Grandma just pointedly looks at his jeans.
“Fine,” he says. “It wasn’t too warm. Your granddaughter ogles me when I’m half naked and her cheeks go pink and it makes me happier than I’ve been in a long time.”
I can’t stop the smile. Nor do I want to. And it’s not about me blushing brighter than a baboon’s behind. It’s how my response to him makes him happy.
“But you’re right, Audrey, us sleeping in the same room is a concern,” he continues. “Word gets around town and my reputation is sullied, you better be prepared to go before a preacher and make an honest man of me, Junebug.”
I wrinkle my nose. “I don’t think a shotgun wedding is the answer.”
“Imagine the party we could throw at the bar.”
“Nash,” I say. “No.”
He frowns.
Charlie attempts to hide an amused smile behind his hand.
“He’s telling the truth.” I lean my hip against the kitchen counter. “Nothing happened. This is your house, and I love you, but we are both grown-ass consenting adults, and I am begging you to please let this go.”
The storm cloud on Grandma’s face. Oof.
“She has a point,” says Charlie in his gravelly voice. He winces when Grandma turns her eyes of wrath on him. However, he doesn’t back down. I salute the man’s courage. He slides the cooked pancake from the pan onto a plate beside the stove with practiced ease.
“This is why he asked you to come.” Grandma sets her cup of coffee down hard on the table.
“Audrey, I’m always on your side.”
“Is that so?” she snaps. “Then where have you been the last few years?”
“You told me to fuck off, so I respected your wishes.”
I smile. “Grandma told you to fuck off? She used those exact words?”
“Stay out of it, June.” Her spine is ramrod straight. “It’s none of your business.”
“How about that hypocrisy,” mutters Nash.
“Is this you helping?” Charlie adds more pancake batter to the pan. “If so, you’re failing fucking miserably.”
“Eh.” Nash scratches at his stubble like this showdown doesn’t bother him at all. “Just not much of a fan of June being talked to that way. By anyone.”
My mother has a temper. It wasn’t unusual when I was growing up to hear raised voices in our home. I thought she got it from her deceased father. Though the anger radiating from Grandma right now makes me wonder. The bright color in her cheeks is turning nuclear fast.
“Is that really what you want to do, Aud?” asks Charlie. “Lose your shit?”
Grandma takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “What I wanted was a peaceful family breakfast. I mean…you know what I mean.”
“I know you just paid Nash and me quite the compliment.” Charlie gives her a half smile. “And we appreciate it.”
Meanwhile, Nash pulls out a chair from the kitchen table and nods to me to take a seat. Then he grabs two mugs from the cupboard and makes for the coffeepot. “You and Charlie are as close to family as I have these days,” he says, in a more subdued tone.
Grandma sighs in his general direction. The anger leaching out of her. “I know we are.”
“And given your history with women, you also know she’s right to have concerns regarding her granddaughter,” adds Charlie.
“Just like I have concerns about you and my grandmother,” I say.
“Only there’s a rather marked difference in my age and experience.” Grandma sits back in her chair and gives me a long look. “And I’m not nursing a recently broken heart.” She turns her gaze to Nash. “I haven’t just upended my life, either. You’re both going through a period of change, and neither of you knows for sure how long you intend to be in town or what you want to do with your lives. Surely it would be better to keep things simple.”
