out here and she could make sure he wasn’t fleecing me. Then everything just fell into place from there.”