Chapter 5

D oreen quickly got the animals ready and herself bundled up, and then the four of them stepped outside and headed toward the path to Rosemoor. She winced as she passed all the cold-case-related places they’d had so many issues with over time, but it seemed as if everybody was being good to each other right now amid the holiday season.

At Rosemoor she walked through the main entrance, with several people calling out greetings to her and her animals. She smiled and waved and headed toward Nan’s apartment. As she got there, the door opened, just as she was arriving.

“Don’t you tell her now,” Richie said, giving Nan a hug before turning to leave.

Doreen stopped, frowned at Nan, and then looked at Richie. “Don’t tell me what?” Nan’s expression immediately turned innocent, which made her look incredibly guilty.

“We weren’t talking about you, dear,” Nan replied.

“I don’t want you manipulating the staff to make this party happen either.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” she remarked, staring at her granddaughter in astonishment.

Yet Doreen already knew exactly how much Nan got herself involved in things just like that. “You might say that”—shaking her head—“but I do know you.”

Nan grinned a huge smile and nodded. “And isn’t it lovely that you do?” She opened her arms for a hug. “It makes my life so much easier.”

Doreen bent to hug her but still sighed. “What are you up to?”

“We’re up to nothing,” she declared.

Doreen nudged Richie, hoping to get something out of him, but he was having none of it.

“Hello and goodbye,” he said, and was gone in a flash.

Doreen frowned at her grandmother, who waved her hand. “It’s fine, child. Everything’s absolutely fine. Besides, it’s the season for secrets.” She then spent a few minutes nuzzling the animals, one by one.

“As long as you’re not interfering in anything you shouldn’t be,” Doreen noted, her gaze narrowing.

“Of course not. I would never ,” Nan protested innocently.

Still, it was hard to keep the suspicion out of Doreen’s thoughts as she sat down to discuss the party plans with Nan. Something was just so cagey and crafty about her grandmother today that Doreen couldn’t quite relax. Currently they were affixing red velvet bows on the pine bough garlands. Her animals were surprisingly well mannered today. Thaddeus sat quietly on her shoulder. Mugs was asleep on the floor by Nan’s feet, while Goliath lay on the dining table, his tail occasionally swaying into the garlands and the bows.

When they had done this batch, Doreen asked Nan, “Are you guys sure you don’t need some money to help with this?”

“Of course not,” Nan declared, eyeing her askance. “We’re all just fine. Rosemoor has a Christmas decorating budget. We have just added a few touches here and there.”

“You all might be fine,” Doreen muttered in frustration, “but I am not. All you’re doing is just reminding me that I don’t have anything for Mack,” she confessed.

“I told you. Make him shortbreads, dear. That’ll make him happy,” she stated, with an airy wave of her hand.

“I did just buy the ingredients.” At that, Nan turned and looked at her in delight. Doreen shrugged. “I figured I should at least try some Christmas baking on my own.”

“You absolutely should try,” Nan exclaimed, “but do more than try. You need to succeed.” She was openly scolding Doreen now. “Attitude is everything.”

Doreen smiled. Her grandmother would lecture her until she was done and would love every minute of it. In the meantime, for Doreen, it was a little hard to realize how far off track she could get at times, but trust Nan to pull her right back into place. “I wasn’t thinking I was doing that badly,” she protested.

“No, but, when learning something new, you have to keep at it, keep using a skill in order for it to become something you can count on,” Nan explained. “So, you can’t just bake today and never again. It needs to be an ongoing process.”

“Maybe,” Doreen replied, “but it’s still not a skill that comes easily for me.”

“I’m not sure skills are supposed to come easily,” Nan clarified, studying her granddaughter. “Natural talents might, but skills? Skills seem to be something completely and altogether different.”

“Maybe,” Doreen muttered. “Still seems a little off, though.”

Nan laughed. “ Off isn’t bad,” she pointed out. “In fact, off is often good. You just have to accept that what you think is good versus what somebody else may think is good can be a totally different story.”

Doreen wasn’t here to argue with Nan, and it seemed to be a moot point at this stage anyway. “I’ll try the shortbreads, maybe tomorrow,” she shared. “God knows I’ve got nothing else to do.”

Nan frowned, looking at Doreen in concern.

“I’m fine.” Doreen sighed. “It’s just been a while since I had a case, and I’m a little stir-crazy.”

“We should be happy about that,” Nan noted. “We don’t want to constantly have these issues.”

“Of course not,” Doreen conceded. “I’m wondering if I should just do more volunteering elsewhere.”

“You can always help at the food bank and serve Christmas dinner.”

