“He doesn’t bite,” Jenna said about Graham as Cody walked by the barking dog and hoisted the kayak into the back of her truck. “Well, not usually.”
“If I was worried about that, I’d be in the water.” Cody used a loose rope to anchor the kayak in the truck bed, though with the short ride ahead, it probably wasn’t necessary. But the last thing he needed was to replace it right before he left town because it’d fallen out. It’d be impossible to find a new one this time of year.
Graham sat firmly in the passenger seat, his pointed ears perked, tail wagging, and his large frame unmoving.
“Graham, you can ride in the back this once,” Jenna said to the dog. He pretended to ignore her, but his twitching ear gave him away. She stared at him until he relented and looked back at his owner. “Back seat, buddy. We have a guest.”
With a dramatic groan, Graham hopped over the console and positioned himself in the center of the back seat so as not to obstruct his view. Cody hardly fastened his seat belt before he felt the cold nudge of a wet nose and laughed. “Thanks for giving up shotgun, buddy.” He slowly lifted his hand for inspection. After an approval lick, Cody rubbed his hand over Graham’s neck.
“He likes you.” Jenna’s tone was flat again, making it impossible to discern whether she was intrigued or annoyed by this.
“Most dogs like me.” Graham hopped to the half-opened back window as the truck started to move, freeing Cody’s hand. “Cats, too.”
“And moose?” The corner of Jenna’s mouth lifted.
He reached into his pocket. “No, apparently not.” He unfolded the letter, switching the pages immediately to keep the letter hidden. He felt certain Eddie would not want Cody to share the actual contents with his granddaughter, only the list.
“I thought you weren’t going to let me read that.”
“I’m not.”
Cody skimmed the numbered items, surprised at how simple some of them seemed.Breakfast at Moosecakes, watch a sunset at Lookout Point, attend a local festival—
A series of chimes rapid-fired from his phone, causing Graham to bark twice. A litter of text messages—all from his family—filled his screen. Mom demanding to know where he was, Haylee promising to save him a crêpe, and Sadie apologizing for missing the annual family event but begging to grab dinner in Anchorage before he flew out to make up for it.
“Popular guy,” Jenna remarked.
“I’m late for family breakfast.”
Jenna turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised in what appeared to be genuine curiosity. “How big is your family?”
“Parents, one brother, three sisters, and one niece.” Cody quickly sent a response to Haylee, hoping she’d put out the fire his absence was seemingly creating until he arrived. With any luck, they’d wait to start eating until he got there. Then he shot one off to Sadie to confirm dinner plans, secretly relieved she hadn’t made the trip to Sunset Ridge this year. He loved all his sisters, but the middle one was causing an excessive amount of drama lately. “And a brother-in-law.”
“Wow, thatisa big family.” She slowed for a stop sign at the end of the dirt road, waiting for an SUV to pass before she turned onto the two-lane highway toward Sunset Ridge. Cody couldn’t help but scan the ditches for Ed, not that the moose’s sudden presence would justify his earlier trespassing. “You all close?”
“Yeah, I’d say we are.”
He wondered if his sisters would help him with the list after he left for Maui. Surely Eddie would understand if Cody couldn’t personally take Jenna to do all these things—ifshe even agreed to let him.
“The thing with the lawyer should be quick,” she said, a hint of apology in her voice, as they entered the city limits. Cody found it odd considering she was doing him a favor driving him back to town. He’d still be thirty minutes out at best in his kayak. “You might have to sign a form or something.”
Cody held up the list, but because Graham’s eager nose threatened to dampen the notebook paper, he dropped it back to his lap. “Jenna, your grandpa—”
“No.” She held up her hand toward him, refusing to look over. “Let’s get this over with. Then you can get to your enormous happy family.”
“And what about you?”
“What about me?” She made a turn that took them down Forget Me Not Lane, but she didn’t seem to notice the magnificent bay view as they snaked along it.
“Eddie never talked much about family,” Cody explained. “But he did mention a couple of granddaughters.” He wished now that he’d listened closer to the stories Eddie told him, filing them away for later access. But with everyone Cody met during his travels and time on movie sets who felt the need to tell him their entire life story, it was hard to recalleveryconversation. “Is one your sister?”
Jenna stiffened, gripping the wheel at ten and two tight enough to bring out the white in her knuckles. “Whitney.” She pulled into a spot outside Jenkins’ Law Office and shifted the truck into park. “Let’s just say I’m not upset about the lack of cell service out at the cabin.” She looked back at Graham. “You stay here. We’ll be right back.”
Cody followed Jenna to the door, Eddie’s list still clenched in his hand. “Jenna, there’s something your grandpa wanted me to do.” He thought he had her attention when she turned back and looked at him, but the sunglasses misled him.
“This won’t take long.”
He wasn’t the type to become easily frustrated, but Jenna was testing his impressively high patience threshold. If he wasn’t heading to Maui to film a new TV series on a three-year deal, he could approach Eddie’s request more delicately. But they didn’t have that kind of time.
