One More Taste (One and Only Texas #2)(20)
But this challenge was about Knox, and he didn’t need quirky. Their confrontation-turned-conversation at his truck convinced her all the more of his need for nostalgia with a modern twist. Hence, why she’d led them to a table in the kitchen next to the brick fireplace that looked to have been used by the previous owners for baking bread and pizza and any other matter of wood-fired food.
Earlier that day, Emily had dragged the kitchen table in front of it and loaded the fireplace with wood. She’d then gathered Knox’s framed family photos from the study and arranged them on the thick wood mantle above the oven. A little touch of hominess and warmth, the perfect setting for Emily’s take on comfort food.
She’d just gotten Knox and Shayla seated when the doorbell rang. Knox made to rise. “Sorry. I have no idea who that could be.”
“I’ll get it,” Emily said, waving off his offer.
Granny June stood at the front door, her espresso-stained wood cane with purple carvings loaded with three thick, leather-bound photo albums tucked under her arm.
Emily took the albums and whispered, “You’re right on time. Thanks for doing this.”
Granny June steadied her cane against the floor and stepped into the foyer. “Oh, thank heavens. I just knew I was gonna be late. Paco was my Cab’d driver again. You know how he gets because he has the sweets for me. It’s why he drives so slowly. He likes to keep me all to himself, that rascal.”
Granny June had agreed to give up her driver’s license the same year she’d bought her first smartphone—after the fifth time she’d mowed down a mailbox while texting. Ever since, she’d had to rely on the kindness of friends and families to drive her around, along with the occasional taxi ride, though they were scarce in the backcountry of Ravel County. Then, she’d discovered driver service apps like Uber and Cab’d, and she took to them like a kid to candy. Emily shuddered to think of the bill Granny June probably racked up every month.
“How old is this Paco the Cab’d driver? Are you flirting with younger men again?” Emily teased.
Granny June had been the first member of the Briscoe family to take Emily under her wing and treat her like family, filling the roles of the mother and grandmother previously missing in Emily’s life, though just as often, the two were co-conspirators as much as kin. Whatever crazy plan either of them dreamt up, the other one was sure to jump on board. Like tonight.
“Oh, pish! You know my Tyson is the only man for me, God bless his soul.” Granny June got a kick out of imagining herself an irresistible siren to men, even if she’d never as much as gone on a single date after her husband’s death more than twenty years ago.
“Poor Paco. Yet another broken heart you’ve left in your dust.”
Granny June fluffed her hair. “It’s a burden I have to bear. But enough about that.” Her gaze shifted past Emily, skimming Knox’s house. “I haven’t been inside this house in ages. Not since the Madisons sold it. I barely recognize it now, it’s so modern. The million-dollar view’s still here, though.”
“That it is.”
Granny June nodded to the empty dining room, just visible off the foyer. “I thought you said I wasn’t late.”
“No, you’re fine. They’re in the kitchen. I’d only just gotten them seated when you arrived.”
“Let’s get on with it, then. I’ve lost enough time away from Clint’s children. It’s time for me to get to know my grandkids.”
Emily led Granny through the foyer toward the kitchen, but stopped short of the swinging door and faced her guest. “Just remember to act surprised that you’re crashing their dinner, and don’t let on that this was my idea.”
For Emily to launch her full-scale assault on Knox’s senses in such a short timeframe, she needed to use every weapon in her arsenal, including a heavy-handed dose of nostalgia courtesy of Knox’s grandmother.
“I’ve been an expert at subterfuge since before you were born, honey. Let Granny June show you how it’s done.” With that, she brushed past Emily and used her cane to push the kitchen door open.
Knox shot to his feet. “Grandmother.”
“Granny June, m’boy.”
He allowed Granny June to envelop him in a tight hug. “Right. Sorry.”
His apology fell on deaf ears, though, because Granny June’s full attention was on Shayla. She looked like she wanted to reach out to Shayla, but wrung her hands instead as her eyes welled with unshed tears. “Shayla,” she croaked. “That has to be you, doesn’t it? I haven’t seen you in … since…”
Unlike Knox, Shayla stayed rooted to her chair and extended her hand. “I don’t believe we’ve met,” she said coldly. The storm clouds behind her eyes crowded out her brightness.
Emily wanted to shake some sense into her, to tell her how snitty it was to be so cold to her own kin. Except that Emily could see both sides of the coin. If today her father’s mother miraculously reappeared from beyond the grave, Emily wouldn’t rush to embrace her either—kin or not.
Granny June was undeterred. She took the seat Knox had pulled out for her between the two siblings, her focus remaining on Shayla. “I used to sneak into the back of the auditorium at your school and watch you in all those plays. I used to watch your dance recitals the same way. I was at your high school and your college graduations. All those times, I wanted to meet you, but I could only look on you from afar. I don’t blame your folks. I know they did the best they could, but I sure did miss being a part of your life. I’m hoping we can change that now.”