foldup table on top of it all, I earned a strange look from the cashier as I waddled to the register.
“Having a party?”
I shook my head and shrugged. “Just taking care of some friends.”
On the way back to the clinic, I belted out a Collin West ballad, then burst into the squat building like Robin Hood with his hands full. Doctor Fitzgerald looked up as I entered. The older woman’s gray hair hung in a sensible braid down her back. A pair of reading glasses perched on her nose and intelligence sparked in her eyes. She sized me up. “What’s all this?”
“Sometimes I take too long with patients. I thought I’d make the waiting room more hospitable.” The lie rolled easily off my tongue. I was getting better.
Dorothy’s frown informed me I wasn’t quite as better as I thought. Nevertheless, she helped me squeeze the table into a corner, then schlepped bags of food in from my car. We arranged everything as artfully as we could and I stood back, admiring the bounty before us. “Make sure everyone knows to take as much as they want,” I said. “I’ll keep this baby stocked.”
Dorothy shifted her weight from foot to foot, obviously trying to figure out how to ask about Shane and my sudden desire to feed half the Keys without Fitzgerald overhearing.
I gave her a pointed look. “Did you know Toto didn’t always have enough to eat before he landed the Oz gig?”
Her hand covered her mouth, then dropped to her heart. “You’re kidding me. That is so sad.”
“After I found that out, I ended up wondering how many…uhhh…acting animals…had that problem. Which spurred this idea.” I wiggled jazz hands in the direction of the table.
Fitzgerald peered at me over her glasses, her shrewd eyes chewing up the lie and spitting it out at my feet. She cocked her head and I braced for the whole thing to collapse around me.
“I also heard he was a she and is buried under some freeway in Los Angeles.” Fitzgerald shrugged. “Don’t ask me why I know that. The age of the internet is weird.”
By the time I returned home, Joe’s truck was missing from its spot on the street. A strange spasm accompanied the realization that he might be out on a date. Since when did I care about his dating life? I put a hand to my forehead and found it cool. No reason to think the spasm was because of a fever.
Maybe lunch wasn’t agreeing with me.
I ambled up the steps, running my hand along the smooth bannister. I even paused on the third stair and bounced, thrilled to find it sturdy and quiet, then pushed through the door with a cheerful, “Honey! I’m home!”
Nan’s voice bubbled over laughter coming from the study. “We’re in here, Kiki! Come see!”
My grandmother sat with Delores and two women I didn’t recognize. Gorgeous bookshelves graced the back wall. The workmanship paled only in comparison to the smile on Nan’s face. “Just look what Joe did for me!”
She ran a finger over the rich wood as I drew close enough to inspect. Books I didn’t know she owned graced most of the shelves, but the focal point was the pictures of Grandpa and our family arranged next to the medals he earned in Vietnam.
Tears gleamed in Nan’s eyes. “I haven’t seen these in so long.” She placed a hand to her heart. “Joe made these shelves as a gift, and as beautiful as they are, the true gift is right here.” She patted a hand in front of the pictures. “He was so worried to show me. Afraid he’d made a mistake, putting them there…”
Nan pressed a finger to a smiling image of a young, strapping Grandpa George.
Joe’s reticence to talk about the shelves smacked me in the face. He hadn’t been up-charging Nana Maxine. He’d been trying to surprise her.
My stomach churned and my brow knit.
If I’d been wrong about that, where else had I missed the mark when it came to Joe Channing?
“They’re beautiful, Nan.” I took in the pictures one by one. “It’s so good to see Grandpa again.”
The swish of velour and the scent of baby powder stole my attention. Delores stood about six inches too close, a large smile devouring her face. “You were right about Joe.”
“Considering I’ve actually called him the devil, I’d say I was more wrong than right.”
“Look at you, playing innocent.” She waggled her eyebrows and gave a little shimmy of her hips. “Anyone can