Stacking the Deck (A Betting on Romance Novel Book 2)(4)
“Mom, now isn’t the time—”
“I’ll make it quick then! Is there any chance you could take some time off work to help out your dad and I?”
“Time off? I suppose I have some days accrued. What do—?”
“Wonderful! We need you to take care of installing our new patio. Well, not actually installing it, more overseeing it!”
“A patio? Mom, I can’t come to Florida to—”
“Not in Florida! In Sugar Falls! We want to replace the old deck and put in a nice patio and walkway. Your father wants it done before we come home, so the grass has time to grow back before the heat of the summer. You know how he is about a lush lawn! We’ve got someone in mind, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble. I spoke with your sister last week, and she thinks the job should only take a few days—tops! ”
Liz’s heart sank with disappointment as Grant pulled on a pair of sweats and T-shirt. He handed her her glass of wine. She took a slug for fortification. He nibbled her ear.
“If Trish is on top of it, why can’t she supervise?” Liz closed her eyes as Grant’s tongue caused little tingles to run down her spine. She didn’t enjoy sounding petulant, but Trish’s geographical proximity to the deck in question, plus her devotion to HGTV, would seem to make her a much better candidate for supervising a patio install than Liz. Also, Liz was busy.
Her mother sighed. Loudly. “You know I can’t ask Patricia! With Russ’s travel schedule and her hands full with the new baby, where would she find the time?”
Liz shrugged away from Grant’s tongue. Talk of babies made her nervous when she was so close to a bed. “New baby? Clara was ‘new’ in December, Mom.” Oh God, what was she doing? She could not get sucked into this conversation!
Her mother made a sound of disgust. Either that, or she’d accidentally swallowed the phone. “Well! If you’d ever settle down and give me a grandchild, you’d know that new lasts a whole lot longer than a few days where a baby’s concerned!”
“You’ve had grandchildren since you were forty-eight years old, and you didn’t seem so thrilled at the time.”
“Nonsense! They are blessings each and every one of them! Anyway, you know we’d ask your brother, but I haven’t heard from him since Thanksgiving. Your father has been up in arms over it. We thought maybe he was planning to surprise us down here for Christmas! Of course it was unseasonably hot this year, enough to keep anyone away. Airfares are all over the place, too!” Her mother tsk tsked. Grant made impatient throat-slicing motions with his finger. Liz mouthed, I’m trying! and shrugged apologetically. “It’s all your father can do to stay comfortable. You know, it’s really not the heat, it’s the humidity. He should be thankful, I tell him! At least you don’t have to shovel the heat…”
Grant rolled his eyes and left the room. Crap! Liz watched his retreating backside and grimaced, tugging at the leg-band of her underwear. Then, wandering into the living room herself, she sank onto Grant’s dove-gray designer ottoman while her mother prattled on about hurricane warnings and prickly heat.
She’d been so right about the color. Liz ran an idle hand over the smooth, velvety fabric of the ottoman. It was the perfect complement to Grant’s black leather sofa and chrome and glass end-tables. Plus, the deep ocean blue accent wall she’d painted in alternating stripes of flat and gloss paint gave the room a subtle ‘pop.’ Liz was quite proud of the effect. Clean and sophisticated. Like Grant. It was so sweet of him to let her play with his decor this way.
“Lawn or not,” Liz cut in as her mother took a breath, “I don’t see why this can’t wait.”
“Normally it could, but with your father’s surgery—”
Liz leapt to her feet. “Dad’s having surgery? For what?”
“He’s getting that hip replacement the doctor recommended last fall!”
“Mom, it’s April! He’s been needing a hip replacement since last fall?” Liz paced back to the bedroom. How could Mom carry on about airfares and humidity when Dad was about to go under the knife? And, how could a woman who talked so incessantly communicate so little?
“You know how busy these orthopedists are down here. We’ll be staying a couple extra months and coming home in July. Anyway, you always say you never take all your vacation time, and April in New Hampshire is beautiful.”
“Right. Mud season followed by black fly season. Maybe I had plans for my vacation time this year.” Liz blew out a candle. The vanilla-scented smoke was beginning to make her eyes water.
“Did you?” her mother bellowed.
“Um, no. But I might have.” Fine. She was definitely sounding petulant now, but she didn’t care. This was supposed to be the night. Liz didn’t want to be stuck on the phone discussing grandchildren and hip surgeries and prickly heat. She wanted to be making sweet love to her boyfriend/future fiancé!
There was another audible sigh on the other end of the line. “Your father said I shouldn’t burden you like this. And don’t get me wrong, we’re happy you’re so successful, and you know we’ve tried not to hold you back or take advantage of you. You’ve earned it! But, I told your father if anyone can get this done right, it’s our Elizabeth!”