Page 26 of Grumpy

“What did you do this afternoon after I left?” Kelly inquired, not liking the silence even though it seemed to be annoying Margery.

“Slept mostly,” Grumpy answered shortly. “Only one of my feet got massaged, so I felt lopsided walking around.”

Kelly nearly choked into her soup. Her mom, of course, openly laughed. “Seriously? Now, you get a sense of humor?”

Though he didn’t smile down at her, he did nudge her with his shoulder.

Kelly shook her head and went back to her soup, mentally declaring speaking too dangerous in present company.

Grimm ate the entire plate of pastries, two glasses of milk, and three bowls of soup. Kelly had no idea if the man usually ate that much or if he was just starving this particular day.

Margery never touched her spoon or bowl. Kelly’s mom was getting him more tayglekh when Margery’s hand slammed down on the kitchen table. While Kelly jumped, Grumpy and Grimm did not. Both, however, looked murderously at Margery, like she’d just set off a firecracker in a library.

“I demand to know just what is going on!” Margery declared loudly. “You toss me out of your house after everything I have done for you, have this despicable man drag me to an airport three hours away, force him to keep me at the gate like a common criminal, and then have him bring me back here after hours of traffic, and you’ve barely spoken to me! You speak to this,” she waved her hand up and down at Kelly, “harlot more than you have me when I have been the one taking care of you for months.”

Kelly blanched at the implication.

“I put up with a lot of shit from you, Mother, but if you ever call Kelly a name like that again in my presence, it will be the last time you and I speak.” Grumpy’s tone brooked no argument.

Margery looked like her son had just slapped her across her withered face. “Jesse!”

Kelly gently touched Grumpy’s hand, hoping to calm him. She knew the skin grafts and burns were not as severe on his left hand as they were on his right. “Aside from her poor choice of words,” Kelly said pointedly, “she’s got valid questions. I highly doubt you brought her all the way back from the airport for my mom’s chicken soup.”

“Feh,” her mom scoffed. “Alter makhsheyfe didn’t even eat it! A shtekn in tokhes, that one.”

Kelly groaned. The last thing she needed was a mother war in her kitchen. Hopefully Margery had no idea Ruth had just called her an old witch with a stick up her ass.

Grumpy didn’t even blink at the insult, staring down his mother.

Margery stared back.

Grumpy did not flinch or relent.

Margery squirmed a little.

The battle of wills continued so long that Kelly feared moving and breaking Grumpy’s concentration.

Then Margery threw her hands up in the air. “What did you want me to say, Jesse? Lie to the poor girl?”

“How about not telling her anything because it wasn’t your place to say?”

Margery leaned forward on the table. “She has a right to know what she’s getting into in starting a relationship with you.”

“Don’t play the protector card, Mom. It’s beneath you. Why would you tell Kelly about Tanya’s and Nadine’s accusations when you know I did nothing wrong?”

Grimm raised a hand. “What accusations? Do I need to kick your ass?”

“They accused him of cheating on them,” Kelly quickly explained. “But he didn’t—because he’s a good man who would never do something like that.”

Grimm nodded once. “Good. I might have felt a little bad if I had to rough him up,” he gestured to Grumpy’s scars and compression wraps, “but I would have done it if he forced himself on those women.”

Kelly supposed that was something. Grimm had honor, which was nice to know in this day and age. When Margery said nothing in her defense, Kelly interjected, “She told me about your father, said you were just like him.”

Grumpy frowned, his eyes narrowing. It made his left eye start to weep. Kelly carefully wiped the moisture away with the pad of her thumb. “You have always compared me to him, claim I look just like him. But since I’ve never seen or met the man, I wouldn’t know.”

“You’re better off without him,” Margery snapped. “He would have never loved you. Not like I love you.”

“And yet you would tell Kelly things you know are lies about my past? That’s not love, Mom. That’s manipulation.”