Page 97 of If I Didn’t Have You

“Sorry, Rosie, but it’s time to eat, which means you’re going to sit down over here.”

“She just loves sitting with her grandma,” Blake grinned.

“Yes, but Grandma is no longer going to be the person who takes the grandkids whenever you don’t want to deal with her whining. And that goes for all of you.”

The room went silent as they all stared at me in utter confusion.

“Hey, honey,” Ben walked in, grinning at me and freshly washed. Walking over to me, he pressed a kiss to my lips. “Smells good. You outdid yourself.”

He was lying, but I didn’t care. Things were going well between us.

As I sat down, I said grace as usual, but during the prayer, Rosie started whining about sitting with me. I finished the prayer, then turned to my granddaughter with a stern expression.

“Rosie, enough! You will sit there and eat your meal in your chair.”

“Geez, Ma!” Michael snapped. “What the hell is your problem?”

“My problem?”

“Yeah, she’s just a kid, and she only wants to sit with you.”

“Yes, but she always does. As do Willa and Duke. And you let them get away with it.”

“That’s not true,” Lizzy frowned. “You’re acting like we take advantage or something.”

“Because you do.”

Her jaw dropped in shock at my words.

“Don’t believe me? How about a few months ago when I came into the bar for a drink? You had paperwork to do and she wouldn’t stop crying, so you plopped her in my lap.”

“Well, yeah, but I needed the help.”

“And I wanted a drink. A night when I wasn’t Grandma. The problem with all of you is that you think, because I love my grandkids, I’ll drop everything to help out. And there used to be a time when that was true. But from now on, you will respect my time and ask for help, not assume I will always give it.”

Lizzy blinked back tears, quickly brushing them away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was such a burden to help me out.”

“Don’t turn this around on me. I have always been there for you, and I will continue to, but I need all of you to realize that I am not there to be at your beck and call for whatever you need. You will not assume that because I’m in the room that I will take over when the kids become too much for you to handle. And if you have to go to work, you will ask if I can watch the kids, not just drop them off for me to take care of. Am I being clear enough?”

They all nodded, but I knew this wasn’t the end of it.

“Now, Rosie, if you’d like, you may sit in the chair next to me and eat dinner.”

My granddaughter climbed down from her chair and scurried over to me. Jeff vacated his chair, allowing his niece to sit where he had been. As I pushed her in, I kissed her forehead.

“Good girl.”

When I looked up again, Ben was staring at me with the same intensity he had last night. I felt like he was reading my every thought, calculating how long it would take to kick everyone out of the house so he could undress me once again.

And for the first time in a long time, I was completely on board with getting rid of everyone.

“Eat up. Dinner’s getting cold.”

Ben grabbed the bowl of spaghetti, piling on a heaping that was smaller than his usual portion. “Pass this down to your mother,” he said to Krista, shoving the plate at her.

“So, how’s the room coming?” I asked, curious what progress he made today.

“Good. I need to drive out to Missoula to get the lumber for the siding. Once that’s up, we can start on the electric.”