“Get to know him.”
“Why?” the older woman asked, without looking up from her page. “So I can see all the ways you’re too good for him?”
Retta’s heart squeezed. Her grandmother had been there for her during her breakup and career setback. She’d escaped to this mountainous small town to hide away for several weeks, and her tough-as-nails granny let her. Not only that, but Grandma Edie had also cooked her a huge batch of beef stew with tons of garlic and chilies and cut her sarcastic comments in half.
They both remained quiet as Duncan emerged from the bathroom in running shorts, shoes, and a T-shirt.
“All right, I’m heading out,” he said.
Retta turned to wave, trying not to sigh at the image he cut in his workout clothes.
Once he’d left the house, Retta said, “He’s a good one. Trust me.”
She hated that it was important to her that her grandmother liked and approved of her fake boyfriend.
Her granny scoffed and collected her smart speaker before moving to the balcony with Levi right behind her. “We’ll see.”
When Duncan returned from his run, Ms. Edie asked if he wanted to help her in the garden. Actually, she more or less told him he was assisting her.
“You think I’m safe?” he asked Retta, whispering from the side of his mouth.
“You’ll be fine,” Retta said, blowing a curl out of her face. She was in full-blown baking mode with an apron fastened around her waist and hands covered in dough. “As long as you don’t bring up her ex-husbands. Or the unfinished patio.”
“No exes or renos. Got it.”
Exiting the house, he was met with birdsong and Levi with a ball in his mouth. Duncan chucked the toy across the manicured yard and watched the good boy run to retrieve it, his dark coat gleaming under the sun.
“I’d like to get this done before the Second Coming if that’s fine with you,” Ms. Edie called out to him without turning around. She knelt in front of a small garden bed near the right side of her property. The wide-brimmed hat she wore completely hid her face.
“Pull the grass you see poking out through the soil,” she said when he joined her. “Make sure you don’t disturb the vegetables.”
They worked side-by-side mostly in silence. She picked beautiful ripe tomatoes while Duncan split his time playing with Levi and pulling grass and weeds.
“My granddaughter wants me to get to know you,” Ms. Edie said after several minutes. She pushed her large hat back and peered over her sunglasses at him. “Are you worth knowing?”
“Yes?” Duncan replied.
“You don’t sound so sure.”
He wasn’t. Half of his brain was thinking about how he wouldn’t see the older woman ever again after this weekend. Getting to know him would be a waste of her time.
Before he could respond, she winced and shook her hand for several seconds.
“You okay?” Duncan asked.
“Of course,” she said, going back to picking tomatoes. “And don’t you go worrying Coretta about anything. It’s carpal tunnel. An occupational hazard of doing hair for fifty years.”
“If you want, I can show you some exercises that might help,” Duncan said.
The older woman stilled before pushing her hat back once again to look at him. “I can’t stop you.”
Duncan smiled. That was as big of a resounding yes as he was going to get. He sat on the grass and Ms. Edie followed suit, discarding her gardening gloves and tools.
He started with a simple stretch that she mimicked. “Stop if you feel any discomfort,” he said.
They worked through several exercises, and after a few minutes she asked, “What are your intentions with her?”
Intentions? Duncan didn’t know what she wanted him to say, but he knew he couldn’t lie. Mainly because Ms. Edie would call bullshit.
