“About that.” She looks between Blake and me as I grab a banana for Sam. “I know you two have been sharing a room.”
Oh my God. I feel my stomach bottom out, and I brace for the lecture I’m sure is coming, one I’m positive will involve her pointing out that I have a kid, so we shouldn’t be sleeping together.
“I was wondering if it would be okay to put Grandma and Lance in the room next to you, so they don’t have to stay in the entertainment room on the pullout.”
“Sure,” I agree quickly, feeling relieved while Blake glowers at his mom. “Stop.” I elbow him, and he turns his head my way.
“Do you want to listen to my grandma and her boyfriend getting it on all night?”
“Oh my goodness, that’s not going to happen!” Janet cries while I roll my eyes at him.
“What’s not going to happen?” Margret asks while she walks across the kitchen to the fridge.
“Nothing,” Janet says quickly. Then she asks, “What does everyone want for dinner? I was thinking we could get the stuff to make lasagna.”
“That sounds good to me.” Margret comes over with a can of Coke and leans into the counter next to her mom. “Do you mind if Mason comes? He’s at his parents’ in Ravalli.”
“You’ve talked to Mason since we’ve been here?” Blake asks her, sounding like an overprotective big brother. I grab his thigh and squeeze in a silent reminder that he needs to tread carefully, because he might not remember the conversation we had about his sister’s love life, but I do.
“I talk to him every day.” She shrugs like it’s not a big deal, and Janet pats her hand, then looks at Blake.
“Mason is family. He’s always invited.”
“Cool.” Margret kisses her mom’s cheek. “I’ll let him know.” She pushes away from the counter, then bounces out of the kitchen, saying over her shoulder, “I’m going to wake up Taylor so she’s not up all night.”
“All right, now can you go to the store to get the stuff for dinner?” she asks Blake, grabbing a pad of paper and a pen from the drawer.
“Sure.” He looks at me. “Do you feel like going into town?”
“I’m not going to pass up a chance to go to that coffee shop in the grocery store.” I shrug, taking Sam back from him so I can go get him dressed, since all he has on is a onesie proclaiming him The Man. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”
“All right.” He kisses the side of my head before I slip off the stool. When I get back to the kitchen, Margret lets me know Janet has gone outside to read and Blake is out moving around vehicles, since his truck is blocked in.
I go out to meet him with Sam, and when we get outside, I find him on the phone, standing at the end of the driveway. When he sees me, he hangs up with whoever he’s talking to and comes to take Sam from me, the look on his face hard to read.
“That was Tanner. He and Cybil want us to come for dinner. I told them I’d let them know when we can both make it.”
“They know about us, that we’re together?”
“Are they not supposed to?” He raises a brow.
“No, I just . . .”
“You just what?”
“I don’t want things at work to be weird.”
“Babe, you might have missed it, but Tanner and Mav have been pushing us at each other and waiting for this to happen, because they knew it was inevitable.”
“Oh.” I bite my lip. “In that case, it’ll be fun. I can’t wait to meet Claire,” I say as he slides Sam’s diaper bag off my shoulder, shaking his head like he thinks I’m cute. “Did he say anything else?”
“Just asked if I’ve talked to Mav.”
“Has he?”
“Nope, not a word.”
“And he still hasn’t responded to your texts?”
“No.” He shuts the back door of his truck after he gets Sam in his seat, then runs fingers through his hair. “The only thing I can think is he decided to go to his cabin and has no service.”
“I think you should go check on him,” I tell him honestly. “I mean, I totally get the need to decompress after a difficult trip, but it seems odd to me that he’s not returning any phone calls or messages.”
“Yeah.” He helps me into my seat. “His cabin isn’t very far from here. I’ll head up there to check on him when we get back from the store.”
I narrow my eyes on his as I tuck my feet into the cab. “Is that going to be your excuse to get out of spending time with your grandma and her boyfriend?” I ask, and he grins in answer, making me roll my eyes.