“Well, it’s new to me.”
She patted my leg and adjusted her sunglasses. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Yeah, Clem,” Lady added. “You’ll get used to it.”
Sure I would. We sat for a moment in silence. Leola’s words floated back to me, about the fact that Malene was keeping things from me.
“Did you know that Leola Vass is Willard’s sister?”
Malene’s lips pinned shut.
“You’re not saying anything.”
Malene rose and started dusting the surfaces with her hand. “What am I paying the cleaning lady for if she can’t even keep the dust off my bookshelves?”
“Malene,” I warned.
She whirled around as if she’d forgotten that I was even in the room. “Yes? What is it?”
“Did you know that about Leola?”
“Yes, I may have heard something about it.” She went on dusting. “Now. We may need to go back over our plan for the festival. We’ve got to make sure that everything is down pat. You know, we’ve only got one shot to get the guilty party. We have to do everything just right.”
“Malene, why are you avoiding answering?”
She smoothed the sides of her upswept hair. “I’m not avoiding you. If I wanted to do that, I’d hop in my car and drive away.”
“Okay, so you’re not avoiding me completely, but you’re not talking about this anymore.”
She brushed her hands together. “Fine. We can discuss this as much as you want. Yes. I know that Leola Vass is Willard’s sister. It’s not a big secret. Everyone in town knows it.”
“Why did you act weird when I asked about it?”
I studied her reaction very closely because Malene was trying to skirt around this topic and yet I didn’t understand why.
“I didn’t act weird,” she said by way of an excuse. “It’s just not a topic that gets discussed very often.”
“I think you’re hiding something.”
There. I’d sort of said what Leola had said, but not quite. But still, maybe it was enough of a conversation starter to get Malene going, get her to spill whatever beans it was that Leola suggested that Malene had tucked away.
Malene sniffed. “I’m not hiding anything. I’m absolutely not hiding one lick of information from you, kid. What do you think, that I just dream up things to keep from you?”
I gave her a pointed look. “Do I have to remind you that I didn’t even know you were my grandmother until recently?”
“That’s neither here nor there.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s both here and there.”
Lady lifted her head from my lap. “What in the heck does that mean?”
I hesitated. “Er, I think it means that it’s completely relevant. Malene kept her true identity a secret from me for years. What I want to know is, what else is she hiding, because Leola made it sound like you were hiding something else.”
Malene sat in the recliner with a sigh. “What does it matter what else I’ve kept from you?”
Oh, so now she was admitting it! “It matters. Malene, even if you weren’t my grandmother, I would still love you.”
Heat spots dotted her cheeks. “You would?”
