“There’s four of them?” she asked Cole. When he nodded, her eyes rolled so she was looking at the ceiling of the building and she muttered, “Thank you, Jesus.”
Still feeling generous with information, Cole added, “They’ve got kick ass names, too. Bond, Canon and Reid.”
She stopped fanning herself with the clipboard and looked at Jarrod. “I’m writing to the President to get him to make a medal and honor just for your parents. After that, I’m going to church and I’m telling them about the proof I’ve just seen that God loves some people more than others, and that’s ok because we end up with people who look like you in the world, which is far from being a hardship. After that, I’m making posters and taking out ads across the country with your photo on them so that any non-believers start believing in Him,” she paused and thought about something. “Wait, his brothers look just like him?” she asked Cole who was her source of information, apparently. When he nodded, she started fanning again, her hand now moving in jerky sweeps. “In that case, I’m putting all four of them on it because that’s even more proof of all of that. Lord have mercy.”
Taking pity on Jarrod, who was now rubbing his face with his hands, I moved toward Maude and gave her a hug. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but what are you doing here?”
“Well, my beautiful grandbaby hasn’t called me in over two weeks, so I figured I’d go to her to check on her with my own two eyes,” she muttered, her eyes skimming my face as she held me away from her and checked me over. “Mind, I didn’t expect the reason for her silence to be down to the perfection that just carried her down the stairs to me.”
Both Ren and Cole made choking noises behind me, but Maude wasn’t finished. Leaning in, she whispered loudly, “Good choice. Now I get to brag at the ladies' luncheon about the hotness in my beautiful Katarianne’s life. Jane Priestly was all about her grandson’s photo going viral on the interweb and the girls calling him gorgeous. That boy’s nowhere near what my Katy’s got.”
I was about to tell her that it wasn’t like that between us, when Ren told her, “You want him to take you to that luncheon, Mizz Maude, you tell me when and Jarrod can have the time off paid. I’ll even throw in his brothers.”
Shooting him a glare, I then looked over at Jarrod to make sure he was ok, only to see him biting his lip and looking up at the ceiling. Almost like he felt me looking at him, he lowered his head and I was relieved to see he was trying not to laugh instead of trying not to cry – which was how I felt.
Maude started discussing plans and dates with Ren, but cut off when she saw something behind me. “What the hell is that?”
Turning around, I saw Duke sitting watching us all with his head tilted slightly. “That’s my dog Duke.”
Bursting out laughing like I’d told the best joke in the world, she gave my shoulder a shove – which for a woman in her early eighties had some force behind it.
“That’s what dragged her behind it when he went chasing after a ball,” Ren told her and pointed at my ankle.
That stopped her laughing. “You’re serious? That’s your dog?”
Like he knew we were talking about him, he padded down the stairs and walked up behind me. I thought maybe he’d lie down or even head outside to go potty, but instead he shoved his head between my legs, moved forward so that I was balanced on his shoulders, and then he stood up to full height meaning that my toes were only just skimming the floor.
“He feels bad about her ankle,” Cole snickered.
On the outside I made a face like this whole thing was dumb, but on the inside I’m not gonna lie – I was doing cartwheels over the fact I could ride my dog. How cool was that?
And then Maude said something that made my mood plummet. “Uh, not sure if you know, but another reason for me coming to visit was to tell you that Effie took off again, and your Uncle Leo needs help with Elodie. Not sure how that’s all gonna work out with your dog, honey.”
I felt all the happiness leach out of me at hearing that. My fucking, fucking cousin. She got caught up in bad shit, did bad shit, got knocked up, did more bad shit, had a precious baby girl who was the definition of beauty, did more shit, took off, came back, and it was up to the rest of us to make sure Elodie was kept safe until it suited Effie to come home to her again.