Page 126 of Recipe for Rivals

“Maybe? But now we’ll have what we need. I can pay some rent to Gigi and Alice can join gymnastics. He can afford it.”

Did Nova realize how strong she was? I tugged on her hand until she was leaning over the console.

“Eww,” she said, pulling away. “I’m so gross right now.”

“You’re never gross.” I leaned in, kissing her until her tense posture slipped away and she relaxed against me. Her lips were salty and her hands warm.

“I need to shower.”

“I’ll wait.”

She eyed me. “Okay. Might as well come up. I’ll be quick.”

I followed her. “Take your time.”

Pleasant Gardens was bustlingwith activity when we arrived, thanks to the Friday Jeopardy game they had going. We found Grandpa at our puzzle table, waiting patiently. He rose when we approached, his eyes running over Nova. “This is your special lady?” he asked, eyebrows up. “How’d you convince her to go for a Hayes man? Think I have a shot?”

“Oh, so this is where he gets the charm,” Nova said, leaning in to kiss Grandpa’s cheek. “It’s so lovely to meet you.”

“Kissing on the first date,” Grandpa said with a wink. “I’m already winning.”

“Settle down.” I plopped the puzzle on the table. “You won’t like her as much when she schools you at the puzzle edges.”

“I welcome the challenge,” he said, his eyes glinting.

The following hour passed in a similar way, with Grandpa and Nova bantering back and forth. Turned out he’d been to New York City before I was born, and they had a few things to talk about.

“I like this one,” Grandpa said when we stood to walk him to his room. He was tired and wanted to nap before lunch.

“Me, too,” I told him.

We reached the door, and Nova gave him a hug.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, son,” Grandpa said, opening the door to his room. “Oh, have you gotten a call back from Dave yet? I left him all those messages.”

My body went rigid. Why had he been trying to call my dad? No, better question: how did he know how to contact him? “No, not yet. Did he, uh, say what he’d be calling about?”

“I called him,” Grandpa repeated. “He should have called by now. Your graduation is next week.”

My graduation. “Which school is it at again?”

Grandpa laughed, shaking his head to Nova like,can you believe this guy? “Arcadia High. You’re really on one today, aren’t you?”

He went into his room, but my heart was hammering hard. This weird time-warp had something to do with my dad and my high school graduation, but I couldn’t push him or he would get confused.

Nova seemed to sense something was going on, because she backed off and waited against the wall.

I followed Grandpa into his room. “Dave left me a message,” I said. “But it didn’t make much sense.”

“It never does,” Grandpa said. “Probably high as a kite. That’s why I told him to stay away. It’s not good for you to have them around, not when you’re doing so well.”

My chest thudded like a hammer to an anvil. “Right. So he wanted to come to my graduation and you told him not to?”

“He’d just lost his wife, son. You can’t expect him to show up in a good state. I don’t want your big day to be ruined.”

Lost his wife.My breath stopped completely. “How did she die? His wife.”My mother. But I needed to use his language so I could keep getting information.

“Overdose. Can’t tell the boy, though. Really don’t want to ruin his big day. He’s worked so hard for it.”

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