Chapter 11
ALEX
Gramps lay on the floor of the office. “Dammit, help me up.”
“What happened?” I stopped and squatted next to the older man. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just wanted to get a closer look at that picture over there.” He nodded toward a black-and-white photograph hanging on the wall by the door.
“You’ve got to be more careful, Gramps.”
“I know.” He took the hand I offered and pulled himself to a seated position. “I ever tell you I used to work out here?”
“No.” I shook my head as I helped my grandfather to his feet. “When was that?”
“Too long ago to remember. I was there when they took that photo though. Right around the time I married your grandmother. Wanted to see if I could find myself in it. Those were better times.”
A mixture of hopelessness and resignation laced through my grandfather’s voice. Char was right. Gramps needed a new cause, something to get him excited about the time he still had ahead of him. Right now he seemed so caught up in the past.
I reached up and pulled the picture from the wall. The sun had taken its toll on the faded black-and-white photo.
“Here you go. Can you find yourself?”
Gramps studied the photo for a moment, his finger slowly moving over the nameless faces who peered up from long ago. “Here I am.”
He pointed to a smiling man who stood tall and proud in the back row.
“That’s you?” I squinted at the man who bore little resemblance to my grandfather.
“Hey, I used to be a real catch. How else do you think I got the attention of the most beautiful woman in the world?” He glanced up, his watery eyes making me think he was living more in the past than the present. “I’m talking about your grandmother, you know.”
“I figured.” I clamped a hand to my grandfather’s shoulder. Gramps was the kind of man who needed a purpose. No wonder he’d been giving staff at the nursing home a hard time. The poor man was probably bored out of his mind. “I’ve got an idea. How about helping me with this project?”
“What kind of help do you need? I don’t know anything about penguins.” Gramps handed the photo back.
“Maybe not, but you used to be pretty good with your hands. Didn’t you build the ranch house by yourself?”
“That was a long time ago, son.” Gramps hung his head.
I didn’t like the slump of his shoulders or the defeat in his tone. “You still have all of your tools?”
Gramps shrugged. “You’d have to ask your sister about that. For all I know she sold all my stuff when she made me move into that first home.”
My stomach twisted. Gramps had worked construction for over fifty years. His tools were his life. Would Char really get rid of the one thing that might make our grandfather feel competent in his later years? “I’ll ask her about it. If they’re gone, I’ll get you new ones.”
“Don’t bother. She did what she had to do at the time. Probably wouldn’t have any use for them anymore anyway.”
I cast a glance at Zina, who appeared to be studying the tips of her cowboy boots with renewed interest. “Well, I still need a hand. You in?”
Gramps lifted his shoulders in a resigned shrug. “Sure. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”
“I wanna help, too.” Dolly skipped across the office. “What can I do, Uncle Alex?”
“Hmm.” I tapped a finger against my lips. “Can you be in charge of decorating?”
“For the wedding?” Her eyes shone.
Oh hell, I better put a damper on that idea before Dolly jumped to conclusions that she’d be solely responsible for decorating the entire wedding venue.
“I was thinking the penguin habitat. They’ll probably be missing home, so if you could draw some pictures of snow and stuff, it would make them more comfortable. ”
“But snow is all white.” Her lower lip threatened to jut out. “How can I draw snow?”
Zina stepped in. “Maybe you could cut some snowflakes out of paper.”
“I don’t know how. Mama doesn’t let me use the scissors anymore.”
“That’s because you gave your sister a haircut in her sleep.” I tucked a finger under her chin. “I bet she’d let you use scissors if I helped you.”
“Do you know how to cut snowflakes?” She looked up at me, her blue eyes full of hope.
“Not exactly, but—”
“I do,” Zina volunteered. “I’ll help you cut snowflakes and we can hang them from the ceiling of the dome. How does that sound?”
“Oh yay!” Dolly clapped her hands together. “Can we make them sparkly?”
“Of course.”
“With glitter and diamonds?”
Zina laughed and met my gaze over the top of Dolly’s head. “Well, glitter for sure but we’ll have to see about the diamonds. I’m not sure Mr. Munyon’s budget, generous as it might be, will be big enough to cover that.”
Dolly took Zina’s hand. “When can we do it? Now?”
“Maybe later,” I said. So this was what it felt like to be a buzzkill all the time. “We’ve got to stop and check out some apartments on the way home.”
“Aw, Uncle Alex, can’t I stay and make snowflakes?” Dolly gave me her best puppy dog eyes.
I considered myself fairly immune to children but found myself melting under her pointed pout. “Not today. I’ve got an appointment with the manager at the Pecan Hollow Apartments.”
“Oh, you don’t want to stay there.” Zina’s lips pursed and she shook her head.
“Why not? The price is right.”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind sharing your apartment with cockroaches the size of rodents.”
Dolly stepped back. “Gross.”
“Fine.” I pulled out my phone and deleted Pecan Hollow from my list. “I’ve still got two other options.”
“Which ones?” Zina pressed.
“Doesn’t matter. I need to find somewhere by the warehouse. I’ve got to be close to the penguins and”—I lowered my voice—“that damn parrot is driving me crazy.”
Zina let out a laugh. The sound lifted my spirits just a tad. She was capable of laughter, good to know.
“There are plenty of cheap apartments over in Swynton,” she suggested.
