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“Not for a farmer’s son or a woman who makes beautiful gardens for a living.” He grinned ruefully. “Oklahoma lives and dies by the weather. And oil prices. And the Sooners.”
“Sooners?” She arched one eyebrow as Poppy pulled her toward a small Bartlett pear tree that looked as parched as he felt.
“Not a fan of the University of Oklahoma?”
“Not a fan of sports in general.”
“Didn’t you play soccer when you were a kid? Toss a baseball around with the other kids in the neighborhood? No, wait, you look more like a dance or gymnastics sort of kid.” No matter what she did, she had an air of grace that came from years of body awareness and control.
For a long time she gazed off into the distance, her features unreadable. Remembering dance recitals with her parents sitting in the front row videoing her? Thinking of all the gymnastics classes they’d taken her to, all the meets, all the encouragement? Or maybe it had been swim classes, her mom sitting patiently through hour after hour of practice and competitions.
Until she turned eleven, when life as she knew it had ended.
He was mentally kicking himself when she gave her head a little shake, coming back from the past. “I was more of an indoor girl. My mother raised a daughter, not a tomboy.”
Abruptly she tugged Poppy’s leash. “Come on, sweetie, you’re just playing. It’s bedtime, and you know it.”
After a few more sniffs, the dog peed, circled a few times and took care of that, too. Sam took the plastic bag from Mila, scooped it up and tied a knot. He tossed it in a garbage can at the corner disguised as a planter, thick vines of purple sweet potato trailing down to the sidewalk.
Inside Jessica’s building, he followed Mila and Poppy up the stairs to the fifth floor, enjoying the view of swaying hips and well-developed glutes for the first two floors, thinking for one floor that she and/or Poppy needed to get over it if they had an aversion to the elevator, then going back to enjoying the view. When they reached the top, Mila pressed Jessica’s buzzer, and just seconds later, a harsh voice shouted from behind them.
“Jessica, your granddaughter’s being brought home by the police! No surprise there, huh?”
Mila cringed at the shrillness of the voice, and so did Poppy. Sam turned to scowl at the peephole in the doorway. “What have I told you about minding your own business, Miz Wynona?”
“Don’t you talk to me like that, Sammy Douglas,” she shouted back. “I’ll tell your mama at church on Sunday.”
He turned back as Jessica opened the door and immediately enveloped Mila in a hug. As he shepherded them inside, he muttered, “Yeah, you don’t scare me, you nosy old witch.”
Jessica gave him an elbow in the ribs when he drew even with her. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I noticed you said it where she couldn’t hear.”
He grimaced. “She really will tell Mom, who will ask me why in the world I keep giving Wynona a reason to complain to her.”
“Oh, I think that’s all Wynona has, is reasons to complain. Welcome to Ramirez Guest Lodge.” The apartment was all lit up, not with the soft white bulbs he used in his own house but middle-of-the-blazing-day ten-million-watt-sun bulbs. It made the bright colors—orange sofa, turquoise chair, rug woven of primary colors—even brighter and made him appreciate the quiet calm of Mila’s house even more.
“Thank you for bringing my grandbabies safely to me.” Jessica hugged him before heading to the kitchen. “I’ve got milk and brownies. Will you stay and have some with us?”
He wasn’t crazy about milk, but he did love a good brownie, enough that he didn’t believe there could actually be a bad brownie. But it was late, and he was tired, and Mila looked beyond tired. “Thanks, but five o’clock comes awfully early, and I think your babies can probably use some gramma time.”
“Oh, you’re so sweet. I bet your mama’s proud to burstin’ of you, even if you do rile the old hag across the hall. You get an extra one for that.” Jessica slid two brownies from the plate on the counter into a plastic bag and zipped it as she crossed to him. “I bake every day of the week that ends in y, so if you ever need a sweets fix, drop in here or at the shop anytime.”
