Page 64 of Resisting the Grump

I rolled my eyes and pulled a chair out. “Moving on swiftly…”

He eyed my empty hands. “When do we get to try your famous brownies?”

“Mom told me not to bring any sweets because, apparently, you’ve been behaving badly.”

His head whipped towards her. “I told you I had no idea how those Twinkies ended up in the shed.”

My mom turned the stove off and moved the pan off the burner. “Well, I’m pretty sure your doctor didn’t put ’em there.”

My dad smoothed his hand over his head, visibly fighting the urge to pull his thinning silver hair.

“You’re looking at an addict,” she added.

I bit back a burst of laughter.

He glared at me before excusing himself from the table and leaving the room.

“Going to the shed?” I called after him.

My mom held up her fingers. “Four boxes, Avery.”

“I’m getting dressed!” he shouted, stomping up the stairs.

She carried the plate of pancakes over. “I shudder to think how many he must have snuck when we were doing the patio.”

“Is he unusually stressed or something?”

“About what? Being retired? He reads all day like a spoiled monk.”

“Do monks eat Twinkies?” I asked, hopping up to grab plates while she poured coffees.

“Modern monks probably do. Don’t they take alms? They probably eat whatever they can get their hands on.”

“I bet a Twinkie would taste weird if you were used to eating plain white rice.”

“Speaking of Twinkies,” she said, sitting across from me and sliding a mug my way. “How’s your twinkie in the city?”

I squinted at her. “Since when do you watch Friends?”

“Since I found out Tom Selleck appears in nine episodes.”

“Wow.”

“Don’t dodge the question.” She served five pancakes onto the plate in front of her, arranged them like a flower, and passed them to me.

“You’re the best,” I said, reaching for the powdered sugar because it would be rude not to indulge when she’d gone to so much trouble.

“And you’re still dodging.”

I sighed.

Concern wrinkled her brow.

“Not good,” I admitted. “He’s come down with a terrible case of… jerk flu.”

“Sounds worse than man flu,” she said. “What happened?”

“I can’t tell you because you hold grudges forever.”

---