Ella handed the bags to Angela. “He has to know you haven’t been home. What will you tell him?”
“I have no idea. Just go.” Angela whirled around and managed a total of two steps before an especially full bag ripped open, a pink silk negligee and matching robe pouring out.
“Oh no!” Ella scrambled to collect the lost garments.
“Ella, just g—”
“Grandma?” Mark stood in the open door dressed in jeans and a faded red T-shirt, his eyes wide.
Great. Just great. Angela forced a smile. “Hi!”
His gaze went from her to her shopping bags and then to Ella, who stood holding the negligee and robe. “Ella? What are you doing here?”
Angela shrugged as if getting caught with the family’s nemesis was an everyday occurrence. “Never mind her. Can you help with these bags?”
He came to take some of the bags from her hands. “I don’t understand. You were shopping? Gray said you were in your room taking a nap.”
Think! Angela instructed herself. After a second, she blurted out in a strangled voice, “Doctor’s appointment.” Yes. A doctor’s appointment. That was the ticket.
Mark’s startled gaze flickered over her face.
Angela faked a tired smile. “In Asheville. A specialist.”
Ella took a few steps closer. “I drove her because—” She gulped and looked at Angela.
“No Uber,” Angela said hastily. “Not a one. Can you believe that?”
Mark didn’t look convinced. “So you asked Ella to take you?”
“Oh, it wasn’t any trouble,” Ella said brightly. She handed the negligee and robe to Angela. “I didn’t mind.”
“But I’m home now, so—” Head high, Angela clutched the clothing and walked past Mark. “Let’s go inside. It’s getting cold.” Without waiting to see if he was following, she went inside and hastily piled the clothes she carried onto the entryway table.
She was relieved when she heard his footsteps behind her.
He came into the foyer and piled the shopping bags beside the umbrella stand. “Grandma, why didn’t you call m—”
“Mark, please. It’s obvious why I asked Ella. Gray was off somewhere, and I couldn’t bother you as you and your mother were at work. As they say in the restaurant business, the dinner special must go on.” Angela was a little irked to see that Ella had followed Mark and now stood just outside the door.
Mark’s gaze dropped to the shopping bags he’d just carried inside. “You went shopping and to the doctor’s? I didn’t think you’d have the energy to—”
“Of course I didn’t go shopping,” Angela said sharply, moving to stand beside the door, which effectively placed her between Mark and Ella. “She shopped while I took a nap in the car. Didn’t I, Ella?”
Ella nodded faithfully. “Those bags are all mine.”
He frowned. “Then why did you bring them in here?”
Angela and Ella stared at him.
“We—” Ella cast a wild look at Angela. “We didn’t want them stolen. Right?”
Whew. Yes! “Right. Not while—” Angela gripped the door handle, trying to think. “I—I invited her inside for a cup of hot tea to thank her for helping me get to the doctor, and we didn’t want her purchases to get stolen from the car while she was here.” There. Surely that would end this torture.
Mark ran a hand through his hair. “That you’d ask Ella of all people—” He clamped his mouth over the rest of his words and shot a self-conscious look at Ella. “Sorry. It was nice of you to help Grandma.”
“She would have asked someone else, but I came by to—to ask her about a recipe I was working on. That’s when she got the call from her doctor, reminding her about the appointment, and so I thought, ‘Why not?’ ”
Oh my, thought Angela with admiration. That was rather clever of Ella. If it hadn’t been so close to the time Jules came home, Angela might have encouraged Ella to actually join them for tea, just to give her story a little more authenticity. But there wasn’t enough time; Jules could come home anytime now.
Angela leaned against the front door and pressed her hand to her forehead as if taking her own temperature. “I don’t feel so well. Is it hot in here to you all?”
Mark was instantly attentive. “You did too much. You should sit down.”
“I should.” She gave Ella a weak smile. “We’ll have to have that cup of tea another time.”
Ella nodded as she backed onto the porch. “Sure. I’m glad your doctor’s visit went well.”
“Wait.” Mark collected all the shopping bags. “You forgot these.”
“Oh. Right.” Ella took them, her hands instantly full.
Great, Angela thought. Just great.
He picked up the negligee and robe from where Angela had left them. “I guess we can put these—” He looked at the full bags and her overly full hands. He gave a helpless shrug and then carefully draped them over Ella’s shoulders.
Her face red, she mumbled, “Thanks.” She started to turn when her gaze locked on something over Angela’s shoulder. “Hi, Gray.”
Darn it. Angela stayed where she was, holding the front door half-closed. They didn’t have time for this!
Mark cut Gray a hard look. “You said Grandma was in her room taking a nap.”
“Wasn’t she? Huh.” He smiled at Ella. “What’s all this?” He gestured to the shopping bags and the negligee and robe hanging from her shoulders.
“We—I mean, I went shopping while your grandma was at her doctor’s appointment in Asheville.”
“Ah. I see. Grandma, you should find out what store Ella got that sleepwear from. It’s in your favorite color.”
Angela fixed him with a stern gaze. “I’ll do that.”
He nodded. “I wish I had a day to go shopping. I spent the whole morning fixing a fence after Pickles decided to see which was stronger, the rails or his head.”
Pickles? Angela cast a questioning look at Mark, who looked just as confused as she was.
But Ella knew. “You said he was a stubborn bull.”
“You should come and meet him one day.” Gray leaned one shoulder against the wall and crossed his arms. “Grandma, you’re holding on to that door as if you’re trying to keep the wolves out. Why don’t you let Ella come on in?”
Angela realized she was still holding the door half-shut. She gave him a meaningful look but didn’t move. “I’m tired. We should have this little get-together some other time.”
Gray shrugged. “You can take a nap right now if you’d like.” His gaze returned to Ella, and he nodded toward the shopping bags in her hands. “What else did you buy?”
Ella smiled jauntily. “Shoes. Three pairs.”
He laughed softly. “With those tiny heels you like so much?”
“All three.”
“I knew it.”
Angela had known they were dating, but the low, quiet way they were talking seemed personal, even intimate. They were closer than she’d realized. And any minute now, Jules would walk through this very door and see exactly what Angela was seeing—that Gray was already well on his way to being back in love with Ella.