Page 238 of Things Left Unsaid

“C’est moi,” I greet as I pop my head around the door.

What I’m faced with takes me aback. Her hair is worn loose around her shoulders and she’s still in her nightgown. She isn’t wearing any makeup either.

Not for the first time, I’m coming face-to-face with the realization that my indomitableGrand-mèreis getting old.

And fragile.

She’s the kind of woman who still wears a hat with a pin and gloves when she leaves the ranch so not once have I seen her nightwear. I haven’t witnessed her hair out of a tight bun or her face without minimal makeup until now.

It’s disconcerting and I don’t like it.

“Are you just going to stare, child?” Her mouth pinches as if she smells something bad. I’ve always felt like I’m the perennial source of that stench. “You’re letting in the cold air.”

“It’s warm out,” I reason, but I step inside.

“I feel the cold more. What are you doing here, anyway? I thought the Bar 9 was beneath you.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Beneath me? No. Home? Also no.”

She winces but doesn’t argue with me.

So I don’t perpetuate the argument.

“I came to ask a favor of you.”

“A favor? I never did manage to teach diplomacy to you and Walker. I tried with the triplets though. They were better students.”

Calder’s antics downstairs are either proof of that or the direct opposite.

At least Colby and Carson appeared to have listened.

Aside from Carson being naked in the kitchen…

“I’m sure they were.Mamie.”

She cringes again. “God, don’t you start with that horrific diminutive. Do I look like aMamie?”

From where I’m standing, perhaps.

I don’t say that though. She’s not so right about my diplomacy skills.

“What do you want?”

“The day after tomorrow, we’re holding a family BBQ at the Seven Cs.”

“I’ve already heard all about it.”

“I know. The triplets implied you weren’t coming.”

“I don’t eat food items that can be abbreviated.”

Pressing my back to the door, I shove a hand into a pocket, fully aware that she hates it when I do that. “Chicken isn’t an abbreviation. Anyway, I want you there.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re my family.”

I can tell she wants to snipe at me.

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