“You’re a cold woman, Rosie Davis.”
While she ignored his statement, she was actually cold. And tired. Rather than go hunting for her sweater, maybe she’d go curl up under her quilts and take a quick nap. But when she dropped the scarf in the basket next to her chair and stood, she had to stop and cough again.
Andy was at her side in an instant, supporting her. “Maybe you should go see the doctor.”
She scoffed, which wasn’t easy to do when she was so keenly aware of the weight of his arm around her waist. It was Andy Miller, for goodness’ sake. She didn’t even like him. “I’m fine. I’m going to rest for a little while and then whip up a batch of soup.”
After catching her breath, she stepped free of his support—which felt way too much like an embrace—and walked toward the stairs. She managed just fine on her own, but she could swear she felt Andy watching her all the way up.
*
“Good afternoon, Demarest Insurance.” Lauren glanced at the clock, counting the minutes. It was Friday and she wanted out. “How can I help you today?”
“Lauren, it’s your father.”
“Hi, Dad.” He refused to call her cell phone because he was afraid she’d answer it while driving and hit a tree. Or so he said whenever she asked him why he wouldn’t just call her cell. “What’s up?”
“Your mother has a cold.”
“There’s one going around.” The silver lining of being too busy to visit her mother recently was not having to feel guilty about being the germ carrier.
“She’s out of her cold medicine. You know the one she likes?”
“I know the one.” She really didn’t have time for this. “I’m leaving here in a few minutes. I’ll get her some and run it over to the house.”
“You’re a good daughter. How’s that grandson of mine? Staying out of trouble?”
“He’s doing really good, actually. Staying out of trouble and doing well in school.”
“If he’s keeping his grades up, I can teach him to drive now, no?”
Lauren winced. Since her father refused to acknowledge the existence of his former son-in-law, that meant it was his job—as the man of the family—to teach Nick how to drive. She hadn’t yet come up with a believable excuse that would save her son from that horrible fate.
Lauren had had to suffer through it and remembered the experience as being a lot more yelling, cursing in Polish and clutching his chest than driving instruction. She was convinced he was the reason her mother refused to learn how to drive. She’d probably had one lesson from her husband and quit the whole thing.
“I’ll think about it,” she hedged. “It’s only been a little over a month, so I want a little more progress before I commit to spending that kind of money.”
“What money? I’ll teach him, I said.”
“He still has to take a class, Dad. If he doesn’t take the class, he can’t get his license until he’s eighteen.”
“That’s stupid. He doesn’t need a class if I teach him.”
No, but he might need medication. Lauren decided it was time to change the subject. “Does Mom need anything besides cold medicine?”
He said she didn’t, so Lauren claimed she had a customer waiting and got off the phone.
She’d just found a parking spot near the market when her cell phone rang. It was tempting to ignore it, but she was always afraid if she did that, it would be about Nick. When she saw Ryan’s name on the screen, she was glad she’d checked. “Hi.”
“Miss me?”
“You’ve been gone?”
“Funny. You doing anything this weekend?”
Just everything a working mother did on the weekends, which was just about everything. “Nothing I can’t be tempted away from by a better offer.”
“I borrowed Mitch’s bike for the weekend. I was thinking we could take off in the morning and head over to the coast. Cruise down it for a while, then cut across to Brookline. Spend the night at my place, then head back in the morning in plenty of time to get home for Nick.”
He wanted to take her to see his house? She wondered for a second if he’d been talking to Rose, but then something else he’d said snagged in her mind. “Bike. Do you mean his Harley? You do know it’s the third week of October, right?”
“And I checked the weather forecast. It’s going to be in the sixties, which is perfect riding weather if you have a good sweater or a leather jacket. And maybe gloves, just in case we end up out after the sun’s gone down.”
“That’s crazy. You’re crazy.”
“But you’re going to go with me, right?”
She sighed. “Yes. I want to see your house. I hear it’s very beige.”
“Don’t let Rosie bullshit you. It’s sandstone with cameo trim.”
“So it’s...a darker shade of beige with a lighter beige trim?”
“Smart-ass. Do you want to go or not?”
“Yeah, I want to go.”