AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her smile faded as she turned toward the police station. It was time to tackle the next issue of the day. Reese had no idea her grandfather was planning to come to visit her. They talked a few times a week on the phone, and he never mentioned it. The trip from North Carolina to Oklahoma was a long one driving, let alone riding on a bus with other stops along the way.
She didn’t even know he had dementia. How could she have not known that? It was certainly possible at eighty years old, but he always sounded so normal on the phone. He was never confused or forgetful about the details. Nope, her grandfather was as brash and bold as he had ever been.
Pushing down a sigh, Reese opened the door to the small police station in the middle of town. A few desks sat in the front office with a long hall leading to what she assumed were more offices. The fluorescent lights buzzed as they gave off a yellowish tint to the paneled walls. Reese rang the bell on the counter. After waiting a few minutes, she rang it again. Reese could hear voices back in the hallway. With the front desks empty and no one answering the bell, she decided to follow the voices.
The first door she came to revealed three officers seated around a table listening to her grandfather as he told them one of his stories. Reese smiled. She heard this one many times. It was a colorful story about sneaking away from the base during his army days only to be snuck back on in the trunk of a car driven by his one-night stand.
Pappy has led an interesting life. Leaning against the door frame, she waited until he was finished. Reese watched him closely for signs of forgetting his story. The story was the same. Told by a man who sounded sharp as a tack.
Gratefully seeing nothing other than a few more wrinkles, he looked the same as the last time she saw him. Pappy still sported a full head of white hair, and his blue eyes that matched hers lit with humor as he talked. It had been seven years since Reese had seen him. Guilt filled her at the thought of how long it had been. Laughter from around the table signaled the end of his story.
Clearing her throat, Reese made her presence known. “Well, Pappy, I see you still haven’t changed too much.”
“Reese, my favorite granddaughter,” he smiled warmly.
“Pappy, I am your only granddaughter,” she bantered back to him, remembering well their old routine.
“I came to visit you, but I got a little confused at the station.”
“Pappy, why didn’t you tell me you were coming to visit? I would have met you at the station.”
“I thought I did,” he grinned almost sheepishly at her.
Reese’s heart stuttered. She knew that grin. Her grandfather was up to something. The man always had his fingers in something or a crazy idea that floated in from nowhere he wanted to try. Age never slowed him down for long. Oliver Craft was as wily at eighty as he was at twenty.
“Ma’am,” a voice from behind Reese vied for her attention. “I am Officer Franks. We spoke on the phone.”
Reese nodded, keeping a watchful eye on the man in question.
“Can I talk to you for a minute before you take your grandfather home?”
“Sure.” Reese turned, following him into another office.
She sat in the chair he offered her across from him. He studied her for a minute before launching into questions. His dark eyes perused her with a definite male interest, but Reese kept her face impassive. She didn’t have time for another man in her life, and that was before Pappy showed up. Reese couldn’t deny the officer was good-looking, but it was going to take more than a tall, dark, and handsome with a face that could grace the cover of a magazine to lure her back into the shark-infested dating pool. Ignoring his gaze, she concentrated on their discussion. Forty-five minutes and more questions than she could answer later, Reese guided her grandfather out the front door of the police station with a firm warning to keep an eye on him.
“Where is your car?” Pappy stopped looking around at the parked cars along the street.
“I thought it would be a nice day for a walk,” Reese hedged, rolling one of his suitcases down the sidewalk.
“Car broke down again, huh?” He asked, shaking his head at her before falling in beside her toting his other suitcase behind him.
“Pappy, want to tell me what is going on? They found you with marijuana in your bag and a note that says you have dementia. Care to explain that one?”
“Now, Reese, my favorite granddaughter, let’s go home,” he chuckled, dangling his free arm around her shoulders. Pappy was as tall as she was with a gate that bespoke of his age.
“Oh lord, you lied to the police about having dementia to get out of the marijuana charges,” she cried.
“Maybe,” his eyes twinkled. “I am old. I forget things sometimes. Who is to say what it is?”
“Shit,” Reese grumbled. “Can this day get any worse?”
“Well, girlie, it isn’t going to get any better. Officer bossy pants kept my weed,” Oliver ribbed, sending her one of his mischievous grins.
“Probably for the best,” was the only response Reese could come up with as she grinned back, leading the way home.
Chapter 3
Reese pulled the suitcase up the drive, followed closely by her grandfather. Slowing her steps to match his created a longer walk from the police station, but she was a woman with some time on her hands since she had no job. The hood of her car was up, and the garage door at the end of her little drive was open as well. Curious, she turned in that direction instead of the house.
