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She blinks. “You know what that is?” she asks him.
He rolls his eyes. “I’m not lame, Mom. I know what pot is. I thought you smoked it, not ate it,” he replies.
“Have you ever smoked it?” she asks cautiously.
“No. I’m twelve. I don’t want to stunt my growth,” he says.
“And it’s illegal and a bad idea, and it leads to other bad habits,” she corrects him.
He turns to her and grins. “That too,” he agrees.
Leona walks in from the back deck, and we all look to her.
“You make pot candy, Granna?” Caleb asks.
“I do. It’s for my glaucoma,” she says as she pinches his cheek.
“Glaucoma? I thought you said it was for your arthritis,” Taeli asks.
“That too,” Leona replies as she takes a piece and pops it into her mouth.
Caleb giggles.
“What? It’s herbal medication,” she insists.
“Yeah, and Mom’s wine is a natural stress reliever,” Caleb adds.
“Hey, I don’t drink that often,” Taeli defends.
“I know. And I’ve never seen Granna high. At least, I don’t think so. She’s always a little loopy,” he whispers the last part.
Leona laughs.
“I’m a free spirit, remember? We’re loopy loos,” she says as she places a finger under his chin and lifts his face to hers. “Besides, I don’t like chemical pharmaceuticals. Those are overprescribed and made to be addictive, causing an epidemic. God gave us the means to take care of ourselves naturally.” She kisses him on his forehead and flutters past us.
Taeli’s eyes meet mine, and she shakes her head.
“Good talk,” she declares.
“Yep,” Caleb agrees and then asks, “Are the cookies safe?”
She lets out a breath. “Yeah, have at them, kid.”
He grabs a handful from one of the baskets and takes off up the stairs to his room.
Taeli’s worried eyes follow him.
“Something wrong?” I ask.
She looks at me. “Yeah. Damon called the other day, trying to convince me to hop on a plane with Caleb and join him for a vacation in Cabo. Apparently, Ivy is too far along in the pregnancy to travel.”
“What?” I ask a little louder than I meant to.
“I know. He’s insane, and I told him so, but he asked about Caleb going, and I told him I’d give Caleb the option of accompanying him by himself. I thought it would do them both some good to spend quality father-son time together.”
I nod my agreement. It’s important that Caleb knows his father wants to see him and that what’s happening with his parents has nothing to do with their love for him.
“Caleb didn’t want to go?” I guess.
She shakes her head. “No. He agreed to go, so I texted Damon and told him to book his flight to come to Knoxville, and he and Caleb could go on to Cabo together from there.”
“And?” I prompt her to continue.
“And this morning, I received a voice mail from him, telling me that something came up and he wasn’t going to be able to make the trip. So I called him back. We argued and the asshole wants me to break the news to Caleb.”
The coward.
I prop a hip against the island.
“So, he wanted to take you and Caleb, but once he realized you wouldn’t be joining them, he bailed on his kid. What a jackass,” I say.
“Right?! And now, I have to find a way to tell Caleb without calling his father a jackass because I don’t want him to think of him that way.”
“He’s a smart kid. He’ll figure that out for himself.”
Pain passes over her face. “I don’t want that for him. I don’t want him to feel unwanted. Damon is just punishing me because I refused his invitation to join them.”
I walk over and clasp her shoulders. “No, he’s being a dick because he didn’t get his way.”
“And Caleb is the one who will suffer.”
She plants her head on my chest, and I kiss the top of her head.
“I have an idea,” I tell her.
She brings her hopeful eyes to mine.
“You want to go fishing?” I ask.
