I know she’s related to Miles. He showed me pictures of his family. I just can’t remember what this lady’s connection is, so I just smile and say, “Okay, it’s a deal.”
I squeeze around her, trying not to brush any part of myself against her white jacket as I unlock the door. I kick my boots off outside and my jacket too. They deserve a good hosing off in the backyard.
The woman walks into the house and sets her purse and the large bag on the kitchen counter. “I never like to show up empty-handed, and I love to cook. You don’t mind, do you?”
The sparkle in her eyes has me shaking my head.
“Of course not. I’ll hurry and shower, then be out.”
Halfway through a hot shower, I realize I’ve left a stranger in our kitchen. But there’s something familiar about her, and if she is a burglar, she’s at least brought dinner.
After scrubbing green manure from my hair for what feels like forever, I jump out of the shower, paint my nails to hide the iodine stains, slip on a pair of linen pants and soft sweater, and give myself a swipe of mascara and lip stain. It’s the best I can do in fifteen minutes.
I open the bathroom door and come face-to-face with Miles. He’s wearing a button-up shirt, but he’s missing a crucial part ofit … the buttoned part. It’s hanging wide open, but the panicked look in his eyes distracts me from wondering about the shirt.
“My grandma is in the kitchen,” he whispers as he glances over his shoulder and down the hall.
I step back into the bathroom and jerk a thumb over my shoulder. He steps inside and closes the door. This bathroom has felt very spacious—until now. With Miles in here taking up space, it feels like a shoebox.
“Grandma’s here to meet you,” he says.
It takes me a moment after staring at Miles’s bare chest to realize what he’s saying. “You mean to say I just let your grandma in the house? What have I done?”
“Well, it’s not like you could have just left her on the porch.” He runs a hand over his face, then stares at himself in the mirror over my head. “She didn’t even give us any warning.”
He looks so forlorn that it gives me a chance to stall my own building panic.
“Why is your shirt unbuttoned?” My eyes keep falling to the bare skin.
“Oh, I was going to change into something more casual,” he says with a grin and shrugs out of the shirt completely. And now I know the bathroom is too small for the two of us.
“Showing up unannounced seems to be a pattern with your family. Your grandma is carrying on family tradition,” I say with a laugh.
What about meeting her makes me nervous? Oh, right. The part where I’m lying. Bringing up his grandma turns Miles’s smug look to panic.
“We didn’t even talk about this part,” he whispers.
I nod as I turn around to work on combing my hair with my fingers. “I know. I guess we thought we’d have more time to prepare. It’s only been a couple days since we got married.”
“To be fair, I know my family and I should have realized someone would just show up.” He sighs heavily as he leans back against the bathroom counter and watches me try to sort through my shoulder-length hair.
“They do seem to be making a bit of a habit of dropping in.”
“It’s rather unfortunate. I wonder who will be here next week,” he muses.
“Wait, who else could potentially show up?” I ask as I pump some anti-frizz serum into my hands and pat it into my hair.
“My mom. Dad. Grandpa. My other sister. I’ve got some aunts and uncles, plus a few cousins.”
“You’re saying that any of those people could potentially stop by?” I turn to look at him, and I’m certain my eyebrows are touching my hairline. “Maybe a long-lost brother? Some nieces and nephews?”
Miles grimaces and nods. “This is definitely on me.”
I sigh. “It would have been nice to have some kind of warning. I just met your grandmother while covered in cow crap. How do you want to play this?”
He stares at the floor and runs a hand up and down the back of his neck. “Like we’re married?”
“Are we happy or having a newlywed fight?” I ask.
