She didn’t know how much Riley was understanding of their conversation, but he seemed anxious.
“What kind of apartment will you be living in?”
“The kind college kids can afford. Two small bedrooms, a kitchen sink piled with dirty dishes. Pizza boxes jammed into overflowing trash cans.”
“And the kid works in a health-food store?”
“I’m sure they were vegetarian pizzas.”
She refused to smile at that. “It doesn’t sound like a healthy environment to me.” For Riley, she added mentally, assuming Daniel would pick up on that.
“We’ll use your house as our home base, if that’s okay with you. You walk in the door at night, I walk out.”
Like she really had a choice? She couldn’t stop him from renting a room. She couldn’t keep him away from Riley without being the mean ol’ grandma. And having Daniel instead of some stranger care for Riley was a good thing.
“Do you have to go back to Seattle and pick up clothes and whatever?”
“Nope. I asked a friend to pack up my whatevers, including my laptop, and airfreight them. So, how about I take you two to dinner, then I’ll show you where I’ll be living.”
She should call Ted and let him know what was happening, but decided to wait until after Riley went to bed, so she could have a private conversation. She didn’t know whether the new plan would make Ted happy or not. He’d seemed not to like Daniel very much—until Daniel had become a solution to a problem that directly affected Ted.
“Dinner sounds good to me,” she said finally. “As long as the restaurant serves normal food. And meat.”
“What’s normal?” He grinned. “I don’t force my convictions on others, Mo.”
“Don’t call me that. Please,” she added, softening the order for Riley’s sake. Daniel’s calling her Mo reminded her of her father, and he was the last person she wanted to be reminded of. Well, him and Jess’s father. “Would you mind if I ask my aunt to join us? She hasn’t seen Riley since last year.” And Ted couldn’t get irritated with another adult along.
“Sure. I’ve never met the old gal. Do we need to pick her up?”
“She’ll walk. She doesn’t live far from Cortland. And she wouldn’t appreciate you calling her ‘the old gal.’ You remember Auntie Cherie, don’t you, Riley?”
He nodded several times. “She’s fun.”
“Exactly. Let me give her a call and see if she’s free. The woman has a busy calendar.” Maureen went into her bedroom and shut the door. She leaned against it for a few seconds, forcing herself to relax. It wasn’t a matter of coming out the winner over Daniel, although that was a nice side benefit, but of her not backing down from what she wanted. She’d stood up for herself. She didn’t consider herself a weak woman, but, with the exception of at her job, she tended to go along with what anyone else wanted to do, in order to keep peace. She liked peace. She liked order. The one time she hadn’t been the model of responsibility had resulted in her becoming pregnant and a single mother at seventeen.
But this time the stakes were too high to give in to Ted or Daniel. She needed Riley and Jess in her life. So, she’d stood up for herself.
And it felt pretty darn good.
MAUREEN SAW RILEY spot Cherie coming into the PeaceLove Café. He was kneeling on a chair at the table and started waving both arms to get her attention. They had seen each other several times through the years, and occasionally Cherie would talk with him over the computer camera. Now Riley would have a chance to really get to know her well, too. Thank you, Jess.
“There you are!” Cherie called, waving off the hostess, then heading toward them. She greeted at least a half-dozen guests as she made her way through the funky restaurant, a throwback to the old flower-power days complete with psychedelic art on the walls and the servers wearing beads, headbands and long, flowing outfits.
Daniel stood and held a chair for Cherie, but first she went around the table, giving hugs and kisses. She included Daniel before she sat down, as if they were old friends.
“You don’t quite fit the picture I had of you in my head,” she said to Daniel after ordering a glass of white zinfandel.
“Which was?”
“I was thinking, Dr. Cregg, professor of English. Tweed jackets and a pipe. A bow tie, maybe, receding hair line. And a certain tone.”
“What kind of tone?”
“A sort of lofty use of language, with a Bostonian accent, even if he came from Baton Rouge.”
He laughed. “I’ve met those professors. They were my inspirations to be the opposite.”
“A worthy goal.” She leaned toward Maureen. “So, adorable girl, what’s going on?”
Maureen summed up the events in an upbeat manner as Riley used the restaurant-supplied crayons to draw on their butcher-paper tablecloth.
“Will you take me to the ’ramics place, Auntie Cherie? I want to make my mom an I-Love-You plate for when she comes back to get me,” he said, lifting his head finally.
“That’s a date, young man.”
His smile lit up his entire face and got even wider somehow when she picked up a crayon and started drawing with him. Forehead to forehead, they chattered like old friends.
Daniel was uncharacteristically quiet.
“You must be tired,” Maureen said to him.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. A little. How is it you can get jet lag without leaving the time zone?”
“It’s just your body letting down from the stress of travel,” Cherie said. “A good night’s sleep and you’ll be right as rain.”
“I wonder how good my nights are going to be,” he said. “My new roomie, Ty, gets off work at nine. I think his night is just beginning at that point. Should be interesting. Think I’ll be bunkin’ with you, Master Riley, when you na—rest in the afternoon.”
Riley frowned. “Grandma doesn’t have bunk beds, Papa.”
Daniel grinned. “It’s an expression, bud. It means lying down to rest.”
“Maybe you’d like to help me one day when I deliver meals,” Cherie said.
“Do you have a motorcycle? Our pizza guy has a motorcycle.”
“Wouldn’t that be fun? Alas, I don’t even have a driver’s license, so they give me a driver. He waits in the car while I take the dinners inside to people who can’t fix a meal for themselves.”
“Why can’t they?” He’d abandoned his artwork to listen to her.
“Mostly because they’re old. Like me.”
He giggled. “You’re not old.”
“Well. Isn’t that nice?” She beamed. “Do you think you’d like to help me out sometime? Your grandma helps on Saturdays. They’d love to see that sweet smile of yours, I can tell you that.”
“Sure. I can, can’t I, Papa?”
Maureen took a quick swig of her wine, hiding her hurt that Riley had asked Daniel for permission instead of her. He was staying with her.
“That’s up to your grandma,” Daniel said. “She’s the boss now.”
“Can