TV was boring all by himself, but the noise was better than nothing. He checked on his fish tank, watching the snails ooze down the glass sides and wander along the gravel bed with their funny little antennae out.
He missed Emma, but he reminded himself they needed space from each other. Right now, though, space just felt like a gaping hole waiting to be filled with something.
***
Harriet met Emma at the door with a squeak and motioned for her to hurry in. “You’ll never guess who came over today!”
“Um, Justin Bieber?” Emma had never seen Harriet this excited before and couldn’t fathom what could have caused it. Her feet felt like buckets of cement after walking from store to store in these demon heels. Emma pulled them off one at a time and moaned at the foot freedom. All the while, Harriet bounced around her.
“No, silly. Elton. He had lunch with us, and then we talked for an hour about … well, about everything! You’re right, Emma. It’s so refreshing to discover new things about myself and to find someone new to talk to. Elton’s amazing. He knows so much about the world, and when he smiles, I just— eek! I can’t help smiling, too.”
“Wow.” Emma was a little taken aback by Harriet’s enthusiasm, but it was contagious, and soon Emma was squealing along with her. She had Harriet replay their whole conversation so she could mine it for clues as to how Elton felt.
Granddad waved a dismissive hand at them both and continued with the puzzle he and Harriet had started on the dining room table.
“So, he returned the shears?” Emma asked.
“Yes, but he asked if he could borrow a rake, and I let him. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course.”
Granddad frowned, making a path of wrinkles across his forehead. “Harriet, did you check the shears? If he didn’t wipe off the tree residue, it will ruin them. Clean tools are sharp tools.”
“I’ll check them,” Emma reassured him. She turned back to Harriet. “What was his body language like? Did he lean into you?”
Harriet pursed her lips as she thought. “Yes, I think he did. And a couple of times he touched my hand or arm. He talks a lot with his hands.” She glanced at her own hands sitting in her lap. “I’ve been so bummed lately. I used to talk to Martin about everything, but it’s time to let that go and move on. Thank you, Emma. If it wasn’t for you I’d still be wallowing in self-pity.”
Emma couldn’t enjoy the compliment. George’s words would probably always echo in her ears when it came to Harriet, making Emma doubt her own motives and opinions. She gave those thoughts a mental push and gave Harriet a hug. “I’m happy you’re happy.”
Harriet twirled and gave Granddad a squeeze around the shoulders and then grabbed up her bag from the hook in the entry hallway. “I’ll see you two lovelies tomorrow!”
Emma locked the door behind her and waved through the side window. Twitterpated. She finally had a definition in action for that word.
“What would you like for dinner?” Emma asked as she sat next to Granddad and examined his progress on the puzzle. He had all the edges done and was working on the flower bed below the crumbling retaining wall. Puzzles were made of entirely too many landscape scenes. If Emma ever decided to sit with a puzzle for more than a few minutes, it would have to be of something interesting, like a basketball coach giving his team a half-time pep talk, or kids trying to wash an overexcited dog.
“Harriet didn’t make something?” he asked.
“She can’t do that every night, Granddad. Besides, we have too many leftovers in the fridge.”
“Maybe just eggs and toast then.”
Emma nodded. That, she could do. Harriet had been very encouraging, and the kitchen didn’t intimidate Emma the way it used to, though she still burned things from time to time.
“I don’t like Elton.”
“What?” Emma had been so lost in thought she almost missed Granddad’s words. “You’ve always liked Elton.”
“I’ve never liked him. He talks too much.”
To Granddad, everybody talked too much, so that wasn’t a real reason. “He’s a good neighbor.”
Granddad shrugged. “I guess we could do worse. But Harriet could do better. Her phone boyfriend was nicer.”
“Well, they broke up.” Emma tamped down her irritation with him and tried to fit a piece of sky into the puzzle. It didn’t fit, and she put it back in the pile. Granddad didn’t say anything else about Harriet or Elton, and Emma was relieved. She didn’t want to argue.
Granddad was entitled to his opinion, even if it didn’t match hers. That’s what George would say right now. It was like a tiny version of him was in her head, pointing his finger at everything wrong in there.
However, she’d been right about Elton and Harriet hitting it off, and she was right about helping Harriet see a whole new world of possibilities. All her matchmaking efforts hadn’t been for nothing.
