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“I will gladly relay that message.” Cody returned the chair to its spot against the wall and followed Demmy out into the hall.
“She’s in and out a bit, but she’s still got her wits,” Demmy said.
“Yeah, she’s still feisty.”
“Those Bower genes are strong.” Demmy bumped gently against him. “Doing okay?”
“Hm? Oh, yeah. That bit about Molly singing to her was weird. What did you think about that?”
“It did sound a little odd. But was it more unusual than what she’s said before?”
“I guess not. Maybe it’s getting to me because it reminded me of Nicolae standing by those bushes in his wolf form, you know?” He shook his head and made a face. “Never mind. Most likely our conversation with Zenona has gotten under my skin more than I thought.”
“Do you want to ask the nurses about Molly?”
“No, I don’t want to get her in trouble or anything. I mean, for all I know it’s some kind of yoga thing. You know, like a sound bath or something.”
“Sound bath?” Demmy laughed and bumped him again. “Good God, how much of a contradiction can you be? On one hand, you’re hooked on that old rerun channel, and on the other you know about sound baths.” He shook his head and looked at him with a relaxed and loving smile that helped pull Cody out of his contemplation. “You’re a complicated man, Cody Bower.”
“If anyone should know that, it’s you.” He grabbed Demmy’s hand as they stepped out the automatic door. “Want to stop by and see Amelia and Otis while we’re out here?”
“Sounds good. Maybe they’ll have your channel on, and you won’t have to miss Maude.”
* * *
When Cody pulled up in front of Amelia and Otis’s ranch-style condo, he saw a few puffs of smoke drift out from beneath the covered porch of a condo a couple of doors down the street.
“I’m going to take a minute to visit the old girl,” Cody said.
Demmy looked down the street. “Which one? Eileen or the car?”
“I’m going to tell Eileen you said that. And she has a name,” Cody said with mock impatience.
“It’s ridiculous.”
“Still, I’d like to hear you say it.”
Demmy sighed. “Geraldine. There, you happy?”
Cody leaned down for a quick kiss. “So happy.”
“Tell Eileen hello.”
“And Geraldine?”
Demmy walked off without a word.
“He’ll come around,” Cody muttered, then set off along the sidewalk.
Eileen Berridge-Westerhaus-Answell, Ollie’s grandmother and a cantankerous woman who had saved Cody’s life at least once, sat in a cushioned rocker on the front porch of her condo. Despite the heat of the day, she wore a man's red and blue plaid quilted barn coat, the sleeves rolled up several times to expose her small pale hands and skinny forearms, a pair of faded and patched jeans, and orthopedic walking shoes. Her hair was pulled back in the familiar long silver braid, and she squinted bright green eyes Cody knew so well as she stared out through the tiny clouds of smoke produced by the pipe she held between her teeth. As he walked into her sightline, she turned her head to check him out, her expression tightening as if to ward off any casual visitor. Upon recognizing him, however, she brightened and removed the pipe from her mouth to call to him in her tobacco-scratched voice.
“It’s about damn time you stopped by to see me!” She sat back in the rocker and looked away, holding up a hand, palm out. “Unless you’re just here to see her.”
“You’re always first on the list, Eileen,” Cody said as he walked up the drive. “You know that.”
“Mm hm.”
He paused at the walkway that curved around some landscaping to get to the front door. The code entry pad for the two-car garage door was just a couple of feet away, and he glanced at it before looking back at Eileen. “But, since I’m right here, and you’re all the way up there, it might be easier for me to see her first and visit with you after.”