“That’s too far. What if I have an emergency in the middle of the night?”
“A penguin emergency?”
“Yeah.”
“Like what?” She cocked her head. “One of them drowns?”
I didn’t like the attempt at humor. Not at the expense of the penguins. I had yet to meet them, but I already felt protective.
“For your information, it’s impossible for penguins to drown.” That ought to shut her down for a little while.
“What if they have a heart attack underwater?”
“Not likely.”
“I don’t get it. What kind of middle-of-the-night emergency might require you to rush in and save the flock?”
“It’s a colony or a waddle, not a flock.” If she was so insistent on mocking me, the least she could do was to get her vocabulary correct.
“Uncle Alex.” Dolly tugged at my shirt.
“Just a second, sweetie. I’m talking to Miss Zina.” I refocused my attention on the feisty woman in front of me. “I’m not worried about the penguins, I’m concerned about someone trying to break in and mess with them.”
“Oh, gotcha. Lacey said she’s got some state-of-the-art security setup around the house.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t monitor the warehouse, does it?”
“Uncle Alex?” The persistent tugging on my shirt started to get to me. I wrapped my hand around Dolly’s and gently pulled it away from my shirt. “I’d prefer to be close by. Do you have any other suggestions on where I should look?”
“I’ll have to think about it,” Zina said, a hint of a smile playing across her lips.
I focused on those lips for a moment. Full and ripe and begging to be kissed again.
“Uncle Alex?” Dolly pulled her hand away.
“What is it?” I finally looked down in time to see the toilet paper she’d wrapped herself in start to disintegrate.
“I had to go potty.” She looked up at me, tears threatening to spill over her long, full lashes.
“I’m sorry, sweetie.” My heart squeezed. To hell with it. Then I glanced to Zina. “Please tell me there’s a bathroom nearby?”
“Of course. Let’s go up to the house and get you cleaned up.” Zina held out a hand for Dolly to take.
I sighed. Thank God she was here. I wouldn’t know what to do with Dolly if I’d been on my own. I’d had plenty of experience around animals and their offspring, just not much experience around human kids.
“You coming?” Zina looked back at me over her shoulder. She moved toward the door, Dolly shuffling along beside her, leaving me no choice but to follow.
We crossed the drive and trekked toward the house. The Victorian-style three-story towered above us. We climbed the steps to the wraparound porch, our feet thumping on the wooden stairs. I paused, waiting for Gramps to catch up.
“Y’all go ahead inside and I’ll wait for Gramps.” I gestured toward the door, hoping that Zina would have time to take care of Dolly’s issue before Gramps made his way across the drive and the lawn to the house.
Zina rolled her eyes as she fit the key into the lock on the door and pushed it open. “Come on, Dolly. There’s a bathroom on the second floor where we can get you cleaned up.”
Dolly cast a glance back at me before letting Zina lead her into the house.
Poor kid. She’d be in safe hands with Zina though.
All I’d do was make it worse. I’d never had to help a kid with a wet pants issue before.
Never even changed a diaper except on a penguin who’d had a debilitating case of diarrhea.
Served it right for digging through my bag and downing all of the chocolate bars one of the Swiss scientists had brought back from a recent trip home.
I held out a hand to help Gramps up the stairs, but the old man brushed it away.
“I remember coming here back in the day.”
“Oh yeah?” I humored my grandfather.
“The parties they’d throw here.” Gramps settled into a wicker chair on the porch, his face lighting up. “Your grandmother and I met at one of those parties.”
“Really?” I hadn’t heard much in the way of family history over the years.
I’d never been interested, and by the time I realized I ought to pay attention, my mom had taken off, my dad had passed away, and I figured the info was lost for good.
Char had the family pictures and photo albums, but I’d never wanted to pore over them the way she had when we were little.
Now I wished I had. It would be nice to have some sense of history.
“Your grandmother came down those steps like an angel.” Gramps lifted a shaky finger to point to the grand staircase just inside the front door. “It was love at first sight.”
I followed his gaze to the steps, where Zina came down, followed by Dolly, who was dressed in some sort of flowy wrap. The two of them giggled at something, giving the impression they’d just become the best of friends.
“Everything better?” I asked. Dolly had been a sight to behold in sparkles and toilet paper. But now she seemed to be wearing a towel or a sheet of some sort.
“We found a short robe to put on her, but I think she’ll probably want to go home and change, especially if you’re dead set on apartment hunting this afternoon.”
I reached for Dolly’s hand. “Thanks for your help. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Oh, I bet you could. You seem like the kind of guy who can step up when necessary.” Her eyes held a glint of humor, but I could read between the lines enough to know that she was telling me not to fuck this up.
Like I needed any added pressure from her.
I was already feeling the overcommitment closing in on me from all sides.
I held Dolly’s hand and gestured to Gramps. “Let’s go. We’ve still got a lot to do today.”
Zina dangled a plastic bag from her finger. “Here are Dolly’s wet things. I suppose I’ll see you over here again tomorrow?”
I snatched the bag and held it out in front of me.
“Yep, see you tomorrow.” Tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that.
And on and on until I made it through the wedding and got Gramps settled.
I’d been handing out promises like they were pieces of candy, making more commitments in the past three days than I had in the past three years.
There was something about being home again that made me want to step up. I’d better figure out what it was before I found myself promising more than I’d ever be able to deliver.