Page 34 of Cowboy of Convenience
The door to the bedroom bumped open. Her grandmother looked Grady up and down, one brow angling as he buttoned his shirt. "I need someone to help me."
"Not gonna be us." Grady pulled on a vest, layering it over his shirt. “We’ve both got to work today.”
Her grandmother scoffed. “You’re both going to be gone? I’m here to spend quality time with you. Get to know my future grandson-in-law. How can that happen if you’re not here?”
“If you wanted to spend quality time with us, you should have let us know you were coming so we could adjust our schedules.” Grady chastised her grandmother in a way she’d never heard anyone do.
And it might have been even sexier than the chest hair.
And her grandmother appeared just as shocked by it. She gestured toward the room across the hall. “I can’t take care of this all by myself.”
Grady dropped to the bed and went to work lacing his boots, unbothered by her grandmother’s reaction. “You’re a smart woman. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
Her grandmother straightened her shoulders. "Fine.”
"Where's Bernard?" Evelyn suddenly noticed her grandmother’s constant companion hadn’t been around since the night before. “Why can’t he help you?”
"Bernard is in New York." Her grandmother's words were clipped and short, probably because she was not enjoying the thought of fending for herself.
Welcome to the real world.
Grady finished tying off his boots before standing and straightening his uniform. "Whatever you don’t get done we will help with when we get home."
Her grandmother shifted on her feet. “What if I decide I want another coffee while you’re gone?”
“Call an Uber.” Somehow Grady managed to say it with a straight face. Like the thought of her grandmother in the back of a stranger’s Camry wasn’t absolutely hilarious.
Her grandmother's brows lifted. "What in God's name is an Uber?"
"Kind of like a taxi." Grady ambled her grandmother's way, looping an arm around her shoulders and leading her from the door. "Or, you can call me and I’ll see if one of my buddies on the force has time to come get you."
Her grandmother's head reared back. "You want me to ride in a police car?"
"They'll let you sit in the front." Grady sounded so sincere and innocent she almost believed he was genuinely trying to be helpful.
Right up until he shot her a grin and a wink over one shoulder, sending her heart skipping along to the beat of its own drum.
She was fucked. There was no way she would survive having that man in her bed again. Not without spontaneously combusting or melting into a pile of mewling goo.
“Finish getting ready, Ev.” Grady tipped his head her way. “We’ve got to get a move on.”
“Right.” She almost forgot she wanted to escape when Grady did. “Give me just a sec.” Evelyn quickly changed into her yoga pants and tank, pulling her favorite Moss Creek Football sweatshirt over the ensemble before putting on her sneakers and heading out of her bedroom, eyes dragging to the open doorway across the hall. The movers were unloaded and gone, leaving stacks of belongings in the bedroom she didn't have the money to furnish.
She attempted to only buy the essentials when she first came to town, only realizing later that she could have been a whole lot smarter about the process. She spent too much on her furniture and too much on her SUV, but what was done was done, and she managed to get it under control before she ran herself into the ground.
Or tapped into the family credit card she was determined not to need.
Grady was in the living room when she came out, giving her grandmother the rundown on the remote. “If you want the screen with the list of programs you push this button here.”
Her grandmother seemed to actually be listening to him, her sharp eyes focused on his every move. Once Grady was finished, she snatched the remote away. “I’m sure it can’t be that hard.”
Grady turned away, shaking his head as her grandmother went to work finding what she wanted to watch. “You ready to go, Sweetheart?”
“Yup.” Evelyn grabbed her bag and keys, escaping out the front door with Grady right behind her.
He closed the house up, using the key he’d collected from under her mat to lock the deadbolt before leading her down the stairs. “I give her an hour before she has the whole system screwed up and starts calling for help.”
“She doesn’t have anyone to call. Bernard’s not here and I’m busy. She’s on her own.” She shouldn’t be so smug about it, but her grandmother was primarily responsible for her own helplessness when she left New York. The reason electric bills and car insurance were foreign concepts. It was kind of nice to see her get a little taste of what it felt like to be the most inept person in the whole world.
