“Tea’s fine,” he said. “Answers would be better.”
“I haven’t heard any questions yet.” Her back to him, she pulled a pitcher of tea from the refrigerator, retrieved two glasses from a cabinet, added ice, then poured the tea, taking her time about it before facing him again.
He scowled at her. “Don’t be smart with me, young lady.”
She smiled. “Ask whatever you like, Grandpa Mick, but on the advice of counsel, I reserve the right not to answer.”
The scowl deepened. “What counsel? What the devil are you talking about?”
Carrie laughed. “Grandma Megan told me I don’t have to let you pry into my life unless I want to.”
“My own wife told you that?” he demanded incredulously.
“She also said she was going to get you to stop bugging me.” She sighed dramatically. “I guess that didn’t work out so well.”
He scrubbed a hand across his face and looked as if he were clinging to his last thread of patience. “I swear that woman is going to be the death of me.”
Carrie gave him an impulsive hug. “But you love her like crazy.”
“That I do.” He looked into her eyes. “And I love you, too. I want you to be happy. That means getting on with your life. I don’t see you doing that, though if you’ve made a decision to stay here, I suppose that’s a start.”
“I’m working on the rest,” Carrie assured him. “Honest, Grandpa Mick. I’m seeing things more clearly than I have in a long time.”
His expression brightened. “Tell me.”
“Not just yet. I want to see how things go first.”
“Not even a tiny hint so I don’t worry?”
“Not even a tiny hint, but I promise you can stop worrying. The skies have cleared and the outlook around here is improving by the minute.”
“Whatever that means,” he grumbled again.
“It means you can go meet Grandma Megan at the gallery, take her out for a nice dinner and talk about something other than me and my problems for a change. I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”
He shook his head, but smiled at last. “I’m sure she will. Okay, then. I’ll stop pestering you.” He gave her a meaningful look. “For now,” he amended. “But if I don’t like what I’m seeing, I reserve the right to speak up.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she told him as she led the way to the door. “Love you.”
“Love you, too, though how you turned out to be such a stubborn one is beyond me.”
“Lots of examples,” she reminded him. “And you’re the best one of all.”
As she closed the door behind him, she leaned against it for a moment, then realized she was smiling. For the first time in what felt like forever, she hadn’t been fibbing to him. She headed for her computer to look for some of the classes Julie had suggested she could find online. Smiling as she signed up for two of them, she finally felt as if she was starting to have some control over her life again.
Sam had brought home pizza for the second night in a row, mostly because it was what Bobby had insisted he wanted and because Sam couldn’t come up with a sensible alternative.
“We can’t go on like this,” he muttered mostly to himself.
“Why not?” Bobby asked, devouring his second slice.
At least it was a veggie pizza tonight, Sam thought, a concession to a healthier lifestyle.
“Because you need real food.”
“Pizza is real food,” Bobby said, looking confused. “This one even has yucky vegetables on it.”
Sam noted the pile of said vegetables that Bobby had picked off and left on his plate. “They don’t count unless you actually eat them.”
“I don’t like them,” Bobby said reasonably. “If I ate them, I’d probably get sick.”
“You wouldn’t get sick, I promise.” A thought struck him. “Did your mom ever let you have pizza every night of the week?”
Bobby hesitated, clearly debating between the truth and an answer that would keep the pizza coming. “No,” he conceded finally. “It was for Saturday night.” His expression brightened. “And tomorrow’s Saturday, so we can have it again!”
Sam shook his head. “I don’t think so, pal.”
He grabbed his cell phone, checked for Carrie’s phone number, which he’d programmed in, and called before he could think about the wisdom of it.
“Well, hi,” she said. “Everything okay?”
“You said something about cooking lessons,” he reminded her. “I’m on our second night in a row of pizza with a third one in store unless you can save us.”