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“Tell me what to do, and I’ll help,” I offered because I didn’t like the idea of sitting there and doing nothing while he fed me again.
A door chimed.
“Hudson!” yelled a female with a scratchy voice. “How long has the power been on?”
Hudson swore, looked at me, then at the closed kitchen door, palming his forehead. “She’s going to misunderstand.”
“Huh?” My insides twisted. “Is it your girlfriend?”
I’d totally been ogling a taken man the last few days. The shame! Gran would disown me.
“No. Worse.” Hudson opened the door and hollered. “How did you get here?”
“Your dad dropped me off. I told him to leave when I saw you were here.”
Hudson rubbed his temple and stepped aside as a small, elderly woman limped in. “I didn’t realize Dad was home, but it’s too cold for you to be out. You’re lucky the main roads aren’t that bad. He should have known better than to get you out—”
“Will you hush? So, are we opening—” The old woman stopped, and her bright-green eyes widened when she saw me.
“Grandma Sue, this is Eugene—”
“You can call me Genie,” I interrupted. The old woman’s wrinkled mouth kept growing wider the longer she looked at me.
“She’s atemporaryguest I have at the moment.”
I quirked my brow at Hudson when he emphasized the word temporary.
Sue turned and gawked at him. “Ya mean, she’s staying with ya? Atyourplace?”
Hudson dropped his head, and then his shoulders sagged, as if he’d given up. “For a few days, then she’s leaving.”
Sue seemed to be ignoring him because she limped past him and held her arms outtowardme. “My child, ya have crazy hair.”
I laughed. “I wouldn’t call red crazy.”
“It’s very bright,” Hudson’s grandma stated. “I’d never lose sight of ya, which is good. My vision ain’t great these days.” She adjusted her glasses on her nose to prove her point. The old woman looked between Hudson and me, one corner of her mouth curling upward. “So, what are we doing?”
“I’m checking on everything, then leav—”
“Hudson’s going to cook us steak after he makes sure everything’s good,” I cut in, and then frowned at Hudson. Why did he say we were leaving? Were steaks no longer on the table?
She gasped dramatically and covered her mouth with one hand. “My grandson is cooking ya steak.”
“I cookeveryonefood,” Hudson grumbled. “It’s what I do.”
Then it hit me. I understood his grandma’s reaction to me, and his fear that she’d misunderstand. She must believe we were a couple. If not, she seriously wanted us to be. By the gleam in her eyes, I’d guess she was a schemer and had trapped him in those situations before. I liked her already.
“I’m guessing you’re the reason he’s such a good cook,” I said.
Sue side-eyed her grandson when he muttered something I couldn’t hear. “Don’t ya need to check on those generators and cook us a steak? And bring me a stool like ya did her.”
A slight rush of adrenaline shot through my bloodstream at her words. Hecarriedthe stool for me. As quickly as the sensation came, I shook my head. Most likely, he didn’t want me tripping and destroying his kitchen.
“You don’t need a stool. Go sit in one of the booths,” Hudson told her.
He must have forgotten that he said the kitchen would warm up quicker.
“Come then, Genie. My grandson doesn’t think an old woman can sit on a stool, so join me in a booth. With an attitude like that, he can cook in here alone.”
