“Bruce is a grown man. If he wants to wear wrinkled shirts, that’s his choice.” He told himself not to belabor the point. Gram needed to be needed. “I know it’s not ideal, Gram. I know it’s causing more work for you on the other end. But I can’t let you go back there until I can guarantee you’re going to be safe.”
“You planning to take away my stepladder? Force me to stand on a chair?”
The doctor had shown him the pictures from his grandmother’s scans. Explained about bones and types of fractures. “The break in your arm was not caused by a fall.”
“I fell off the stepladder.”
He wasn’t going to put her any more on the defensive. “Do I have your word that you’ll exit your bungalow by the front door, or do I need to pay to have officers on all four sides?” he asked now.
The thought of Gram climbing out a window in the dark still made him want to grin. And to cringe, too. She could so easily have fallen—broken something else. She could’ve lain out there in the dark.
But not for long. Harper’s staff had found her missing within the hour, based on their reports.
“No more guards than I already have,” Gram said. “Please.”
“Then you’ll play by the rules you volunteered to follow?”
“I will.” She didn’t seem very happy about the idea. But he believed her.
“Thank you.”
She met his gaze again, looking more fragile. “I don’t want Brianna to think I’m weak. Or unable to care for myself.”
“Oh, Gram, she’s not going to think that!”
“You have no control over what she thinks. She was patting my cheek and telling me everything would be okay.”
He was out of his area of expertise. So far out of it, he felt like a prisoner in his own scenario.
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe she’s a mini you?” he asked as the idea occurred to him. “You’re a nurturer, Gram. The best caregiver ever. It comes naturally to you. That’s not something everyone has. Or does well. But Brianna…she’s a natural, too. Some of that had to come from you.” He’d never even met the kid.
“Don’t try to charm me, Mason Thomas.”
Don’t confuse me with Bruce turned into “I’m not the charmer in the family, Gram. I’m just thinking that during these two weeks, with you right here, maybe you could teach her to cook a few things. And maybe give her some tips on how you do what you do around the house. She’s a bright one. I’ll bet she’d pick it up fast. And if I’m right and she’s a little version of you, she’ll probably love every minute of it.”
He was coming up with aces all over the place.
“She’ll go home and tell Harper I’m making her clean toilets and then Harper won’t let me see her anymore.”
Another statement that Mason tucked away for Sara.
“I’ll talk to Harper,” he assured her. “Leave it to me.”
For the first time that morning, Gram’s smile made it to her eyes. “Thank you.”
He got up to go. Gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Love you, Gram.”
“I love you, too.”
He was halfway to the hall—on his way to see Harper before heading back to Albina, when he heard her say, “Mason?”
He turned.
“I fell off my stepladder.”
CHAPTER TEN
“SOMEONE’S GOING TO have to go.” Harper, in her uniform with her holster at her waist, sat behind her desk, facing the woman sitting calmly in the chair on the other side.
Lila, in black capri pants and a black-and-white floral print top, didn’t express disagreement.
“Whether she was trying to make me look bad or not, it’s clear that my staff and I failed to do our jobs. But if she’s bent on showing me up, I’m not going to risk her safety or her life by staying here. I’ll just go. Whatever you and Brett choose to do in the meantime or even the long run is your call. I’ll abide by whatever it is. I just can’t place a resident at risk.”
“Brett and I choose to work this matter out in another way,” Lila said.
Harper’s breath caught. If Lila had already talked to her son, their silent founder, she obviously considered the matter of utmost importance. Even in this new world where Lila interacted with all her family members, she still ran the Stand as autonomously as always.