“Good, that tea is nice and strong, Grace,” Miriam commented after taking a sip. “Well done. Let’s enjoy our tea with these biscuits I picked up at Jill’s shop this morning. They’re lemon and ginger flavour. I couldn’t resist.”
Miriam passed the tin of luxury biscuits around, insisting that both Grace and Ryan try some. When Stanley sat to attention at the sight of food on the go, Miriam rooted around in the shopping bag again and this time produced a fancy packet of dog chews, another gift she’d selected from her friend’s shop. Stanley accepted his treat gently after giving Miriam a paw inthanks and scuttled back to his spot on the carpet beside the fireplace to tuck in.
“I bought gifts for the both of you, too,” Miriam said, pulling more items from the shopping bag. “This is for you, Grace.”
Grace’s eyes widened at the pretty primrose yellow gift box that Miriam passed to her across the coffee table.
“You didn’t have to give me a gift, Miriam,” Grace said.
“I know I didn’t, but I wanted to. Well, go on and open it.”
Grace untied the white ribbon wrapped around the small box and lifted the lid. Moving aside the tissue paper inside, she saw a pair of silver earrings nestled inside, in a simple design of elegant hoops and with a cascade of three shooting stars dangling from each one.
“These are incredibly pretty, Miriam,” Grace said, already removing the studs she was wearing on her earlobes and putting the starry hoops in their place. “Thank you so much.”
“You are very welcome,” Miriam grinned. “And those suit you beautifully, just as I thought they would.”
Grace rose from the sofa and walked to the large mirror that hung above the fireplace in order to admire her new earrings. The silverwork sparkled and the cascade of shooting stars seemed to dance as she turned her head. Moving around the coffee table to where Miriam sat on the sofa, Grace leaned close and gave the woman a gentle hug.
“Thank you, Miriam. I’m so touched that you did this.”
“It was my pleasure, dear.”
When Grace turned to go back to where she’d been sitting, she caught Ryan’s smile and saw he was clearly pleased by her reaction to his grandmother’s generosity. He gave her knee a soft squeeze as she sat down beside him.
“And I got something for you, too, Ryan,” Miriam said, lifting another item from the shopping bag at her feet and handing it to him. “I thought this might come in useful when you’re working.”
Ryan accepted the paper gift bag from his grandmother and looked inside, then removed a thick notebook with a dark blue leather cover embellished with bronze-coloured musical notes across the surface. He flicked through the notebook, and Grace saw the premium quality of the blank paper pages inside. A dark blue ribbon page marker finished the notebook perfectly.
“I love it, Grandma, thank you,” he said, still examining the notebook and running his fingers across the pages inside.
“I thought you might enjoy scribbling your song lyrics and whatnot in it,” Miriam said.
“You thought right,” Ryan said, and gave his grandmother a broad smile. “It’s perfect. But you didn’t need to go and spend your money on us.”
“Oh, rubbish. What else should I spend it on? I saw nice things I thought you would both like, and so I bought them. I got as much pleasure from seeing you open those small presents as you did.” Miriam smiled and gestured to the tea mugs on the tray. “Now, drink your tea before it gets cold, and then we can discuss our dinner plans. I thought I heard you muttering something about pizza when you were through in the kitchen?”
“You have the ears of a bat, Grandma,” Ryan laughed.
“Indeed,” Miriam cackled, and pushed the tin of lemon and ginger biscuits across the coffee table. “Here, have another cookie while we decided on our pizza toppings. I supposed it was only a matter of time before you reverted to your unhealthy food tendencies, Ryan.”
“The pizza parlour on the high street is a good one, Grandma. They only use the best ingredients. I think you’ll be impressed.”
“Well, I hope so. I must admit I am partial to a nice margherita, if the quality of the pizza-making is good. What about you, Grace?”
“I quite like pepperoni,” she replied.
“Ah,” Miriam said with a knowing grin. “That’s Ryan’s favourite, too. What a happy coincidence.”
Grace felt colour creeping into her cheeks thanks to Miriam’s gleeful remark. Before she could think of a response, her phone rang. When she looked at the screen, she recognised the number for the dog warden service.
Her smile vanished. She’d known it was only a matter of time before the warden chased her up about the Stanley situation.
“It’s the dog warden calling,” Grace said, picking up the phone. “I’d better answer this.”
While Ryan and Miriam gave her looks of encouragement, and Stanley let out a chunter, Grace tapped the phone screen and drew in a breath, braced for the ticking-off she assumed was coming her way.
