13. Melly

13

MELLY

T he next evening, the chicken was sitting on the top of the stove until it cooled enough for me to cut, and I was finishing making the gravy, when someone knocked on the back kitchen door.

We hadn't made any progress in the investigation yet because Elrik had been needed on another case that he'd thankfully solved. Something about selkie skins and a king and a queen, a thing I couldn't quite fathom. Although, I didn't know why I was surprised. With monsters roaming the land, why hadn't it occurred to me that there were an equal number of them living deep in the sea?

"Elrik's here," Grannie Rose said with a big grin. She'd sat at the kitchen table to "supervise" the meal preparation, though she'd mostly drank tea and worked on another mitten. "I'm so looking forward to this evening."

I felt bad. I was too busy to take her to many places, which meant she barely got out. A physical therapist came twice a week, and my grandmother was getting stronger. If she could get rid of the walker, she might be able to drive herself again. Once we'd cleared her name—and I was determined that we would—she could get back to the active social life she'd had before her fall.

Striding over to the side entrance, I opened the door.

Elrik bustled inside, juggling a bottle of wine, flowers, and two small heart-shaped boxes of chocolate.

"Ohh," Grannie exclaimed, rising from her chair. "What do you have there, my fine-looking ice lord?"

He juggled the items, handing me the wine, his sultry smile sinking through my skin in the nicest way. "For us to share tonight."

"Not me," Grannie Rose said. "I can't take that with my rat poison."

His eyebrows lifted. "Rat poison?"

"I'm on a blood thinner to prevent clots in my legs," she said. "They use it as rat poison, didn't you know? The rats eat a lot of it and well . . ."

I winced.

She grinned. "They bleed to death."

"Ugh. Grannie," I said.

"I did not know that." Elrik's sparkling eyes met mine. "Melly and I will share the wine, then. It's a great year. I think you'll like it."

"Thank you for bringing it." I held up the bottle, squinting at the label. "A merlot, my favorite."

"Good." His face darkened, and he jutted out his hand holding one of two bouquets of flowers. "For a lovely lady. "

Before I could say anything, he was holding out the second bouquet to Grannie. "And this is for the second lovely lady in the room."

"Do you know how long it's been since someone gave me flowers?" Grannie asked, holding them like she would a baby, gazing down at them with complete joy. "Too long."

"You need more flowers in your life." Elrik held out one of the boxes of chocolate toward her. "Also for you. I hope you can still eat chocolate despite being on a blood thinner."

"I can. Yum." She took the box and laid it on the table, studying the contents. "Nuts! I love chocolate covered nuts the best. Not those gooey hunks of nougat some boxes come with."

"I'm so glad I got the right ones." Elrik sent me a smile. "What about you? Do you enjoy chocolate covered nuts?" He held the other box toward me.

There was nothing sexy in his question but heat still flared through me.

"I love chocolate, thank you." He was sweet to think of us this way, but that was Elrik. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. If you want, you and Grannie can go into the living room to wait. I'll dish up and let you know when it's time to eat, which we'll do in the dining room."

He lifted his chin, sniffing. "Whatever you've made smells amazing."

"Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans. I made a cake for dessert." I'd made it the second I got home from work, which was so early even Grannie remarked on it. The PR person had taken on the challenge, but we'd seen no results yet, which meant we didn't have one single customer. Discouraged, I'd closed and sent Carla home—though I'd pay her for her time. It wasn't her fault business was creeping along slower than the pace of a glacier.

When Grannie asked why I came home mid-afternoon, I told her I'd closed up early to give myself time to make a nice meal for her and Elrik. I didn't want to worry her. She'd feel responsible for the negative reviews even though she'd done nothing wrong.

"What can I do to help?" he asked.

"Everything's almost ready, so go sit with Grannie. I don't mind putting things in serving dishes and bringing them into the dining room."

"I think we can help her with that, don't you, Elrik?" Grannie asked. After setting aside her knitting, she used her walker to go over to the counter. "I'll bring the potatoes in if you grab the beans."

When she started to lift the platter, he took it from her. "Let me carry both."

She cocked her head to look up at him. "You're sure?"

"Completely sure."

"Then I'll tell you where you can put them." She followed him toward the dining room, her walker clunking on the hardwood floor.

I put the flowers in vases and placed them on the dining room table for us to enjoy. I returned to the kitchen and opened the wine, poured two glasses, and then started slicing the chicken. When Elrik returned, I had him ladle the gravy into the server and take that into the dining room as well. He took our glasses of wine, plus juice for Grannie, served in a pretty glass.

When the chicken was ready, I joined them, placing the heaping platter on the dining room table.

It hadn't been that long since Grannie entertained people here. The table could easily support ten. Now the three of us would sit on one end.

