bundled her into. In case she caught a chill from customers opening the front door.
“You need more support than that.” He thrust his arm out to point disparagingly at the stool. It was so dramatic. So over the top. So not like her father.
It was a little bit adorable. Except that obviously her grandmother didn’t see it that way.
The older woman let her head loll to the side to roll her eyes at Sydney.
“Nope. Leave me out of this. I have too much respect for both of you to pit a parent and child against each other. Although I’ll happily take the rocking chair for when I do a shift at the register. I think you should bring it in, Dad, and we’ll figure out who uses it later.”
He pivoted, launching all his frustration about his sick mother into a fiery glare at Sydney. “You’re a perfectly healthy thirty-year-old. You stand and look engaged and ready to hop to when someone walks in the door, young lady.”
Wow. Back home for three days, and he’d already spit out his first ‘young lady.’ What was next? Being grounded for sassing him? This whole situation with Gram’s illness really had him off-balance.
Gram struggled out of her top fleece layer. Her movements were cautious and yet jerky, as she was hampered by the lingering pain from her surgery two weeks ago. “Neil, stop treating me like I’m about to kick the bucket.”
“But…Mom…you were. The doctors all said so.”
“And they were all wrong, weren’t they? I’m here. Which makes me the smartest, stubbornest person in the room. So go check the inventory on snow melt in the back, and give me some peace.”
He huffed. Puckered up his mouth like he wanted to spit out a nasty response. But then, he shuffled forward to press a kiss on the top of her pumpkin-orange curls and headed to the stockroom.
Sydney kept watch, though. Noticed that as soon as his back was turned, her grandmother sort of deflated, folding in on herself as though their bickering had been the only thing keeping her upright. The older woman grabbed for the edge of the counter and leaned on it as she lowered herself onto the stool with a long sigh.
“Want me to hang up your fleece in the office?” Sydney offered. “I know, I know—you can take it there yourself. But you don’t want to run into Dad. You both need to cool off for a few.”
“Fine. Thank you.”
Sydney hustled over to take it. At least this time Gram hadn’t turned sheet white from the walk, like she had going from the house to her son’s truck. “Have you two been fighting like this the whole time I’ve been gone?”
“Of course not.” Gram shifted, winced. Shifted again. “Neil’s an easy partner to work with here. He’s just lost his damn mind since my diagnosis.”
Oh, boy. Things were in a sorry state when Sydney had to be the adult in the room. So she’d wade into dangerous waters and point out the obvious truth. Better for Gram to be mad at her than at her son. “I’m pretty sure it’s more about almost losing the mother he adores than losing his mind.”
“Dwelling on what didn’t happen is dumb. I’m fine for now, and I’ll be better after I’m finished with chemo.”
It didn’t take a psych degree to see that the near-death slide was a topic being completely ignored by Gram. One that she’d probably been too terrified to even process. Although the fact that her globe-trotting granddaughter had returned after more than a decade ought to have hammered home some of the seriousness.
In a very calm voice, she said, “Being at the Mercantile stresses your already compromised immune system. You’re not supposed to risk getting sick until you finish chemo. It isn’t smart.”
“Neither is letting you burn down the shop,” Gram snapped back. “Neil told me about yesterday’s incident.”
Now it was her fault her post-op grandmother had left the house a week ahead of schedule? Sydney knew full well that was an excuse. That Gram had been climbing the walls, missing her store and her friends.
“It was one blob of cheese on the grill that started smoking. There was no fire.”
“Let’s keep that streak going. Maggie’s going to keep baking and bringing the daily pastries over, but you’re going to have to make sandwiches. Hot and cold. Knives and griddle and everything.”
Sydney snuck a look at her watch. Not even ten. This would be a long day. “Well, I’m sure