Page 7 of Hooked
“Like an old man,” Pop said. “Don’t get old, son. It’s damn annoying.”
Jeremy smiled. “I don’t much like the other option.”
A gruff laugh. “Well, you got a point there.”
Jeremy had moved back to Metlin from Los Angeles three years before. His grandfather had broken his hip and needed help. Augustus was refusing help from his son and daughter-in-law, but Jeremy and Pop had always had something special, and Jeremy’s mother had appealed to her son to help.
Once Jeremy convinced Pop he was doing Jeremy a favor by allowing him to live upstairs at the house on Ash, his grandfather acceded to letting Jeremy live with him. Augustus got company during his recovery, and Jeremy got a rent-free place to live while he started Top Shelf Comics with the boxes and boxes of old comic books his pop had kept in the attic.
Over the years, the uneasy dance between grandfather and grandson turned roommates had matured into one Jeremy cherished. His pop was such a huge part of his life; he couldn’t imagine living without him.
When he’d first moved back to Metlin, he’d been reluctant to return to a town that had seemed stifling to his teenage self. He’d escaped immediately after graduation to attend business school in Los Angeles. Jeremy had attained a degree in finance that he still put to occasional use, but he had missed his family. He’d missed community. And he’d really missed the mountains. He’d been thinking about moving out of LA, but not back to Metlin. Maybe Fresno.
Life had other plans.
He glanced out the door over his grandfather’s grey head and watched the sky turn pink over the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Snow still covered the peaks of the mountains, but it was spring and the melt would be starting soon. In a few months, the heat would bake the valley floor and he’d escape every chance he got to the cool meadows and heights of the mountains, sometimes joining his mom and dad at their cabin on Upper Lake and other times camping in the grassy valleys between his favorite climbing spots.
“Gonna be warm today,” Pop said.
“I think so too.”
“Might get some rain tomorrow though.”
“The farmers won’t like that with all the trees in bloom.”
Pop grunted as he climbed into the truck. “The weather cares less about farmers than the government does.”
Jeremy smiled as he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. It was an old complaint. His pop had run a small herd of cattle in the old days, along with tending some orange groves in the foothills.
They backed out of the driveway as the sky turned purplish blue and puttered through town until they came to the highway. Jeremy turned left and drove through town and out to the country, headed to the reservoir where they’d cast their lines and hope the bass were hungry.
Pop stared out the window, watching the spreading land and rolling orange groves, the trees heavy with fruit. He’d sold his land to a big ranch years ago after Jeremy’s grandmother had passed and was more than happy to turn his farming know-how into consulting work for the local citrus co-op. Moving into town had allowed him to take part in his grandchildren’s lives in a way he hadn’t been able to for his own children.
Farming and ranching was time-consuming work, and Jeremy had never been tempted to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. His own father had been a high school shop teacher and coach. His mother was a pediatrician originally from Chicago who’d fallen in love with Metlin and his father when she’d been sent to the valley to run a rural clinic.
And Jeremy had a comic book shop. He liked it, but his true passion was anything in the mountains. Fishing, camping, and rock climbing didn’t pay any bills, but his shop was making it. He hosted game nights and was more than happy to have a safe place to let his geek flag fly. He and Ethan hostedGame of Throneswatch parties and Magic tournaments people paid to attend. The same activities that would have gotten them beat up in high school.
“What you got going on at the shop this month?” Pop asked.
“I’m doing a cross promotion with Emmie next week.”
“How’s the old bookshop doing?”
“Good. We’re doing games at my place that feature books or manga or comics. Stuff like that. Emmie’s got a bunch of kids from the middle school book club signed up for it. They’ve all bought the Harry Potter series from her, so we’ll see if they want to buy any of the Harry Potter games too.”
“Computer games or real games?” Pop asked.
Jeremy smiled. “Computer games are real games, Pop.”
His grandfather grumbled. “I don’t know ’bout that.”
“We’re doing both, but focusing on tabletop games. We’re starting a chess club too.”
Pop nodded approvingly. “Every child should know how to play chess. That’s a thinking man’s game.”
“Only we’re calling it wizard chess and dressing up in costumes.”
“Lord.” Pop shook his head. “Whatever makes you happy, J.”
