Page 73 of Five Alarm Love
“Is Bruce talking your ear off, dear?”
“He’s reliving the good old days about when his mouth got him in trouble.”
Bruce grumbled something about aprivate conversation.
Lou laughed, replaced the gas cap, and pulled the receipt from the machine.With a jingle to the ambulance keys, she opened the driver’s door but paused and turned back toward him.“So.How’d you get past those things?”
When Aggie smiled, the lines crinkled over her face.“We had a few heart-to-heart discussions.”She pointed.“Basically, I laid down the law.”
“I don’t recall it that way,” Bruce said.
“Don’t you?”Her steady glare worked its magic.
“Maybe a little bit.”He turned his attention to studiously fueling his truck.
Lou bit back a laugh.
Aggie continued, “I saw the good guy he was beneath his foot-in-mouth problem.”
“Hey!”Bruce complained.
She crossed her arms.“It’s true and you know it.”
“Fine.”
Lou said to Aggie, “Look, I know that no one is perfect.All relationships take work and trust.But sometimes the effort is too much.”
“Sometimes trust takes even more work.Trust takes time.”
“I can’t wait forever to trust Tuli.”
Aggie stepped up and patted her arm.“I didn’t mean him, dear.You have to first trust yourself.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Wednesday evening, Tulisat down for dinner with Grandma Ruth.
He inhaled the buttery sage of the seasoned beans before spearing one with a fork.She made the best dishes.
“You want to tell me what that’s all about?”She pointed at his face, her gray brows raised.
“Ran into a fire extinguisher,” he said around the mouthful of food.
“Try again.”
He took a sip of water.“Difference of opinion, now taken care of.”
Then she stared at him for a solid minute.His fork quivered in his hand as he sat, frozen.
“Mm-hmm.”
“What?”He pulled his head back.
“It’s not the whole truth.”
“Everything’s okay, Grandma.”
“That’s not what I heard.You getting into it with Hunter Wright at a car accident scene.”
