“My son Jack is around,” she fired back.
He nodded. “He is, but he’s Cindy’s husband, running the lodge, and doing sleigh rides. He’s not a constant in Benny’s life. I live with the kid and his mother and we’re…tight.” He smiled and this time it was genuine. “He says I’m his best friend, although that sweet little Olivia might have dethroned me.”
She considered that, nodding. “That’s a lot of responsibility, Red.” Her voice was serious, and so were the words. “What happens to Benny if you die?”
He stopped mid-march, opening his mouth to make a typical Red Starling quip. But none came out. Instead, he looked at her, but in his head, all he could see was Benny-bean’s sweet face and how it had crumpled the day he thought Red was having a heart attack on the ice.
“He’d be in trouble,” Red admitted.
“Then your purpose is making sure he’s taken care of when you’re gone.”
“Well, he can have whatever money I’ve got, he can live in the house that Starlings have been in for generations, and his mother will never abandon him.”
“But who will be themanin his life?” she asked. “Who will be his role model? Who will teach him how to tie a bowtie or fix a carburetor or what to say on his first date?”
They reached the snow-covered lawn of the old house at the edge of the property as Red contemplated the questions…and hated the answer. Benny’s first date would be in five or six years, likely. Red would be kissing ninety. If he made it.
“I don’t know,” he finally admitted. “I hate to say this because it will just encourage you, but I guess my purpose is to make sure I don’t die.”
“Oh, you will,” she deadpanned. “I think your purpose is to make sure Benny has someone in his life when you do.”
How would he do that? He just stared at her, wishing she was wrong but knowing she wasn’t.
Then she pulled the fur beast on her head even lower. “Enjoy your nap! I’ve got two more miles and then I’m going to have a healthy and nutritious meal with the nice balance of macros. You remember what they are, right?”
“Sugar, fat, and beer?” he joked.
Again, she surprised him by giving a belly laugh and taking off down the path, leaving him catching his breath and thinking about their conversation.
How could he make sure Benny had someone in his life? He could start by not dying…and the only way he knew to do that was to take a nap.
So he went inside, kicked off his boots, slid out of his jacket, and hit the recliner. But he couldn’t even nap. All he didwas think about Benny—his best friend, his great-grandson, his purpose.
“Grandpa!Wake up! I have to talk to you!”
Okay, maybe he’d napped after all.
Red cracked one eye, no stranger to the sight in front of him. His great-grandson stood over him, eyes wide behind his always slightly crooked glasses, hair sticking up in six different directions, breathing like he’d just done a marathon with Bertie the Beast.
“Are you bleeding? Is there a fire? Are we under an avalanche warning?” Red opened the other eye and tugged the afghan up to his chin. “If not, leave a message and I’ll call back later.”
“It’s worse,” Benny said. “It’s Olivia’s mom…the Bianca lady.”
The Biancalady? Hardly. More like the harlot who wanted to ruin Marshall Hampton’s life.
“Bianca,” he repeated, his voice gravelly as he dragged himself out of the nap. “What’s she doing now?”
“Ruining everything, Grandpa.Everything!”
Red slowly lifted the recliner lever, groaning as the chair back straightened and his complained. “Start from the top, Benny-bean.”
“She just wants to wreck everything,” Benny declared, throwing his arms in the air. “She destroyed our tree decorating last night and then I had to go in the cabin and look for a spider that wasn’t ever there and while I was, she told Olivia that Mom can’t go over to Marshall’s house anymore.”
“What?”
“And today, Olivia told me her mom might move here.To Park City!”
Red rubbed his face. He should’ve known this nap was doomed. “You sure she said all that?”
