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“You okay, sweet pea?”
“I’ll be okay,” Katie answers and I frown. I hear them whispering, but I can’t make the words out—which is probably for the best.
“Jake! Don’t leave before I get out, okay?” Lennon yells as he and Katie start walking down the hall where the bathroom is.
“I’ll be around, buddy. Just gonna talk to Miss Hazel for a bit.”
“Yay! Okay then. Jake and I are best friends, Grandma.”
“Is that right?” Hazel says, looking at me.
“Yep! Right, Jake?”
“Sure enough,” I tell him with a grin which he returns.
I bring my hand up to rub my chest in the vicinity of my heart. I don’t know how I’m feeling here. I just know that little boy is important.
I resist the urge to shift under Hazel’s weighted stare as I put her dessert on the TV tray in front of her.
“Did you have a good day out with my granddaughter and Lennon?”
“I did. Lennon keeps you entertained.”
“That he does,” she admits, pushing the fork back and forth in the cheesecake. “Your mother says you’re home to stay for a while,” she adds and frowns. It appears I’ve been the topic of conversation. I mean, I figured it would happen. I just didn’t want to hear about it.
“Yeah, for a while.”
“How long of a while?” she asks point blank.
“I don’t really know how to answer that. If you’re asking if I’m planning on being in Macon permanently, I’m not sure what I’m doing. I have a job that isn’t in Macon, but I plan on being a permanent fixture in Lennon’s life.”
“Hard to do that if you’re out there chasing dreams, boy.”
“It can be done if the reason is important.”
“You think Lennon is important?”
“Damn straight.”
“Too bad you didn’t come to that conclusion seven years ago—or even four years ago,” she chastises, pushing the cheesecake away.
Her response confuses me a little, but I let it slide. I’ve been learning to do that a lot today.
Miss Hazel has a round belly that shows just how much she loves sweets. She has this long, gray hair that somehow still hasa few streaks of black. It falls to the backs of her knees. I used to watch Katie wash and brush it for Hazel. It would take hours before Katie was ready to braid it and then put it up in a bun at the back of her head. She’s got eyes that remind me of Katie’s, and they hold the same sparkle when she’s happy. When she’s worried or upset, though, they are clear blue and can cut through you like a cold, December wind in a storm. That stare…cuts.
“I think it’s time we cut the shit between us, boy. What’s wrong with my baby?”
“Miss Hazel…”
“You know I’ve always liked you, Jake. I think people in this town got you mostly wrong, but if you hurt my baby today, I’m not going to hesitate to take my cane to you. Maybe that will finally beat some sense into that stubborn head of yours.”
“Well, you can keep the cane down. I’m innocent here.”
She lets out a breath that can only be described as complete disbelief. I’m a man who doesn’t blush, but shit, if this woman doesn’t make me want to.
“Bull feathers. You haven’t been innocent since you were a kid and started sniffing around my girl, filling her head with dreams.”
“Fair enough,” I laugh. “But at least in this case, I’m innocent. The three of us had a good day until dinner.”
