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Gram frowned. “You know I’m not getting treatment.”
“But…if it will help your quality of life…”
She sighed and held up a white paper bag. “He gave me some Alka-Seltzer and something called simethicone that will help my stomach produce gas. Gas increases the pressure on the esophagus and can help push the food loose. Now let’s get out of here.”
I stayed quiet as I drove Bonnie and Clyde back to the hotel. If I was going to try to talk my grandmother into some preventative treatment, I wasn’t dumb enough to do it when I was being double-teamed. So I waited, and when I walked her to her room, I asked if we could talk for a few minutes. She said she needed to use the bathroom but would meet me down in the lobby for some coffee in fifteen minutes.
But it wasn’t Gram who showed up.
“She’s not coming,” Nora said when she emerged from the elevator.
“Why not? She told me to meet her here.”
Nora took the seat across from me. “I believe her exact words were ‘Love that boy, but he’s more stubborn than a mule sometimes.’”
“So she sent you?”
“No. I came on my own so you wouldn’t worry about her when you lost your patience and inevitably went up to her room to look for her. She’s not there.”
My heart clenched. “Where’d she go?”
“I don’t think you want to know.”
I shook my head. “Where is she?”
“She went to Frieda’s to play cards.”
“Frieda?”
“One of the women we met in jail. She has an afternoon game and told Louise to stop in any time.”
“How’d she get there?”
“She said the concierge would grab her a cab.”
I blew out a deep breath. “She’s a piece of work. Thanks for telling me.”
Nora covered my hand with hers. “I promise I will keep an eye on her.”
I scoffed. “Great. Will that be from two-thousand feet while you both have parachutes on?”
“I’ll watch her then, too.” She smiled and stood. “I’m going to go join them and play some cards.”
“At the illegal gambling house where you met the proprietor in prison?”
“Quit being such a buzzkill. Would you like to come?”
I shook my head. “I think I’ll pass. I have work to do anyway.”
She shrugged. “Well, I’m not missing out on an opportunity to enjoy myself with Louise while I can.”
Nora walked off. It only took about ten seconds for me to realize what she’d said.“While I can.”My heart squeezed.Fuck. She was right. Work could wait. I was the boss anyway.
I stood and yelled to Nora. “Wait up!”
***
“Who brought the Bahamian sunshine?” A woman with a heavy island accent stopped dealing cards and looked up at us. She had on a colorful headwrap and a bright shade of peach lipstick.
