More…friendship.
But Roger had forbidden this friendship, and she couldn’t break her promise to him.
She slowly pulled her hand out from under Jo Ellen’s. “I want to talk to Crista before she leaves,” she said.
Jo Ellen smiled up at her. “Okay. But I’m not going anywhere, Mags.”
“Don’t I know it,” Maggie quipped, purposely making her voice light as she walked into the house, searching for her dog. “Pitty, darling? Where are you?”
The tiny Yorkie answered with a bark from upstairs but didn’t come running like she normally did when Maggie called her.
Had she lost Aunt Pittypat, too? On a sigh, she trudged up the stairs.
There, she found Pittypat tucked into Nolie’s cross-legged lap, being adored by her “other” mistress.
“Grandma,” Nolie said, her bright, seven-year-old eyes lifting at Maggie’s approach. “Pittypat’s upset.”
“Suitcases do that to her.” She stepped into the room and gestured toward the open one on the bed. “She thinks you’re going to leave her.”
Nolie stuck her bottom lip out. “I am.”
“How did the meeting with Peter go, Mama?” Crista asked as she folded a top and placed it in the suitcase.
“Pffft.” Maggie waved her hand and sat on a chair by the window. “Do you want to take Pittypat home, Nolie?”
Her brown eyes widened. “Could I, Grandma? She’s your dog and Mommy says you’re staying here.”
“I am and she is, but right this minute—” She lifted a brow and smiled at Pittypat, who was currently on her back, four paws in the air, enjoying a never-ending belly rub from Nolie. “I feel like there’s yet another traitor in our midst.”
“Mama!”
“Grandma, I’m not…whatever that is!”
“Of course you’re not, honey.” Maggie reached both arms out, touched when Nolie abandoned the dog and ran to her. “I’m just tired and old and bitter. I love you, Nolie, and I actuallythink taking Pittypat home with you is a good idea. I’ve got my hands full at this house and if she wants to go out in the middle of the night, I’d probably fall down the stairs.”
“Oh!” Nolie squeezed tighter as if the very idea was unthinkable.
She sighed and put a hand on Nolie’s cheek. “Will you walk her in the rose garden every day?”
Nolie grinned. “So she fertilizes,” she whispered, sharing their little inside joke.
Maggie leaned forward and kissed her granddaughter, nothing but love in her heart. “And come back here soon. Because I will miss you and Pitty terribly.”
The little dog came trotting over, wanting to get in the middle of the love.
“Will you do me a favor and take her out now?” Maggie asked.
“Yes, of course! Am I done packing, Mommy?”
“You are,” Crista said. “Take one more beach walk with Aunt Pittypat and hurry back. We’ll eat and hit the road. Do not go far, Nolie. Just to the bottom of the boardwalk.”
“Okay! C’mon, Pitty!”
The two of them darted out and Crista watched them go, sighing as she faced Maggie.
“Now you can tell me,” Crista said. “How did it go with Peter?”
“Oh, fine, I suppose. I just want to get to the bottom of it and…” She shook her head. “Listen, I have a favor. There’s a box in the attic loft that has some of your father’s things in it. A metal strongbox, rather sizeable. I need it.”
