“Grandma—”
“I feel sure that after a busy day working, and not to mention all this added upheaval with that little scamp of a dog to deal with too, she will be very happy to let someone else feed her. She lives alone, doesn’t she?”
“As far as I know.”
“Sharing a meal with us will save her the trouble of cooking and cleaning up for one person. And it will give you two a nice chance to chat a little more.”
Ryan sighed. “I love you, Grandma, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to start meddling in my love life.”
“I’m not meddling in your love life, Ryan. You don’t have a love life for me to meddle in, do you?”
Ryan opened his mouth and closed it again, silenced by the wry look of triumph in his grandmother’s eyes.
“I’ll ask Grace if she’d like to stay for dinner again tonight,” he said at last, and gave an exaggerated sigh.
“Good.”
“But please don’t do anything embarrassing or make cringy remarks in some awful attempt to force us together.”
“As if,” Miriam said, scandalised. “I know how things work. I’m simply helping them along.”
Ryan rolled his eyes, which earned him a swat on the shoulder.
“Right, let’s get Stanley ready and take him for a walk to do his business,” Miriam said. “And while we’re out, I’ll buy a few things on the high street for my soup and salad. It’s a pretty little high street you have here, Ryan. I hope you know how lucky you are.”
While Miriam gathered her light cardigan and bag, and Stanley darted around waiting to get out the front door, Ryan closed the notebook he’d been writing in. His grandmother apparently had enough of an insight into his head already without catching a glimpse of the lyrics he’d just penned about the summer twilight walk with a girl whose laughter sounded like the music of the stars.
Yeah, that last line needs a lot more work, Ryan thought with an embarrassed laugh at the syrupy lyric he’d written, before following his grandmother and Stanley outside.
