Chapter 11 #3
He returned it, if a bit half-heartedly, wondering if his mother would ever remember that, like his grandfather, he enjoyed his personal space. Pulling away, he met his grandfather’s gaze. William offered a slight nod, and Kurt thought the word he mumbled was son.
“Oh my,” Sara said, spying Kelsey, who was hanging back a few feet. Reminding him once more of the Akita, his mother clicked her tongue. “You didn’t tell us you have company.”
“Actually, I did, if you remember,” Kurt said, motioning in Kelsey’s direction. “Kelsey, this is my grandfather, Colonel William Crawford, and my mother, Sara, also a Crawford. Guys, this is Kelsey Sutton. She works for the shelter that will be taking in these dogs once they’re rehabbed.”
“It’s great to meet you.” Kelsey’s smile seemed sincere.
“You too, you sweet thing. And aren’t you a brave one.” Sara wasted no time drawing Kelsey into a hug.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Kelsey said as they separated. “The dogs are all a lot more docile than you might think.”
Sara flashed the grin that had won her best smile in high school and had been commented on ever since.
“I meant working in such close quarters with my son. If he doesn’t try your patience at least a fraction of what he did mine when he was growing up, you can call yourself lucky.
His doctor said his ADHD was off the charts. ”
Seriously? She’s going there in less than sixty seconds?
Kurt shoved his hands in his back pockets, doing his best to shrug it off.
Unlike the rest of their small family, his mother had always been one to tell everything just like she saw it.
Nana had said a dozen times that she was a creature of God who’d been born without a filter.
Kelsey’s expression conveyed more camaraderie toward him than Kurt would have expected after the disagreement they’d had. “Well, if he does, I’ll try to keep in mind he’s the hardest working person I’ve met. And in all my years working with dogs, I’ve never seen anyone with his skills.”
Kurt looked sharply toward his grandfather, who was reaching out to shake Kelsey’s hand. One of his grandfather’s eyebrows peaked slightly in response to her praise. “Nice to meet you” was all that he said.
“I didn’t know you guys were coming.”
His grandfather pulled a phone from his pocket. “That’s kind of hard to know when you’re incommunicado.” He tossed the phone at Kurt, who caught it easily. Kurt was all but out of the technology loop, but the iPhone looked like a recent model.
“I’ve been meaning to get to a phone to call. It’s been a busy few days.”
“Your mom and I figured if you owned a cell, that might be easier to do.”
“You mean you’re giving this to me?”
“A bit selfishly, Kurtis.” Sara offered him a wink. “You’re going to need to use it to check in every so often. When you were overseas, there was always a number to call. Though Miss Kelsey here looks like she’ll be able to help us keep decent tabs on you.”
“Thanks,” he said, “but you didn’t need to do that. I’d have gotten around to getting one eventually.”
“It was your grandmother’s. It’s under contract awhile yet. She upgraded just a month or so before…” William fell silent and focused on the curving staircase instead of on them. “She didn’t have it long,” he finished.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kurt saw Kelsey chew her bottom lip, probably putting two and two together.
He wondered if later, when they were alone, she’d ask questions.
There was so much he’d love to tell her about Nana.
Kelsey was the type of person who’d listen expertly, who’d genuinely want to hear about her.
And maybe, somehow, make the whole mess a little bit better.
Adding how much his grandmother had meant to him to the fact that he’d all but missed the last eight years of her life hadn’t made her death easy to swallow. The desire to confess it all to Kelsey took him by surprise.
“I appreciate it.”
“We took it by the store yesterday,” Sara said. “It’s a new number, but I thought you might enjoy her pictures, so I had them put back on. There aren’t many.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” He sounded like a broken record, but at the moment, Kurt found himself as limited to clipped speech as his grandfather usually was.
He slipped the phone into his back pocket without examining it further. He wasn’t sure he could stay in control if he looked through Nana’s pictures. He’d save that for another time. “So, would you guys like a tour?”
William glanced at his watch. “A short one. Your mother has an appointment. I’d like to swing by later today, if you’re up for it.”
“What an amazing house,” Sara said, jamming her thumbs in the front pockets of her shorts and rocking back on the heels of her boots. “And you get to sleep here and everything until this job is finished? Both of you?”
Kelsey shook her head at Kurt’s yes, which was spoken over Sara’s last question. “Just Kurt. I have an apartment about five miles from here. Kurt didn’t know the house’s history when he took the job, but it has an interesting one.”
Just yesterday morning, Kelsey’s friendly and perfectly normal parents had come by to tour the house and meet the dogs.
He couldn’t help but wonder what she thought upon seeing his unconventional mother and tight-lipped grandfather.
She gave them a quick recap of how the house came to belong to the shelter, and included the bit about Ida Greene that they’d learned yesterday.
“There’s some of her apple pie left in the kitchen,” Kelsey added. “It was fabulous.”
“Homemade apple pie,” Sara said, giving William a playful scratch on the chin. Kurt didn’t think there was another person on earth who could get away with that and not be put in their place. “If you’ve got hot coffee, the Colonel won’t be turning it down, will you, Pops?”
William stepped back half a foot and gave his watch another glance. “The truth is, I’ll enjoy it more this afternoon.” He gave Sara a deliberate glance. “We’re supposed to arrive early.”
“Where is it you’re headed?” Kurt asked for the second time.
“Your mother has an appointment.” William set his shoulders determinedly and somehow managed to stand a half inch straighter.
Wherever the two of them were headed, Kurt understood his grandfather wasn’t ready to discuss it.
This set Kurt’s thoughts churning; it must be something important to make them drive so far from home.
But if there was anyone in Missouri more stubborn than William Crawford, Kurt had yet to meet them.
The truth was, he wouldn’t learn their business until his grandfather was good and ready to share it.