"Take the head of the table," Grannie told Elrik. "My deceased husband used to sit there. I think that position holds the most respect, don't you?"

"Then you should take it," he told her.

"Nah. I'm a peanut. I'll settle on one side."

I helped her sit in her chair and move it close to the table, then placed her walker near the wall. Rounding the table, I sat opposite her with Elrik, who was still standing, on my left side.

Once we'd both settled in our seats, I lifted the platter of chicken and offered it to him, grinning at the big portion he took.

We passed the food around and once we'd served everything, we dug in.

"The chicken's cooked to perfection," Grannie said, clicking her dentures. "I taught you well."

"You did." Her praise was a little thing, but she wasn't one to do more than pat me on the back every now and then. I'd always assumed her lack of physical touch was due to her upbringing, but it made me sad. My mom hadn't given out many hugs either, come to think of it. As for my dad, he'd bailed before he could hold me even once.

But I didn't want to feel upset about that tonight. My life was going very well. I could find pride for my accomplishments within myself. I didn't need anyone else to hand that to me.

"The meal is wonderful," Elrik said. "Everything. Your gravy is particularly amazing."

My face grew hot. "Thank you."

"See?" Grannie said slyly. "The way to a male's heart is through his stomach."

I chuckled. "Carla seems to think so too."

"Did she say that?" Her lips twisted, and the humor left her eyes. "She wouldn't know. From what I heard, she never cooked a single meal for Walter."

"She said he enjoyed her hot crossed buns."

"That she bought from a bakery."

Really? "Maybe they enjoyed going out to eat."

"I doubt it. He started making plans to divorce her within a few weeks of the wedding."

I gaped at her. "I can't believe that. They were in love." I swallowed my bite of chicken that clawed its way down.

Grannie grunted. "That woman never loved anyone but herself."

"Grannie Rose. Why am I hearing all of this now? You always spoke well of her. You had her babysit me."

"She was good at watching a twelve-year-old child; I'll give her that, but she wasn't a good wife to Walter. Did you know he and I had talked about marrying at one time? We'd dated for almost a year when she lured him away."

My head was spinning. What alternate reality had I suddenly stumbled into? "You and Walter . . ."

"Did you think I had him over to dinner all those times because I was a nice person? He was courting me, and I was letting him do so." She huffed. "I should've moved on him faster, though. Then things might've worked out between us."

I was so stunned I could barely compose and speak my thoughts. "You're the one who encouraged me to hire her at Creature Cones."

Elrik watched our conversation, his head snapping from one of us to the other like this was a prize-winning tennis match.

"I felt bad for her after he died." Her cackle rang out. "He got the last laugh, though, now didn't he? He left her nothing. Well, some shares of stock in his company that I'm sure she sold and then squandered the money within a few years."

"He left her two gorgeous homes."

Her snide smile grew wider. "Gorgeous homes that came with debt."

"Grannie." I shook my head, lowering my fork to my plate and leaving it there. I'd lost my appetite. "Give me a second to process this."

Her smile slipped. "Before he died, he told me she threatened him." Shadows swirled in her hazel eyes.

My hands trembled on my lap. "Excuse me?"

"She told him if he didn't make right by her, she'd tell the world he was having financial difficulties. If nothing else, Walter had his pride." Something Grannie valued above almost everything else.

"He had enough left for her to live a high-class life for the past ten years," Elrik pointed out. Was he taking notes about all this? We should be asking Grannie for the dirt on each person who attended the church social, not spend our time snooping online. Grannie was a gold mine of information.

"He had enough to leave her—to shut up her threats—because I helped him," Grannie said. "He'd had a rough go of it. Business issues. But he was doing better after he sold most of the shares in his company to me. He gave me a sweet deal. Boy, was Clara mad when she found out. I offloaded them a few years ago. Hazel took care of that for me, naturally."

"Hazel, the pole dance instructor?" Elrik asked.

"She worked on the stock market before she retired," Grannie said. "She's been my investment counselor for years."

Hazel had managed the small amount of money my dad left when he died, but I hadn't realized she'd managed Grannie's finances, let alone that Grannie had much money to invest.

"When did you sell the shares in his company?" I asked.

"Five months ago."

"Why so recently?"

"Walter's brother was in town. He wants to buy Walter's place on the water, and he made Carla a reasonable offer. She turned him down, haughty thing that she is. She swore at him, told him Walter hated him, which might've been true at one time. Walter never spoke well of his brother."

I still couldn't believe what I was hearing, and it was clear from Elrik's lifted eyebrows that he was as surprised as me .

"Walter's brother got even, however," Grannie Rose said. "He told her why Walter left her nearly nothing." Her sly grin rose. "Walter loved me. He told me that on his deathbed. And that's why he changed his will at the last minute, leaving almost everything to me."