‘They all know you. They all know about the granddaughter who flew thousands of miles to run a store for an oldie like me. How is the store? Still up and running, I take it? You haven’t let it burn down, have you?’
She dabbed her mouth with the paper napkin. ‘It’s doing brilliantly.’ She’d wait until they’d eaten to tell him the whole truth.
‘Have you found anyone to help you out yet? It’s hard work. I know from experience. You need another pair of hands or you’ll burn out, my girl.’
‘Yes, Grandpa.’ She grinned. She did need a bit of help, especially in the run-up to Christmas, but she’d been so busy she hadn’t got around to advertising. The young woman who helped out last year and the year before had got engaged and moved to Seattle, so she couldn’t even turn to her in an emergency.
‘And how are the workshops going?’ Grandpa Joe sprinkled a liberal second helping of cheese on top of his bowl of chilli, even though he was halfway through already.
Cleo talked about the knitting groups, some of which were still going from his time running the store and some from when Grandma Eliza had started them in the first place. The members had evolved, some old and some new, but they were still held on the same days at the same times.
When they’d finished the chilli and Cleo managed to make her Grandpa sit down for more than five minutes, she was about to discuss the letter with him. But she didn’t get a chance because he launched into talk about her dad and her stepmother.
‘Your dad is planning to travel after retirement.’ Grandpa Joe’s grey hair had waves that had been passed down to his daughter and then again to Cleo.
‘So I’ve heard.’ Teresa had tried to get her chatting about travelling last time she’d picked up the phone when Cleo called, but as with anything Teresa said, Cleo couldn’t muster any enthusiasm. She knew it was childish, but Cleo had resented the woman’s presence in her life for so long she barely knew how to behave any differently these days.
‘Teresa has already stopped working.’ Grandpa Joe frowned behind thick-framed glasses.
Teresa, who was a senior stylist at a top hairdressing salon in London, had taken a step back last year with a view to stopping for good and Cleo had been glad to be out of the country. The last thing she wanted was for Teresa to be trying to see more of her, talk to her, bring all three of them together like one big happy family.
‘They may come over to America.’ Grandpa Joe wasn’t giving up.
‘Teresa hates the cold so I doubt it’ll be for a while yet.’
‘I guess you know her better than I do.’
‘I heard her mention it once or twice, that’s why they always holiday in Spain and Portugal.’ Grandpa Joe could think again if he was going to catch her out at caring about her stepmother. He’d known the strain between them and Cleo couldn’t see it ever changing.
Grandpa Joe finished his chilli, and as he always did, used a piece of bread to mop up the debris.
‘There’s something I need to discuss with you, Grandpa.’ Cleo lifted up her empty bowl and his and took them over to the sink. She pulled the letter from her bag and handed it to him.
‘What’s this?’
‘Read it.’
He did as she advised and then looked up at her. ‘How do you feel?’
It wasn’t the response she’d expected. ‘How doyoufeel is more the question.’
He shrugged. ‘The store was Eliza’s dream, not mine. I almost shut the place, remember?’
‘Until I came along. Don’t you want me to keep it going? Wouldn’t you be sad if it all came to an end?’ Not to mention her loss of income and the need to find other work so she could keep her apartment and eat for the foreseeable future.
‘Of course I’d be sad, but I think you should take me out of the equation.’
Cleo rolled her eyes. ‘How can I do that, Grandpa? It’s your store.’
‘It’s yours now, as I keep saying. My name is on the lease, but when Eliza died my enthusiasm was buried with her. I want my granddaughter to be happy.’ He covered her hand with his own. ‘That’s my focus now. It gives me joy. What would make you happy?’
‘Without the store, I’d need to relocate, or do something else entirely, or even go back to England. With Dad getting older, sometimes I feel as though I should.’ Sometimes she also thought she’d run away from all her problems with Aaron and the divorce too quickly, and perhaps that was why she found it so hard to open her heart to another man and let someone else become a part of her life.
‘Do you want to live in England again?’
Cleo shrugged. ‘I haven’t thought it through too much at all, to be honest. But it’s another option.’
‘Have you heard from Aaron?’
