Page 27 of My Mountain Man Grump
I peer at Gran with her sinewy hands and bright eyes. She’s the picture of good health. “Don’t talk like that, Gran. You’re only seventy-four. You’ve got a lot of years left in you.”
She chuckles. “I’m not talking about dying, honey.” She ducks her head and smiles shyly in a way I’ve never ever seem my Gran smile before.
“Gus is finally retiring. He’s handing the shop over to his oldest boy.” His oldest boy is in his mid-forties and has been trying to take over the workshop for years. “He wants to take me on a European cruise.”
My mouth drops open, because Gran is blushing like a schoolgirl. “You and Gus?”
“Yes, honey.”
I think about the rotund mechanic with the greasy hands and deep belly laugh. “What are his intentions?”
Gran barks out a laugh. “To have a bit of fun before we leave this world. It’s a three month cruise. If you need me to stay for the girls, I’ll do it, but I’d very much like to see Europe.”
I think about Gran who’s given up so much, first to help raise me then to help raise my kids. “Of course you should go. We’ll figure something out. I can take a work break, or swap shifts, or get one of the other moms to have them after school…”
She puts a hand firmly on my knee. “Or, go get that woman of yours and apologize for whatever asshole-y thing you did.”
I open my mouth to tell her I wasn’t an asshole, then close it again because I was. I made love to Carrie and then let her leave as if it didn’t mean anything to me. But the truth is it did. The truth is this strange tightness in my chest is an ache in my heart, because while she was stranded here, I fell for her. I fell for her big time. And that scares the shit out of me.
“What if it doesn’t work out?”
Gran shrugs her shoulders. “Then it doesn’t work out.Everyone gets upset for a while, and then they get over it.”
She makes it sound so simple.
“But honey, the question you should be asking yourself is what if it does?”
My mind fills with images of Carrie. She’s in her green dress singing in my kitchen as she washes up. She’s dancing with the girls in the living room. She’s lying next to me in the bed when I wake up in the morning, her warm body heavy against mine.
Gran holds up the plate of cupcakes. “We all need a bit of sugar in our lives, Cole. You’ve denied yourself for so long. Have a taste.”
Her eyes twinkle, and I’m not sure if she means the innuendo. I choose a chocolate frosted cupcake and tentatively take a nibble.
Sweet sensations explode on my taste buds. My teeth crunch through the frosting, and a melted chocolate button oozes onto my tongue. I close my eyes, caught up in pure bliss.
“This is good,” I mumble through my mouthful.
“Carrie made them,” Gran says.
I stuff the rest of it in my mouth, then grab another. Carrie made these, and they’re as sweet and perfect as she is. Gran’s right. I’ve denied myself for too long.
My eyes fly open as I decide what I’m going to do. “Can you get the kids from school? I’ve got to go.”
Gran stands up, a big grin on her face. “Of course.”
I stand up so abruptly the chair falls over. As I stoop to pick it up, my eye catches on something glinting in theundergrowth near the porch. I pick up the object and hold it up to Gran.
“Is this a spark plug?”
Gran snatches it off me. “Must be from the last time Gus serviced my car.”
She turns quickly, but not before I see the guilty look in her eyes.
But this time I’m not angry at Gran for her meddling. She ensured Carrie had to stay here, and I have to thank her for that.
But first, I need to go get my woman.
“Can the girls stay with you for a while?”
