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I wasn’t sure I approved, and I hadn’t decided by the time we got to the fancy southern restaurant again.
“They have the best chicken, so I hope you don’t mind coming here again?” Raising one eyebrow as he turned off the car, Daddy smiled as I bounced in my seat. “I think that’s a no?”
“I’m excited.” It was hisyou’re specialrestaurant and they had good food. “And I’m important.”
“And not that big.” Daddy leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Should we have a bubble bath when we get home or play toys for a little while? You don’t have to work tomorrow.”
“But you do.” Daddy had a very traditional schedule, not like mine. “I can be good and go to bed on time.”
He kept saying that I worked harder than he did but he had to make a lot of important decisions and he didn’t need to be tired either. I could drink lots of caffeine and pretend to be functional, but he actually had tobefunctional.
“How about we split the difference as long as you agree to sleep in as long as you can, even if that means you don’t wake up until after I go to work.” Daddy looked like he’d be patient all evening until he got his way. “I think that’s very fair.”
Ugh.
That was hisI’m going to win and you’re going to let mesentence.
He liked that one.
“Yes, it’s fair.” It was just kind of weird, though. “What…what if she’s there?”
I’d never been in that kind of situation before and I was never sure what to say to her. She was nice, but I was just me and she was there doing stuff.
“She’ll be there but only from about noon until I get home.” Giving me a quick peck, Daddy released our seat belts and pulled me closer. “She’s going to make sure you have lunch and she’llget a few things done around the house, and then she’s going to spend the weekend with her grandchildren.”
“She looks younger than a grandma.” It probably wasn’t the most logical response, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. “She’s probably a very organized grandma.”
Daddy was trying not to laugh and nodded a few times to get his terrible sense of humor under control. “She had her kids young. I think she said she was sixteen when she had her first, so she’s not very old.”
Oh.
“By the time I met her, she’d been working in housekeeping for a long time.” Brushing his hand over my head, he ran his fingers through my hair. “I met her when I had to stay at one of those long-term hotels while the house was being built. She impressed me and she agreed to come work for me once the house was ready.”
“She seems to like working for you.” Nothing I’d seen or heard said otherwise.
“I think so.” Looking thoughtful for a moment, Daddy shrugged. “She’s very straightforward and has always told me if there’s a problem. So I believe her when she says she liked meeting you and that she thinks you’re good for me.”
As my face heated up, I tried to hide against his hand. “She’s nice.”
“She is and she understands that sometimes life is hard.” Daddy kissed my forehead, smiling as I sighed. “She thinks hard work is more important than being a pretentious asshole.”
Grace had definitely met his family.
Giggling, I leaned over and curled into his chest as close as I could. “So that’s your way of saying she doesn’t think I’m a professional and she likes me?”
Laughing, he nodded. “Yes.”
He was such a brat.
“Are you ready to have dinner and tell me all about Dally’s family?” He couldn’t seem to decide if he was nervous about that or excited, which just showed how smart he was. “I have a lot of questions if I’m going to be prepared.”
Very smart.
“What everyone’s names are to start.” Daddy huffed when I snickered. “I need to make a chart of jobs, important information like marriages and divorces, topics I’m not supposed to bring up, and hobbies so I know what to bring up.”
Smart people were kind of scary.
“We can start on that tomorrow, but I really might have to make a chart so I remember everything?” There were a lot of them. “Dally’s mother didn’t make a present chart one year and she forgot one of his brothers at Christmas. She didn’t get him any presents. Luckily, he was old enough that he didn’t believe in Santa any longer but it was terrible.”
