Page 14 of This Time Around
She didn’t want me to know. She thought I’d tell Mom and Dad, and she knew they wouldn’t approve, but she went and did it anyway and made sure we wouldn’t know until she was gone.
There was something utterly heartbreaking about that. About her grandmother feeling a need to hide her own act of charity or impulsiveness or whatever this whole cat thing was.
Skye had gone quiet, seeming to sense Allie’s need to process. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft. “It started with only a few cats, but she took in a few more,” she said. “Then it turned out a couple of the originals weren’t spayed or neutered. It’s mostly under control now, and I have a vet come in every few months to make sure they’re all healthy. We do still end up with the odd litter of kittens, so I guess we haven’t quite managed to fix everyone.”
Allie nodded, still numb. “I mean, I guess I can kind of see why she’d do it. My grandmother loved cats, and she always had one or two, but?—”
“Not fourteen?”
Allie blinked. “Is that how many there are?”
Skye nodded. “Vicky left enough in her will to keep them fed and cared for at least for a little while, but obviously I’ll be leaving as soon as I graduate.”
“What?” Allie blinked. “You’re leaving?”
Skye smiled. “Well, I wasn’t planning to live here forever. This is your place now.”
“My place,” Allie repeated, too dumbfounded to form words of her own.
“I know it meant a lot to your grandma for you to have it,” Skye said. “She wanted you here.”
Allie surveyed the room and wondered how long it had been since the sofa was cleaned, since the walls were repainted, since the floors were scrubbed or resealed.
And wondering how she’d gone from being Allison Ross, budding lawyer, potential wife and mother, to Allie Ross, instant crazy cat lady.
Jack took a step toward the door, then hesitated and turned back to his mother. “You’re sure you’re okay with this?”
His mom smiled at him from the mostly empty living room of the three-bedroom house Jack had rented for the next couple months. “Sweetheart, of course I am! I’m just happy to see you two again. It feels like it’s been ages!”
“It’s been three days,” Jack pointed out. “But I really appreciate you watching her on your first day here.”
“Nonsense,” she said. “You’re going through all the trouble and expense of moving me out here and setting me up in that nice new place. The least I can do is watch my granddaughter every now and then.”
The granddaughter in question had run down the hall to put Louise’s suitcase in the guest room, which is where she’d be staying until all her furniture arrived and her new place was ready. Jack had hoped she’d wait until he had her all set up in the posh apartment he’d rented for her at a nearby retirement village, but his mom had insisted on coming early. She’d missed them too much since they’d left California, and the loneliness had gotten the best of her after only a few days.
The thought of his mother alone sent small spurts of rage through him. It felt like that anytime he thought of his father walking out thirty years ago, but he tamped it down. Now wasn’t the time for old grievances.
“Grandma!” Paige came bounding down the hall like an excited puppy, her long, dark braid bouncing behind her like a tail. “Want to see the dance routine I’ve been working on?”
“Absolutely! Where would you like to do it?”
“Upstairs. Come on, you can sit on my bed and play music on my phone.”
The idea of his mother serving as a DJ to a ten-year-old made Jack smile, or maybe that was the sight of his mom and his little girl looking so happy to see each other. Paige didn’t have a close relationship with Caroline’s parents, who lived in Florida and visited once a year at best. The girl saw her aunt Missy—Caroline’s sister—a couple times a year, but the visits had become less frequent as more time passed since Caroline’s death.
That left Jack’s mom serving dual roles as primary grandma and the lone, consistent female presence in Paige’s life. Considering she’d raised Jack alone, he knew she was up to the task.
Paige and her grandma had made it halfway up the stairs, Jack completely forgotten. It was just as well, since he needed to head back to the temp office he’d rented so he could nail down the final details of Clearwater’s move to Portland. He had contracts to review, moving trucks to coordinate, job postings to consider, transfers to?—
“Hey, Daddy?”
Jack looked up at the top of the stairs where his little girl stood biting her lip. “I think I left my sweater at Allison’s house last night.”
—and sweaters to retrieve, he added to the growing to-do list.
“What have we talked about, Paige Anne?” he scolded. “About being more responsible for our belongings?”
God, he sounded like a parent. Or like Allie used to when he’d lost his damn keys for the hundredth time.
