Page 56 of Mine For The Winter

Cole lifted a brow and Kris got the meaning right away. There was no way Cole was going to ask. Not that he could blame him. There was no way Kris would have asked his own mom if he’d been in the same position.

“Grandpa, Kris is here to see you,” Cole yelled, opening the living room door. Kris stepped back at the volume of his voice.

Paul looked up from his seat on the couch. He had his leg propped up, a cane leaning on the arm beside him.

“Hey Kris.” He started to push himself up.

“Stay there. It’s fine.” Kris shot him a smile. “Just want to talk to you.”

“I know what this is about.” Paul eyed Cole over Kris’ shoulder. “Cole, can you go to your room?”

“Can’t I stay here? Kris and I are talking about fans.”

Kris winced. Kelly’s dad really didn’t need to hear about that.

“Not this time, son. Go do your homework. I’ll call you when it’s time for us to start dinner.”

Cole frowned. “You won’t leave without saying goodbye, will you?” he asked Kris.

“No. I’ll let you know when I’m going.”

Looking slightly mollified, Cole headed down the hallway. A moment later he slammed his bedroom door.

“Gonna be a scary teenager when he gets there,” Paul said. “He takes after his mother.”

Kris’s mouth twitched. “Lucky kid.”

“Can you close the door before we talk?” Paul asked, and Kris walked over and shut it, before taking a seat in the chair opposite the sofa. It was so saggy his knees were almost at his chest level.

But he didn’t move.

“I guess Kelly told you she knows, huh?”

Kris nodded. “Yeah. She summoned me to the tavern last night.”

“I didn’t want to tell her,” Paul said, looking serious. “I kept it from her all these years. She was meddling. Trying to find documents she shouldn’t want.”

Kris leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. “She meant well.”

“If you want to call the deal off, I understand. It’ll take me some time to get the money together but I’ll do it.” Paul let out a long breath. “I should never have agreed to it anyway.”

“I’m not here to cancel our deal. And I couldn’t if I wanted to. The agreement we signed is watertight.”

“But you gave me the money on the proviso that Kelly never found out,” Paul said, looking confused.

“That part was a verbal agreement. It wasn’t on the documents we signed,” Kris said. “You’ve kept to your side, I’m keeping to mine.”

Paul looked down at his hands, his brows knitting together. “Kelly’s helluva pissed at me. And you.”

“I know.” Kris nodded. “And she probably should be. I would be in her position.”

Paul looked up. “But we didn’t have any choice, did we? If you hadn’t given me that money we would have lost the Tavern. And if Kelly knew about it, she never would have let me accept it.”

“Yeah.” Kris gave him a tight smile. “That’s about it.”

“Is Kelly still angry? I was asleep when she got in last night and she left for work this morning before I got up.”

“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her since last night.”

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