Page 86 of Nothing But It All
Michael holds out his hands as if he doesn’t have an answer.
“She’s a looker, you know,” Dad says before switching his attention to Ava. “I shouldn’t probably be talking about your grandmother that way. I apologize.”
Ava strokes Snaps’s head. “Oh, don’t worry about me. I kinda think my grandma is sweet on you, Harvey.”
Lauren and I exchange a smile.
“What in the world would she want with him?” I joke.
“Excuse me,”Dad says, sitting up in his chair. “I’m damn good looking for an old fart. Charming too. And I might have a little money in the bank. What do you know?”
I take a drink and shake my head.The man is a hoot.
“Would you even want a girlfriend?” Maddie asks, licking her fingers. “Is that what you would even call it at your age? Or would it be a ‘lady friend’ or something?”
“I ain’t dead yet, Maddie Moo.”
She drops her hand. “Will you stop talking about dying, please?”
“I think it was less about him being dead and more about him still being alive,” Michael says. “Right, Pops?”
He points at my son. “Right, Michael.”
Maddie takes another marshmallow out of the bag and shoves it on her stick. “Would you get married again, Pops?”
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. My drink dangles between my legs.
I’ve never considered Dad getting remarried—and I’m not sure why. He’s been alone for a long time. Maybe it’s because he’s never brought it up or made it an issue. Still, it seems odd that he hasn’t, now that I think about it.
“Yeah, Dad,” I say. “Would you get remarried again?”
He runs a hand through the air. “Nah, I’m not interested in all that jazz. I was married once. Glad I did it too. But it’s different when you’re my age.”
“Why?” Maddie asks.
“Well, when you’re young and you want to get married, it’s because you have your whole life ahead of ya. You’re gonna set out to build your life together. For a lot of people, for your grandma and me, it made us feel like a team to have the same last name. And back then, times were different. It gave your grandma security that she would be taken care of, if that makes sense.”
Maddie shrugs, turning her stick over to burn the other side of her sugar.
Lauren clears her throat. “Did it give you security too?”
“Sure. And it gave Jack that also. It was the three of us—the Reeds,” he says, dragging out our last name. “But I’m not having more kids at this point. Not saying my guys wouldn’t swim.”
I smirk as I watch Maddie look bewildered.
“But relationships at this age aren’t about physical attraction and desperation to find a mate,” he says. “It’s companionship. Someone to relate to. Someone to sit around with in the morning and have a glass of coffee because we don’t have to go to work.”
“Good,” Ava says. “Because I don’t want to hear about my grandma getting freaky in the sheets.”
Lauren chokes on her wine, making the rest of us laugh.
“Speaking of ...” I nod toward the road as a purple golf cart comes chugging toward us. “Isn’t that Mrs. Shaw there?”
“Well, I’ll be,” Dad says, twisting in his chair. “She must’ve heard us talking about her.”
Ava waves. “Hey, Gran!”
Mrs. Shaw drives her cart through our yard. It comes to a stop just behind Dad and Lauren.
