“That sounds perfect, if you ask me.”
“Those are some of my favorite memories, I must say. You learn what a man is made of when you can’t go off fadiddling around alone with him. Jack was happy just to be with me. Didn’t matter what we were doing.”
“People on Mars could see how much he loved you, Grandma.”
“And I loved him just as much. I thought we were going to get married, soon as I graduated high school, but then your grandpa got this foolish idea the day he turned eighteen. He decided he was going to see the world with his cousin and just leave me to pine away at home.”
“What did you do?”
“I told him to go right on ahead and see the world.” Grandma raised her chin, and even all these years later, Kate could see the strength and defiance in her face. “I wasn’t going to wait on him to realize I was the best woman he was ever going to meet. Then I took my lemonade, went back in the house and shut off the porch light, leaving that silly man in the dark.”
Kate laughed. “How did he take it?”
“I told you, he’s a stubborn man. I kept my back to that door, just waiting for him to knock and apologize and say of course he knew I was the best woman he’d ever met. Instead, that silly man went off to see the world.”
“He did? I didn’t know that.” Kate didn’t remember her grandfather ever talking about traveling when he was young. As far as she knew, he’d gotten married, gotten a job at Boeing as an engine repairman and had eventually worked his way up to management.
“Well, that’s because he didn’t get very far. Jack and his cousin set out the next morning. They made it all the way to Denver before he came to his senses. He turned that car around and came right back to Seattle. His cousin had been sleeping, and when he woke up, they were heading west. Oh, his cousin was as mad as a hornet at that, but Jack said he kept on driving until he got back to my front porch. He knocked on my door, and my father answered and gave him a good yelling at for breaking my heart.”
“Poor Grandpa Jack.” Kate giggled. “I bet he deserved it.”
“Of course he did. But as soon as my dad was done yelling, Jack said, ‘Sir, you’re right about everything you just said. I was a fool, but now I’m back, and I’d like to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage.’ My father said to him, ‘Why would I let my daughter marry a fool?’ And you know what your Grandpa Jack said?”
Kate shook her head.
“‘Because this fool knows that she isn’t just the best woman in Seattle, she’s the best woman in the whole wide world.’” Grandma’s smile stretched ear to ear. She swiped away a tear before it could fall. “Oh, how I miss that man.”
“Well, I wish he was here to give Trent a stern, what’d you call it? Yelling at.” Kate sighed. “I don’t think he’s going to come around.”
Grandma waggled her fingers in the direction of the vegetable seedlings. “Bring me that tomato plant. That one I made you take home a few weeks ago.”
Kate did as her grandmother asked, placing the pot in her hands. “I didn’t think you noticed I brought him back.”
“Him.” Grandma chuckled. “See? I’m rubbing off on you. Look at how good he’s doing.”
“Well, he finally got his own pot. I’m sure that helped the plant grow.” She fingered the thick green stalks and serrated leaves that spread in triplicate from the end of each stem.
“Exactly. Branching out on his own helped this little guy be the best he could be.” Grandma set the pot on the wooden table and clasped one of Kate’s hands in both her own. “Just like you did this past month.”
“All I did was work on my novel.”
“You did so much more than that. You took a job that meant risking your heart again. You went on adventures—”
“We didn’t exactly climb Mt. Everest.”
“—and you braved a terrible storm from that awful blog,” Grandma went on undeterred, “while deciding to tell the story you were meant to tell. When you did all that, you had no idea what was waiting for you, or what weeds you’d encounter, but you did it anyway.”
“Writing Trent’s book was my job. I needed the money and…” Kate let out a long breath. “You’re right. I could have turned it down and taken a different job. When that blog came out, I could have quit writing.”
“Instead, here you are, working on that lovely novel and taking a chance with your talent.”
“And hiding out from the world, and Trent.” She had become a hermit of sorts, only venturing out to see Penny and trade pages. The writing had been part work, part excuse to avoid everything.
“You’re simply giving that silly man an opportunity to realize you are the best woman in the world.” Grandma gave Kate’s hands a little squeeze. “It’s all in how you look at things. If you keep looking for clouds, that’s all you’re going to see.”
Once again, her grandmother had just the right wisdom at just the right time, and in a moment when Kate hadn’t even realized how much she needed the support. Kate gathered her grandmother in a tight hug. “I love you so much, Grandma. Thank you, for always being there for me.”
“You don’t have to thank me, sweetheart.” Grandma drew back and gave Kate a smile. This time, when a tear escaped, she didn’t brush it away. “I do it for the soup.”
Sixteen
Trent almost wore a hole in the carpet of his office, pacing back and forth in front of the windows. The magazine interview was later today, and he’d rehearsed the statement Sarah had given him at least a dozen times.
“You look like a polar bear who’s been in the zoo too long,” Jeremy said from his seat on the leather sofa. He’d come in earlier with the charts and projections for the company. Everything looked to be on track, despite a slight dip after the terrible press from the blog post. “Will you quit pacing?”
Trent dropped into his desk chair. “I’m just worried about this interview. If I say the wrong thing, I could mess up everything.” As much as Trent had hoped the whole thing would just go away, it hadn’t. People were still talking about the controversy behind who had really written his book.
Jeremy leaned back in the visitor’s chair and crossed one leg over his knee. “You need to stop that.”
“What, worrying about messing up the company? That’s all I do, Jeremy.”
“No, that’s all I should do. You’re the vision, Trent. Your instincts brought us to where we are today. You’ve taken risks I never would have. Made decisions that made my heart stop. Not everything worked out, of course, but by and large, because you jumped off mountains, GOA has become a force to be reckoned with. So don’t worry about the company. I’ll do enough of that for the both of us.” He held up the spreadsheets and reports he’d been analyzing earlier. “Just go on taking those risks and living outside those neat little boxes the rest of the world has.”