AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Grand.” He pointed a warning finger at her. “Stop. You’re freaking her out.”
Ha! Freaking out is an understatement!
“Fine.” Jake’s grandmother closed the fridge after getting out a piece of pie.
Of course, it had to be pie.
“Hey, that’s my last piece,” Jake protested.
“Cry me a river.” Grand took the pie over to the kitchen table, sat down, and patted the chair next to her. “Come sit down, missy, and introduce yourself.”
Laurel looked to Jake for direction.
He shrugged. “May as well. God knows, she won’t stop bugging you until you do.”
Walking over, Laurel took the designated seat. She had no problem braving a classroom full of wild children, but facing Jake’s grandmother after she’d seen them…thatwas intimidating.
“Um, hi.”
“Don’t worry,” Grand said with a wave of her fork. “I don’t bite.”
Jake snorted.
Laurel ventured a quick glance his way. His easy grin made her relax enough to let out the breath she’d been holding. “I’m Laurel. What’s your name?”
“It sure as hell isn’t ‘grandmother’.” She sneered at Jake. “If you can put up with this one…” She gestured to her grandson with the bite of pie balanced on her fork. “You can call me Grand.” She shoveled the pie into her mouth and practically purred. “Despite being such a smart ass,” she told Jake, “you do know your way around a kitchen.”
Jake took the seat across the table from them. “Like there was any doubt.”
“Wait.” Laurel looked at the pie. True, it was only one piece, but she could still tell the crust edge had been twisted into an intricate braid design. The filling looked juicy and plentiful, and every inch of the crust was a perfect golden brown. She couldn’t even manage not to burn a frozen beef pot pie… or set her kitchen on fire. “You made this?” she asked him.
“Don’t sound so surprised. I told you I could cook.”
“Yeah, but…”
Grand snickered. “She didn’t believe you.” She patted Laurel’s hand. “Smart girl.”
The fondness for her grandson evident in Grand’s expression, and the warmth in her eyes when she addressed her made any remaining tension leave Laurel’s body. Bickering was obviously a form of affection between these two. It actuallyspoke volumes about their connection. She envied him being so close to his family.
“It’s nice that you’re playing nice,” Jake told Grand. “But why are you in my house again?”
“They put in my new carpet today,” she said.
When she didn’t elaborate, Jake flipped his hands out in front of him, palms up in an unspoken “And?”
“The place smells awful,” Grand said.
“It’ll go away in a day or two,” he told her.
“Then I guess I’ll be staying here a day or two.”
“Why don’t you stay with Jess?” he asked, sending a heated glance Laurel’s way.
“Because I don’t want to hear her and Chase rutting around like bunnies, that’s why.”
Omigosh! I can’t believe his grandma just said that!
“Bunnies don’t rut,” Jake corrected. “They hump. The expression is ‘hump like bunnies’.”
