“A friend of a friend. Owns a placement agency in Los Angeles. I thought maybe she could help you out, and it looks like I was right.”
“Really? That’s great. Thanks.”
“I’m supposed to make sure you get there by one.” He aimed a disapproving glance toward her digital clock, clearly not impressed by her penchant for sleeping till noon.
Of course, he didn’t know that she’d stayed up until three sending her résumé by e-mail to dozens of places she’d located on the Web. A long shot, but maybe she’d get a nibble.
A huge yawn sneaked up on her and she blinked a few more times, trying to wake up. Another hit of the coffee helped, and she let the warm liquid bring her slowly back to life.
She glanced over toward the clock, and reality filtered through her hazy brain. “There’s no way I can make it in time.” Too bad, too. She had no idea what sort of job this Betsy woman had lined up, but Mel was determined not to be picky.
“Nonsense. You’ve got plenty of time.” He turned to her bookcase and grabbed a tall glass filled with something thick and green. “Here’s your breakfast. Chock-full o’ vitamins. Fixed it myself.” He handed her the glass, then thumped his chest. “Not too tasty, but what a kick.”
Her nose crinkled as she sniffed it. Somewhere between spinach and battery acid. “Um…I’m not really hungry.”
“Fine, fine. More time to get ready.” He waved his hand toward her closet. Her best suit was hanging on the back of the door. Really, the man had more energy than a two-year-old.
“All right. You win.” She held out her mug. “Did you bring reinforcements?”
“Did Clark Gable give a damn?” He poured a refill from a thermos he’d left on her chest of drawers.
“Gabledidn’tgive a damn, Gramps, so the answer would be no. But youdidbring more coffee.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Did you understand what I meant?”
“Well, sure.”
“Then hush up and respect your elders.”
She grinned toward the floor. Nothing irritated Gramps more than getting caught messing up a movie quote.
She shuffled toward the bathroom, nibbling onher thumbnail and considering Gramps’s grand gesture. “So why the sudden foray into job placement? Did you finally realize that I’m never going to manage to find one on my own?”
She frowned at her reflection, then ran a brush through her hair. She’d showered the night before and slept on it wet. Perfect recipe for a bad hair day.
His heavy sigh seeped through the closed door. “I worry about you. And you’re concerned about those taxes. I know. I see.”
She grinned, positive there was more to it than that. “And?”
He cleared his throat. “And maybe I’m trying to hurry things along.”
“What doesthatmean?”
“It means that until you’ve found a job and settled down, you won’t be dating. And until you start dating you won’t find a husband. And without a husband, I won’t get great-grandchildren.”
An image of Miss Emily’s friends hovering over her and Kyle flashed in her mind. She opened the bathroom door and stuck her head out. “What is it with your generation, anyway? Haven’t you got anything better to do than play matchmaker?”
“I’m old and feeble. Meddling in your love life keeps me occupied.”
She ran her gaze over him. Sharp eyes, strongshoulders, a thin, wiry body covered with a gray sweat suit, and two-pound ankle weights on each leg. Not a feeble bone or thought within a hundred miles.
“Liar,” she said, smiling.
“All right,” he said. “So I’m not feeble. I still want the great-grandchildren.”
That she believed. The truth was, she wanted to give them to him.
And it was exactly because she did want a family that she needed to find a job on the right side of the law. She needed to get moving on her new life. A life where she could sweep the past away and start over fresh. A life where, if someone asked her what she did, she didn’t have to lie.
