Rogue Beast (The Rourkes #12) - Kylie Gilmore Page 0,55
hand and brushes a kiss over my knuckles. A rush of tingles race up my arm.
“Harper!” General Joan barks. “What are you two doing out there unchaperoned?”
I roll my eyes as he chuckles. Like we’re making out on her old slip-covered sofa.
I join her in the kitchen. “How’ve you been feeling?”
She waves that away. “Fine. You won’t be inheriting the house anytime soon.”
I grin. “How’s the water pressure? I’d love to have a shower installed with multiple sprays.”
She narrows her eyes. “Ha! Just as bad as always. Can’t run the washing machine and take a shower at the same time.”
“I can get a plumber in—”
“Bah.”
I sigh. Never show weakness, never ask for help. She’s always been so prickly. Her husband, my grandfather, died when I was five. I don’t remember him well, but he was always smiling in pictures, his arm around her. She smiled just for him. I’ve always wondered if losing him was what made her tough or if she always was. Her daughter, my mother, had me and never returned. It’s always been just me and the General. I have a few older uncles, her sons, as well as their wives and my cousins, but they don’t live nearby. One of my uncles is the reason I first got involved in Best Friends Care.
A few minutes later, we’re settled in her living room with our Earl Grey tea. Garrett puts his phone away when we return.
“Don’t be posting pictures on the internet of my place,” my grandmother tells him.
I close my eyes. I’m sure everyone is dying to see a nineteen seventies home with the original furniture and a chairlift. I had the motorized chairlift installed on the stairs last year when I saw how slowly she took the stairs because of her hip. She grumbled about it, but she uses it.
“No, ma’am,” Garrett says. “Just checking the score on the Giants game.”
“Men and their balls,” she huffs.
Garrett fights back a smile and shoots me a look. I shake my head. She did not mean that in a dirty way.
“Have you watched Living Gold?” I ask her. She hasn’t said a word about it in our phone conversations, and I’ve been waiting for her verdict.
“Course I did,” she replies indignantly.
Part of me wants to know if she liked it, and the wiser part says not to ask questions I don’t want honest answers to.
“Harper is fantastic,” Garrett says.
My grandmother eyes him before saying, “It’s on too late. Nine o’clock. I can barely keep my eyes open.”
“I told you we can record it for you to watch later.” I got her cable after some arguing over the unnecessary channels. I wanted her to be able to see my work.
She waves toward the TV and the cable box on top of it. “Too many buttons on the damn remote. I’d as soon erase it as get to watch it.”
“I’ll show you, ma’am. It’s only tricky the first time.” Garrett doesn’t wait for an answer. Just hands me his water glass, gets up, and goes for the remote on the end table next to her chair.
My grandmother’s eyes are huge. “Excuse me, that’s my remote.”
“I know, Mrs. Ellis. Watch.” Garrett kneels at her side, pressing buttons as he explains each one.
“I’m not going to remember all that nonsense.” She shakes her head and sips her tea, done with the whole thing.
After he gets it set up, he points out the buttons again. “It’s just here and then play. I set it to never erase, but you can change it when you want. Do you have a phone?”
“In the kitchen.” She means the phone attached to the wall in there.
Garrett sends me an amused look.
I lift a palm. “I tried to get her a cell phone, but she refused.”
“Don’t need that thing beeping at me all the time,” she says. “Everyone’s a slave to their cell phones nowadays. Not me.”
Garrett rises to his feet, goes to the kitchen, and returns a moment later with a small piece of folded paper. He hands it to her. “This is my phone number, ma’am. Call me if you have any trouble watching the recording. I’ll walk you through it.”
She takes the paper gingerly and sets it on the end table before returning her steely gaze to his. Most people would back off. Not Garrett.
“Anything else I can do for you, ma’am?” he asks.
“You can take a seat is what you can do,” she says.