Saving Grapes - Madeline Kirby Page 0,23
me an excuse to make some for myself,” she said with a wink before she started the grinder and measured water into the coffee maker.
“So,” she sat down across from him at the kitchen table, “what brings you by? If you’re looking for Chuck he’s out until, oh,” she looked at the clock, “four o’clock I’d guess.”
“Not necessarily. Just wanted to get out and about, have a visit, you know.” There was a slapping sound from the pet flap as the family dog came inside. Spotting Ben, the pit bull terrier trotted over to greet him, resting his head on Ben’s leg. Ben scratched his neck and fondled his soft ears, “Hey, Jazzy, how you… e ”
“He drool on you?” Lorraine asked. “Here.” She handed him a paper towel from the roll on the table.
“Thanks,” Ben said, folding the towel and placing it on his leg under Jazzy’s wide, and slobbery, jaw. “You’re really gross, Jazzy, you know that? Really, really gross.”
Jazzy gazed up at him, soaking up the attention, secure in the knowledge that he must be a very, very good dog.
“Thom running you ragged?” She asked.
“No, nothing like that,” he replied, hoping he wasn’t blushing. It felt like he might be blushing.
“Still, I guess there’s a lot to do, and it must get lonely out there with just the two of you. You get some time off, don’t you? Get to go into town and meet folks your own age?”
“Geez, you sound just like Thom,” Ben groused.
“Oh?”
When she remained silent, Ben looked up. “What?” But Lorraine just shrugged and got up to pour coffee into a couple of mugs.
“You tell me,” she said, putting a mug on the table in front of him.
Ben picked up the mug, blowing on it and trying to figure out what to say. His knee started to jiggle with nerves and Jazzy left with a huff, wandering over to see what might be left in his food bowl.
“Thom giving you a hard time?” She asked.
“No.” Not like you mean, anyway, he thought.
“He’s a good man.”
“Yeah.”
“Smart, ambitious.”
“Yeah.”
“And handsome, too.”
“Yeah.” Oh, crap.
“Aha! Gotcha.”
Ben sighed, “Okay, you got me. I think he’s handsome. Happy?”
“Well, I got you to admit it. So what? He is handsome. And all the other things I said, too. Nothing wrong with noticing that.”
“I know.” Ben was really not comfortable with this conversation.
“So, you like him?”
“Of course I like him,” he said.
“I mean like-like him,” she replied, waggling her eyebrows.
Ben squirmed in his seat. “You spend too much time with teenage girls,” he complained.
“Oh, come on. It’s perfectly normal, Ben. I’d be surprised if you didn’t have a bit of a crush on him.”
“Crush. I hate that word. It sounds painful.”
Lorraine shrugged. “It can be. Doesn’t have to be. Do you think the feeling’s mutual?”
“What?”
“I said – “
“I heard what you said, but Thom’s… Why would you…”
“Give me a break, I’m not stupid. He’s never had a girlfriend, I’ve never heard of him even going on a date in this town, except for the times your uncle’s tried to fix him up with one of our girls, and then he just went because he didn’t want to disappoint Chuck. I’ve wondered for a while now, so maybe he is, or maybe he isn’t. I don’t care either way. But if you don’t know…”
“Okay, okay. But don’t tell Uncle Chuck, alright? Thom doesn’t broadcast it, and it’s his business who he wants to tell.”
“Sure. So… mutual or not?”
“Maybe? I mean, yes. But he’s kind of freaked out. I think it’s mostly the age difference, that he thinks I’m just a flighty kid. That I’ll get bored and lose interest and move on.”
“So prove him wrong.”
“How do I do that?”
“Stay.”
“That’s it? Just stay?”
“I’ve known Thom Caldwell since he was a little boy. He’s always been more of a doer than a talker. He’s the quiet, steady type. What you do will mean a lot more to him than what you say. So just stay. If you’re there, right there where he can’t help but see you, then he won’t have room to doubt you. That’s assuming you want to stay?”
“Of course I do.”
“It’s a fair question, though. You see that, don’t you? I’m not saying you’re not serious,” she reached across the table and he took her hand, “but you are young. I can understand his point of view, too.”
Ben nodded. “So, I’ll just stay.”
“And don’t pressure him, either. Just… be there.”
“How long, do you figure?”
“As long as it takes. Maybe one day he’ll