Page 55 of Grave Danger

Cody sighed and raised his hand, too. “Me, too.”

“Well, hell.” Agatha looked between them. “You both should know better.”

“Enough of this talk. It’s getting us nowhere,” Demmy said, turning to Eileen. “We’ve come to see how you’re doing.” He looked at Cody and cleared his throat. “Right?”

“Right. Yep, precisely.” Cody moved up and dropped to one knee to the side of the recliner. “Hey there, hot stuff. How are you?”

Eileen smirked. “Fair to middling.” She shook her head and lightly touched the bandage on her forehead. “I keep going back through it over and over.”

“That’s to be expected, Grandma,” Ollie said in a gentle voice.

Cody thought briefly about reliving his interactions with the undead. Just as his memories of hitting the mayor had started to fade a bit, Phil, the worthless mechanic, had attacked Demmy.

He focused on Eileen, taking her hand and feeling the coolness of her skin. Giving it a gentle squeeze, he said, “You’re a tough broad, Eileen. You’re going to be okay. Hell, you went up against the Devil of Pinesville and an alpha werewolf.”

Eileen snorted a laugh. “You’ve got a point.” She smiled, but it slipped a bit and she ended up shaking her head. “Sheriff’s deputies think she had a stroke or something while she was driving. All I remember is she started talking a crazy streak in a slurred voice, and I asked her if she had a flask on her or something, and if so, why she hadn’t offered me any. Then she slumped over and the car jumped the curb, and I don’t remember anything until I was in the ambulance.”

“Sounds scary,” Agatha said.

“Yeah, it was.” Eileen let out a breath and looked at them in turn. “I know she was a pain in the ass to most everyone in town, but I really got on well with her. I’m going to miss her.”

Ollie approached and Cody stood up to allow him to kneel beside his grandmother. He watched as Ollie leaned in to give her a hug.

“I know you’ll miss her,” Ollie said, then sat back on his heels and took her hand. “But you might be the only one in town who does.”

That made everyone laugh, including Eileen, and Cody felt the mood in the room lighten considerably. Well, shit. Ollie, cub reporter boy wonder, pulled off a good one. First zombies and now this. What the hell was the world coming to?

“Branching off from that topic,” Cody said. “You all know that for some unknown reason, I was the recipient of the keys to the Widow’s car, right?”

Eileen cackled, and the bright and scratchy sound of it was good to hear. “Aren’t you the lucky one?”

“Tell me you’re not going to drive that thing,” Ollie said. “Every trip she made to the store probably peeled away another level of the ozone layer.”

“Not planning to drive it, so take it down a couple notches, Al Gore. However, I need someplace to park it. It won’t fit in our garage or even behind the house, it’s too big.”

“That’s what she said,” Cody heard Jugs whisper from behind him, followed by the sound of Agatha delivering a gentle smack.

“You want to park that beast in my garage?” Eileen widened her eyes and looked at Ollie. “That sounded pretty damn spicy, didn’t it?” Then she let loose with a screechy, high-pitched laugh.

“Grandma!” Ollie exclaimed.

“Oh, walnut trees,” Amelia said. She giggled as she blushed. “Eileen, you’re always so full of piss and vinegar.”

“Leave it to you to corrupt everyone in a senior condo,” Dave said, clapping Cody on the shoulder.

Before Cody could respond, Eileen cleared her throat and lowered the footrest of her recliner. As she got to her feet, Amelia and Ollie moved to either side of her.

“Where are you going, Grandma?”

“Easy does it, Eileen,” Amelia said.

“Oh, leave me be. I need a smoke, and I want to take a ride in that car once more before I help Cody navigate it into my garage.”

“Yeah?” Cody smiled and turned to offer his arm to her. “May I escort you outside for your smoke break?”

“Why, thank you, young man.” Eileen put her arm through his, and they set off for the front door. When the rest of the group started to follow, she stopped and looked over her shoulder. “I think Cody and I can handle this ourselves. You all hang out in here until we get back. Oliver, can you open the garage door, please?”

After mumbled agreements, and a bit of a stink-eye directed Cody’s way from Ollie, Cody helped Eileen outside and closed the door behind them.