“I forgot to mention,” Doreen said, joining Nan at the patio table, “but the animals knew you were in trouble yesterday, like they had this sixth sense of something being wrong with you. And, sure enough, we raced over here to find you unconscious and bloody.” She quickly gave her more details about what had happened with the animals.
Nan stared at the animals with pleasure. “In that case, they obviously all need treats.” And she quickly got up and raced back inside.
From the speed of her movements, it was obvious she wasn’t suffering too badly. But still, it made Doreen a little uncomfortable to realize that her grandmother was walking and running like she was. Surely she should be moving at a more sedate pace. When she mentioned it to her, Nan just looked at her and waved her hand, as if to push away all Doreen’s worries.
“That’s just silly,” she argued. “That would mean not being me.”
“And of course that would never do, would it?” Doreen asked, with a smile.
“Absolutely not,” she agreed, with a chuckle. “I still have to be me, even if it’s uncomfortable for other people.”
“Now that’s true,” Doreen acknowledged quietly.
Nan nodded. “Something for you to remember too. After your horrid husband abused you verbally for so many years, you need to watch out for that. Don’t let others stop you from being you. You are just perfect as you are.”
“Not that I don’t need to keep improving where I can …” Doreen added.
“Of course. Self-reflection is good. And more people should indulge in that painful exercise,” Nan said, with a snippy tone, obviously mad at the five people who disliked her.
Doreen sighed. “It would be nice if your uncomfortable other people didn’t push them to want to hurt you though.”
Nan placed a pastry in front of Doreen and poured tea for two.
“What is this?” Doreen asked with interest.
“I had Richie get a selection of breakfasts from the Rosemoor cafeteria,” she explained. “He’s much better at pilfering food for you.”
At that statement, Doreen’s hand, hovering atop the two pastries, immediately pulled back.
Nan chuckled. “Honestly, I just had him tell them exactly who it was for. And they’re totally okay with you having a treat,” she noted. “Besides, it’s my breakfast too, and I told him to go get some more because I’m really hungry today.”
“You just sent Richie for more breakfast?” Doreen asked incredulously. “The way you’re bouncing around here, why didn’t you go get breakfast yourself?”
“Because we have a meeting,” Nan stated, with that self-important air. “And that’s obviously way more important than me making my way down there for breakfast and trying to make my way back again without everybody wanting to stop and gab about my attack.”
“Oh.” Doreen stared at her grandmother. “And is Richie joining us?”
“Of course, of course. I told you. I was just sending him down to get breakfast.”
“You just sent him down to get you some breakfast. That doesn’t mean that he’s joining us for the meeting.”
“Well, of course he is, dear,” she replied. “That wouldn’t make any sense to have a meeting without him, would it now?”
Considering they’d had lots of meetings without Richie—but maybe not in regard to this one particular scenario where Nan got conked on the head with a vase—so Doreen figured it was just easier to stay quiet. And, sure enough, a few minutes later, Richie walked in, and he had a basketful of stuff.
He looked over, saw Doreen, and a big smile beamed across his face. “There you are,” he greeted her in a hearty voice. “Nan was afraid you would starve.”
Doreen shot a glance over at Nan, caught her with a guilty look, right before she managed to wipe it off her face. She sent a disparaging frown at Richie. But Nan didn’t say anything, which also added much validity to her guilty state.
Richie put down the basket and stated, “And look what I’ve got for you. I snagged them from Peggy, who works in the kitchen.” He had a big grin on his face, obviously having had tons of fun getting this stash. “I hope you share.”
Doreen watched as he peeled back the napkin on the top to what looked like a half-dozen croissants, cheese croissants, and maybe even ham and cheese croissants.
Doreen smiled. “Absolutely I share,” she confirmed, looking over at him. “Do you get enough to eat here?”
He patted his tummy. “Well, the doctors say I do. But I wouldn’t be averse to having more,” he noted. “I do like my groceries.”
And, with aplomb, he reached into the basket and pulled out the biggest and fattest of the croissants. Doreen managed to withhold her grin, but Nan wasn’t having anything to do with it, and she smacked his hand and told him off.
Doreen burst out laughing. “Wow, you too are just having so much fun,” she noted, chuckling.
“Of course,” Nan stated. “We have to. At our age, that fun can come to an end really fast.”
That sober reminder of Nan’s accident yesterday immediately had Doreen looking over at her grandmother and saying, “Are you sure you’re feeling better?”
“Of course I’m feeling better,” she replied. “Don’t I look better?”
“You look marvelous,” she agreed gently, “but then you always do.”
Her grandmother beamed. “Thank you, child,” she heartily responded. “I’m so happy to have you around.”
Richie just muttered around the croissant that he had stuffed in his mouth. “That’s because she keeps giving you compliments.”
Nan gave him a frown and argued, “Well, it’s much nicer to get honey from people than it is to get lemons.”
Not sure exactly where that conversation was going, but Doreen wanted to stay out of it as much as she could. “I came, hoping to talk to some of the residents.”
“And you probably can,” she agreed, “but you probably want to do it on the sly.”
Doreen looked over at her. “Why is that?”
“Because I think Mack told them that they didn’t have to talk to anybody else.”
“Oh, great,” Doreen moaned, followed by a sigh. “Mack again.”
“Well, he was here to do his own investigation,” Richie confirmed. “I don’t think he wants you interfering.”
“Me interfering?” she asked, looking at him. “What about you guys?”
“He didn’t mention us specifically,” Richie noted, with a shrug of a shoulder. “So I don’t think it applies to us.”
“Oh, I see.” Doreen stared at the two of them in fascination, as they completely ignored the fact that they weren’t supposed to be doing any investigating. Shaking her head, she asked Nan, “How many of them will listen to Mack?”
“Not many,” Nan answered in a cheerful voice. “Besides, you’re the one with all the notoriety. So they figure, if anybody’ll solve this, it’ll be you.”
“Well, that’s nice to know,” she replied and then sighed. “No pressure though, huh.”