Page 30 of The Usual Family Mayhem

Jackson got to Gram’s house the next day in time for breakfast. Smart man. A minute after he walked through the door Gram had a plate in front of him, coffee brewing, and muffins warming in the toaster oven.

Impressive service. Maybe Gram and Celia did like him better.

I eyed him from the opposite side of the kitchen table. Not my usual breakfast seat, but I wanted to be close to him to look for clues about his adventures last night. Sure, he was a grown man. His private life wasn’t my business.Blah, blah, blah.

Before I could poke around with carefully crafted neutral-sounding questions, Celia walked in. She smiled at Gram then sat down next to Jackson.

She touched his arm. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I thought he was going to ease off the hard sell.”

I’d missed something. “What happened yesterday?”

Jackson shrugged. “Dad’s not great at being told no.”

Still had no clue what the subject matter of this conversation was except that it had something to do with Harlan. “What are we talking about?”

Jackson and Celia looked at me but neither said anything.

I skipped any attempt to be stealthy. “You can hear me speaking, right?”

“Sorry, hon. It’s just that Harlan can be difficult to deal withwhen he gets an idea and won’t let it go.” Celia dropped that like it was big news. “Everything is fine.”

Jackson didn’t chime in. I took that to mean I’d guessed correctly. Things weren’t all that fine. It sounded like Harlan’s pissy mood had continued during his lunch with Jackson yesterday. Not a surprise. Harlan only knew one speed and one way to operate—to verbally overrun anyone standing in front of him. He talked and lobbied until he convinced someone of something, no matter the topic. But the clipped conversation at the table now suggested yesterday wasn’t about the usualHarlan is annoyingstuff.

The idea of Harlan running around to Jackson and Celia, pushing for whatever he was pushing for, had me worried that on top of the business deal Gram and Celia didn’t know about because I hadn’t filled them in yet and the poisoning issue I was investigating without their knowledge, something else might be wrong. That called for multitasking. Not my strongest skill.

After they dropped the cryptic Harlan remark the rest of the breakfast ran smoothly. Gram’s spread included homemade lemon curd, jam, and this fancy butter she got at the specialty store. Just enough calories to make me forget about being left out.

Retelling of neighborhood gossip turned to Delilah Rhine and her dead husband. I was about to chime in when Gram pivoted to a story about delivering a cake to a baby shower where the mom and mom-in-law tried to see who could be more passive-aggressive. The event ended with one of them storming off and taking her famous potato salad with her.

I loved having this back channel to behind-the-scenes behavior. The people best able to hold it together in public tendedto flail around in private. Fake decency ran a close second to fake competency in some social circles.

With the eating done and the dishes cleaned, Jackson gestured for me to follow him outside. He held his third coffee of the morning in a death grip. Whatever he did last night made him tired today and wasn’t that just spectacular.

We walked to the end of the patio and kept going. A path wound its way past newly planted rosebushes. “These are a nice addition to the garden.”

“We put them in last week,” he said.

“Weas in you?” On top of everything else he was a gardener. Not fair. One person should not be blessed with so many skills.

“I can do more than review business contracts.”

“I sure hope so.”

We took a few more steps and passed the mini greenhouse Gram used for storage. Walked past the shed that housed landscaping supplies. Gram had it painted a shade of green that made it fade into the yard.

We ended our travels at a bench. This one sat under an arbor covered in early honeysuckle blooms. This type didn’t have a scent like other honeysuckle, but the vibrant red tubular flowers would soon light up the backyard in the way Gram loved.

Jackson killed my good mood almost immediately. “Okay, tell me more about the missing stars. The locked cabinet sounds unrelated, so let’s skip that for now.”

I didn’t agree about the cabinet and we’d get to all that soon enough. I had a bigger target right now. “First, tell me what happened with your dad yesterday that has you and Celia acting like you’re at a funeral.”

“Are we going to keep doing this back-and-forth withouteither of us answering a question?” Jackson’s expression suggested he’d be happy to do just that. “I can go round and round until you tell me why you’re really in town and what’s happening at work. Then we can move on to other topics.”

Huh.That didn’t go the way I intended.

“It seems we’ve reached a communication impasse.” We always sucked at communication. Everything he said sounded like a judgment. I fought back with a mix of sarcasm and defensiveness. The immature byplay hadn’t gotten better with age.

He smiled for the first time this morning. “You really think you can beat me at this game?”

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