Page 10 of Moore to Love
Rigden shook his head with a chuckle. “I’m thirty-four years old, Mom. Hardly a boy anymore.”
In unison with our mom, my brothers and I said, “It doesn’t matter how old you are, you’ll always be my baby.”
“Exactly so,” my grandmother agreed with a nod before getting up. Before she headed toward the kitchen, she patted my dad on his shoulder. “Even when they’re grown up with babies and grandbabies of their own.”
“Grandbabies,” Mom sighed. “If only my boys would get around to giving me some to spoil.”
“Don’t look at me,” Logan muttered around his third serving of meatloaf. “The last thing I need to do is knock some girl up when I haven’t even finished college yet.”
“Neither had I when I got pregnant with your brother,” she pointed out. “Technically, Rigden got a jump start on college since I had him in my belly while I finished my last semester.”
“I remember how scared you two were to tell us the news.” Grandpa leaned across the table to pat my mom’s hand. “But everything turned out just the way we told you.”
She beamed a smile at him. “Only because we had Katherine’s and your support.”
“Always,” my grandmother murmured as she returned with a freshly baked pie in each hand.
Mom shook her head with a laugh. “You don’t even know what we were talking about.”
“It doesn’t matter. Family is family.”
Being close to the people who mattered most to me was another perk to living in Mooreville. It was also why I’d been happy for my cousin Baxter when he’d decided to move here after his brother died fighting a fire in New York City. I’d hated that he only had his parents to lean on while he was grieving, especially since they’d never struck me as particularly warm people on their rare visits to see the family.
After the pie was demolished and my brothers and I cleared the table, I wandered out to the back porch. I was only outside for a few minutes when my grandfather joined me.
Leaning his elbows against the wooden railing, he stared out at the backyard. “I heard you came to Eloise Nedderman’s rescue the other day when she got a flat tire.”
“Yeah, it was her first day, and when she called to let me know she was going to be late, she mentioned a tow truck. It didn’t seem right to leave her stranded there when it was just as easy for me to go pick her up.” I raked my fingers through my hair. “I was going to take her back to help her with the tire at lunchtime, but I got called out on another large animal emergency. So I called Hank and got him to send someone to take care of it for her.”
“I’m glad you hired her. I like that she has someone looking out for her.” He’d said much the same at dinner last week when I’d told everyone that Ellie would be helping out at the clinic. “Was the tire repairable?”
I nodded. “Yup, she picked up a nail, so he was able to patch it.”
“Glad to hear it.” He clapped me on the back. “I’ll have to give Hank my gratitude the next time I see him.”
“Don’t be surprised when he tells you it was no big deal,” I muttered.
Grandpa cocked his head to the side, his brows drawing together. “That doesn’t sound like something Hank would say.”
“You know how much he likes a good deal.”
His chin jutted out as his eyes narrowed. “He better not have overcharged Eloise just because he had to send someone out to look at the damn tire.”
“No worries there,” I reassured him. “I bartered with him instead—house calls for Earl for a year instead of bringing him into the office.”
The tension left my grandfather’s body, and he laughed softly. “I can’t believe that ornery cat is still alive.”
“You’re telling me.” I twisted my arm so he could see my elbow. “I still have the scar from the first time he brought Earl into the clinic. He hates riding in the car so much, I probably should’ve switched to house visits long ago for him. It would’ve saved me from being scratched many times over.”
“Yet it took helping Eloise out for you to make that offer,” he murmured.
I shrugged. “The tire needed to be taken care of, and I couldn’t see her being okay with me paying for it. This way, I was able to tell her that Hank owed me a favor and I didn’t pay a penny for the repair. It’s a win-win all around.”
“Like I said before, I appreciate that you’re looking out for her. It’s a shame that your grandmother and I haven’t seen her in so long. She stopped coming to church when news of the divorce started spreading around town.” He shook his head with a sigh. “Not that I blame the poor girl, considering the crap her husband put her through. Plus, I think she only started coming because she was lonely except for her kids.”
“Ex-husband,” I corrected without thinking.
My grandfather tilted his head to the side and studied me with narrowed eyes. “I’m well aware he’s no longer her husband, Finn. Which you know. So now I have to wonder why you were so quick to point out that the jerk is her ex.”