“But that only would keep me busy this month. Besides, I want to talk to Mack about that first,” she shared. “I don’t know whether he has any plans or not, and I don’t want to scuttle them by not checking with him first.”

“Oh, I do like to hear that,” Nan exclaimed, looking at Doreen in delight. “You are learning.”

She frowned. “Now, if only I could learn on the topic of this gift-giving thing. Surely I’m not so far off as to be unaware of what Mack would like,” she muttered. “Though I must say, you’ve got me a little worried.”

“Oh dear.” Nan frowned. “I didn’t mean to scare you or to upset you. Your husband really wasn’t a nice man. I know we shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but he really did a number on you.”

Doreen shook her head. “You’ve done nothing but speak ill of him anyway,” she shared, “so the fact that he’s dead doesn’t make a whole lot of difference.”

“I just don’t want you to do anything that would cause you to lose Mack.”

“Cause me to lose Mack?” Doreen repeated, staring at Nan. “You really think that I’ll do something as drastic as that?”

“No, I’m not thinking that at all,” she replied, with a pat of Doreen’s hand. “However, I’ve been around a little bit longer than you and understand that it’s pretty easy to do the wrong thing. It’s not a one-and-done thing. It’s a relationship. Just when you thought everything was nice and tidy, you realize that you haven’t sorted out something major, and now it’s a big thing that you didn’t realize was a thing at all.” After sharing that convoluted mess, Nan smiled at Doreen. “But enough of that talk, we have work to do.” Nan pointed to her amazing work list of everything that needed to be done for the party.

Doreen stared at her. “Are you doing this all by yourself?” she asked in astonishment.

“No, of course not,” she said, with another dramatic wave of her hand. “We have lots of volunteers. But the fact remains that we don’t want to leave it for too many people to mess up,” Nan pointed out. “So we need to keep a close eye on it.”

“Right.” Doreen shook her head. “When you mentioned it would be here at the center, I assumed management was okay with it.”

“Of course they are,” Nan declared, frowning at her. “And, yes, we did talk to them.”

“Are you sure?”

Nan laughed. “Of course we did. The last thing we want is something to go wrong at that stage and have management all upset because we didn’t include them in our plans.”

“Yeah, that wouldn’t go over well, would it?” Doreen noted, staring at Nan. “And you’re sure you’re not up to something?”

Nan gave her that mostly innocent, yet somehow guilty look, then asked, “Oh, my dear, what could we possibly be getting into?”

“I don’t know,” Doreen admitted, narrowing her gaze. “The fact that you’re even this involved has me worried.”

She chuckled. “Trust, child. You just need a little more trust.”

“Ah, well.” Doreen groaned, staring at her grandmother. “I might need a lot more trust. A whole lot.”

“You better find it then,” Nan stated. “I don’t have time for any of that now.”

“ Right ,” Doreen muttered, not exactly sure what she was getting herself involved in.

“You go along now,” Nan said dismissively. “You have to find mistletoe.”

“What do you mean?” Doreen asked.

Nan frowned, shaking her head. “You heard about the semi-truck accident, right?”

“No, I didn’t.” She looked over at Nan.

“Oh.” Nan gave her half a smile. “Mack’s really keeping you out of this one, isn’t he?”

She eyed her grandmother in astonishment. “Until now I didn’t know that he’s trying to keep me out of anything, but you’re not helping by giving me bare-bones explanations.”

“I really don’t want to get too involved. That would upset Mack.”

“As if you care about that.” Doreen snorted.

“Of course I care. He’s a very special man, after all,” she said, “and I don’t want us to do anything that’ll mess up his plans.”

“Oh. goodness.” Doreen sighed, staring at her grandmother. “Please stay out of Mack’s life, Nan.”

“I would love to,” she agreed in that same rumbling comfortable tone that she oozed all the time—when she wanted something. “I mean, it would be so much easier if people would pay attention and would do what they’re supposed to do.”

“Oh boy,” Doreen muttered, “Nan, please, please, just leave Mack alone.”

Nan shook her head. “I have no intention of getting involved with Mack at all.” And, with that, Nan went off in peals of laughter.

Her grandmother’s glee just made Doreen feel even worse. She didn’t know how to get Nan to butt out of Mack’s life. The last thing Mack needed was her grandmother’s interference, particularly if he was working a case. “And you do know that I’m not allowed to involve myself in any case that isn’t connected to a cold case.”

“That’s true,” Nan confirmed. “So, we’ll have a problem, won’t we?”

“I don’t know that we’ll have a problem at all,” Doreen noted, shaking her head at Nan. “I don’t understand what could possibly be a problem.”

“That’s a good thing,” Nan declared, with a bright smile. “We definitely don’t want problems at this stage.”

