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“You look great, and Memaw loves you no matter what you wear.”
“But she does like people to look just so. She told me that one day,” she reminded him. “I think it means extra nice.”
“Well, in that case, I think you look ‘just so’ every single minute of every single day, so we’ve got that covered.” He knew what she meant, though. His mother’s outlook on things wasn’t bad, but she’d been skewed by money for a long time. For her, “just so” took on a new connotation. “And I think they just pulled in.”
“For real?” Addie raced to the door, no longer caring about the perfect look, and when his father hauled her up into his arms, Jacob knew the visit was well-timed. “Oh, Pawpaw,” Addie wrapped her arms around her grandfather’s neck and held on tight. “I missed you and Memaw so much. Look how big I am now!” She leaned back to allow his father a proper look. “And we went ice skating and sledding and it was cold, but not too cold,” she assured him, shaking her head and laughing as if he might worry about the temperature. “I think you should come visit us here in the winter, and see the snow and we could do things together, okay?”
“Visit you in the winter?” His mother seized the words quickly. “Are you staying on up here for another winter, Jacob?”
He hugged his mother, then kept an arm wrapped around her shoulders. She felt thinner, and he didn’t like that because she wasn’t a big woman in the first place. “Addie’s decided she loves the town and the schools and just about everything you can name here in Grace Haven, but I’ve reminded her that I actually need a job, so we’re exploring options for the coming year.”
“This is my first, second and third opi-shun,” she told his father, holding up three fingers as she fumbled the word. “I don’t even think we need more than that, do we?”
His father laughed and hugged her close. “I’ve missed you, kid. Memaw and I were just saying we don’t want to spend another five months apart, it’s far too long. Jacob, how’s the project going? Wrapping up on something this big can be a fun and exhausting time.”
“You’re right about that,” Jacob admitted. “The mistakes are a headache, but then I get to fix them, and that’s what they pay me for. And so far, so good, I’m pleased with how things are going, which means the Carringtons are pleased.”
“Job security, right there.”
Jacob hesitated. “I’m indecisive at the moment.”
“You haven’t been indecisive since you learned how to crawl.” His father studied him more closely. “You started by moving forward and that’s what you’ve done, every step of the way. I didn’t think the word existed in your vocabulary.”
“Well, it’s different now.” He grinned at Addie in his father’s arms, but didn’t want to say too much. First, Addie was right there. Second, tweaking his mother’s consternation about being bypassed to raise her granddaughter wouldn’t make for a fun time.
“So Addie’s still in school?” his mother asked. She hugged Addie while his dad held her, a sweet image of family unity. Maybe a unity they could have again, someday. “Schools down south were out weeks ago.”
“School lets out later up here. It starts later, too, but they’re not doing too much right now.” He aimed a teasing look at Addie, a look he shared with his mother. “Were you hoping to spend the day together?”
“I sure was!” Addie punched her hand into the air. “Dad, can we do that for real? Have a day with Memaw and Pawpaw?”
“You can.” He made a face of regret. “I’m working. We’ve got Josie’s kitchen put together enough for her to get the smoker up and running, so while the kitchen crew gets assembled for the take-out shack, I’ll be overseeing grounds and parking lot details. And the penthouse floor.”
“A far-flung focus right there,” his father noted.
“The brisket from the barbecue restaurant will be my reward at the end of the day. You guys don’t mind taking charge of my best girl?”