“You’re talking in circles,” Doreen muttered. “Please, if you’ve got something to say about whatever is going on, let’s hear it.”

“I can’t, my dear. It’s Christmas, which is all about secrets.”

“Oh my gosh, I’ll have to apologize to Mack for you butting into his life, won’t I?”

“I don’t know.” Nan faced her with those bright blue eyes, almost chortling with laughter. “Will you?”

Doreen groaned. “Yeah,… I will. So I might as well do it upfront because I can’t stop you from whatever madness you’re involved in.”

“It’s not madness,” she argued. “It’s just that sometimes… people need a little help. That’s all.”

“Right, and you think Mack needs help? Remember that, if you get me in trouble over any of his current cases, I won’t be allowed to work on any cold cases anymore.” She hated to admit it, but it would completely ruin the fun she had on a day-to-day basis.

“No, no, of course not,” Nan agreed, staring at her in astonishment. “We wouldn’t want that to happen. We have just as much fun with your cases as you do.”

“Right,” Doreen said, realizing at least that much was the truth coming from Nan. “So, you won’t do anything to mess this up?”

“No, of course not,” Nan declared, with a bright smile. A too bright smile. Somehow that didn’t make Doreen feel any better. She frowned when Nan patted her hand and added, “You go chase down that mistletoe. We have to have it, and that is not negotiable.”

“It’s an old folks home, Nan. It’s not as if everyone is doing any kissing anyway,” Doreen noted, with an eye roll.

Nan narrowed her eyes at her granddaughter. “I hope we all are kissing for the rest of our lives. Remember, Doreen. Romance is never dead, no matter how old you are, child.”

“Does that mean that you and Richie are still an item?”

“Mind your own business, dear.”

Doreen didn’t know what to say to that, but she certainly didn’t want to think about this place erupting in loud smooches at Christmas, or any other time, that’s for sure. “Fine. What is it you want me to do?”

“Find some mistletoe for the Rosemoor party. Maybe a sprig for your own house too, right? Then go make yourself busy.” Nan stood, brushing her away. “You need to look after yourself. Maybe get a haircut. And I don’t know, go get a massage or something,” she suggested hopefully.

Doreen stared at her, then shook her head. “ Nah . I’m fine.”

“Oh, good. And your hair?”

“My hair is fine,” she replied, staring at her awkwardly, “unless you’re trying to tell me something.”

“No, my dear, I would never do that,” Nan declared.

“Yes, you would,” Doreen admitted, sighing. “I don’t think I’ll like Christmas celebrations much if it comes with this much focus on me, learning how to be like everyone else.”

Nan laughed. “You just be you, and you’ll love it,” she said warmly. “You must allow yourself to open up and to enjoy it.”

And if that wasn’t enough to set her nerves on edge, Nan’s follow-up words caused Doreen to nearly recoil with horror.

“Of course it depends on Mack too, you know?”

“How about we leave Mack out of it,” Doreen said. “Don’t be bothering him, Nan. If you need anything, just tell me, and we’ll deal with it.”

“I will. I will. I will,” she declared, with that same innocent yet horribly guilty look in her eye. The laughter in her expression was enough to get Doreen’s blood pressure rising. Nan immediately noticed. “You, my dear, need to go get some rest. Just go home, relax, make your shortbreads, and have a couple too,” she suggested, with a bright smile. “Absolutely no point in baking if you don’t enjoy the end product. That’s half the fun.”

“I struggle with eating anything I bake, as I’m half afraid I’ll poison myself.”

Nan frowned at her and then peeled off in joyful laughter. “I do enjoy your visits,” she admitted, with a bright smile. “So I hate to say it, but you need to get going,” Nan stated in no uncertain terms. After another reference to Christmas surprises and all that, Doreen and her animals were unceremoniously bumped out of Nan’s apartment.

Doreen hadn’t even been offered tea or any treats, and neither had her animals. Even their cuddles had been held to a minimum. Her grandmother was really caught up in whatever she was into, and it would definitely be interesting to learn more about that. The good thing was that her grandmother was also completely engaged in the planned party and having a lot of fun in the process, and Doreen would never take that away from her. Of anybody she had ever met, Nan appeared to be enjoying retirement and taking advantage of all the activities Rosemoor had to offer.

When you were eighty-plus, did you truly know how to live life? Did your dreams come true? Did retirement living morph into truly living? Doreen didn’t know, but Nan was certainly enjoying her senior years more than anybody else Doreen knew. Actually Nan always seemed to be enjoying her life, no matter her age. Yet, at Rosemoor, Nan appeared to have a whole new lease on life and had no intention of giving it up anytime soon.

And, with the shortbread recipe now her focus, Doreen and her animals headed home.