Hang Tough (30 page)

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, there. We're
not
done here—bein's that me and Jade have no freakin' clue about what's goin' on and it sounds like there's a lot.”

“And we want to hear every single detail of your planning and
scheming, GG,” Jade said firmly. “We can sit in here on the floor or there's still furniture on the porch. Choose.”

But GG's focus was on Tobin's hand cupped on the ball of Jade's shoulder. She sent them both a soft smile. “He's sweet, isn't he? Always gotta be touchin' you I'll bet. Partially because he loves you and wants to show you, but also because he is thankful for you. That he's finally got a woman he can love on anytime he wants.” Her chin wobbled again. “That's all I ever wanted for you two.”

Neither Jade nor Tobin knew what to say after that, so GG jumped right in again.

“My old bones can't take sitting on the floor. I'll meet you on the porch.” She patted Tobin's hand on Jade's shoulder as she shuffled past them and out the door.

Jade immediately started after her, but Tobin spun her around and said, “Hang on. Let's take a moment to talk this through.”

“Talk what through? How she manipulated both of us . . . for our own good?”

Tobin groaned, but he wore a resigned smile. “She's gonna be cocky about this forever, you know that, right?”

“She's entitled. Nothing she tells us about her stealthy matchmaking skills will change the happy fact that it worked.” She shot a quick look over her shoulder. “But we are entitled to know every tiny detail so we have to keep her on task.”

“Agreed.” Tobin gave her a smacking kiss on the mouth. “The suspense is killing me. We're both smart and we should've seen this coming a mile away.”

She laughed. “I'm pretty sure she counted on us not looking at anything besides each other.”

Outside on the porch, they settled side by side on the love seat. Tobin had nestled his arm behind Jade's shoulders. GG was right about one thing; Tobin always had to be touching her. It was still new and
sweet and thrilling and she hoped the day never came where she took it for granted.

“All right, Miz G. Talk. Don't leave nothin' out.”

Garnet folded her arms on the table and looked at Tobin. “Of all the guys around here, Tobin, you're my favorite. You always have been. Everyone knows it. I'm gonna get into all the embarrassing particulars about why so you'll just hush up and listen. I liked that you just showed up to check on me—winter and summer—or to watch one of my TV shows with me. You've fixed stuff around here. You've kept me from getting too out of hand a few times. You never told me to act my age. You never judged me. You're a hard worker. You're loyal to your friends. You have a kind heart and a great sense of humor. You're exactly the kind of man I wanted for my granddaughter.”

Jade turned her head and kissed Tobin's knuckles.

“But I knew I couldn't force it. Heck, if I would've introduced you two to each other, you really would've rejected my attempt at matchmaking.”

“Too true.”

“And it wasn't like I thought ‘these two are perfect for each other' from the start. It never crossed my mind, to be honest. But that changed when I watched you getting more and more discouraged, Tobin. Your life wasn't bad; it just wasn't the life you wanted.”

GG looked at Jade. “Same with you, sweetheart. You never ventured far from your life in the city. I started to think it was just a habit, easier to stay than go. It's pained me knowing you were working yourself damn near to exhaustion as you struggled to find your own place in the world. You weren't to the miserable stage yet, but that's where you were heading.”

“GG, how did you know all of that?” She squirmed under her grandmother's increased scrutiny. “I'm not trying to be contrary, but we see each other less than half a dozen times a year. We talk on the phone
every couple of weeks. So that doesn't seem like enough contact or context to fill in the blanks about the level of happiness in someone's life.”

She nodded. “You're right. But your dad and mom have always kept me in the loop when it comes to you. Sometimes they even asked for parenting advice.”

Jade's jaw dropped. “They did?”

“Uh-huh, and I'll be gol-durned if they didn't even take it a couple of times! Anyway. Your daddy's been a lot more worried about you since you had that breakdown.”

For once, she didn't even bother to correct her and claim it was the flu. “How often do you and my dad talk?”

GG tapped her fingers on her arm as if she was counting. “Oh, at least twice a week. Sometimes more.”

“Then he knew you'd be fine living by yourself! So his ‘I won't make a decision until I hear from you' promise was a lie. He signed those papers for the moving van the day
after
I arrived in Wyoming. So regardless of what he said, he—”

“Now, just a dadgum minute, girlie. Don't you be blaming nothin' on your daddy.”

Tobin squeezed Jade's shoulder to keep her from lashing out.

“But he signed the papers. We saw it, Grandma.”

“Nope. You saw
G. Evans'
signature and assumed it was his, when it was mine.” She smirked. “Neat trick, huh?”

“You wouldn't say that if you saw how upset Jade got over this today,” Tobin said sharply. “And I was plenty upset myself, Miz G.”

“Oh pooh. Lemme finish and then you can throw rotten tomatoes at me.” She shook her finger at them. “Some of those are past canning stage and I don't gotta ask what the two of you have been doin' instead of putting up my tomatoes.”

When Jade felt Tobin's abdominals shaking she elbowed him.

“So where was I?” GG closed her eyes and mumbled to herself before
she said, “Aha! Now I remember. So Jade is unhappy. Tobin is unhappy. I knew you'd be happy together, but I couldn't force it so I had to . . . resort to tomfoolery.”

Tobin snorted.

“It started months back. I got a drunk and disorderly charge on purpose. Pearl made sure that happened.”

Jade noticed the hard set to Tobin's jaw. He'd been there the next morning to take her home. He'd told Jade that in retrospect, he felt he'd failed Garnet by not keeping a better eye on her.

“You know, I wondered at the time why you weren't more embarrassed about that, Miz G.”

“I don't know what I was so gol-durn afraid of. I had my own cell. And those jumpsuits are pretty comfy. I thought about getting some purple plaid material and having Tilda make me a couple of pairs to wear around the house.”

“Getting offtrack again,” Tobin said. “Back to it.”

She sighed. “Anyway. Pearl called Garwood and told him about the arrest. She's been feeding him stuff, mostly baloney, ever since.” GG looked at Tobin. “Then you gave notice at the Split Rock. We had to think fast. So the next part is kind of a blur for reals.”

“Was my dad in on this?” Jade asked.

“Not really. After Pearl tattled to him about the pistol-firing incident, Gar did call me. I told him I had a friend staying with me. A male friend. A young male friend.” She slapped the table. “That put the starch in his spine. I told him if he didn't like it maybe he oughta send Jade out here and
she
could make sure he wasn't fleecing me. Then everything just fell into place from there.”

“Your son never threatened to lock you away in Cheyenne, did he?”

“No. I kinda feel . . . bad about him bein' the patsy on that.”

“You didn't consider me the patsy?” Tobin said tightly. “Because I was more than a little nasty to Jade about it.”

“And I didn't trust him and his charming ways from the start,” Jade inserted.

“Because he wasn't using his charms on you, girlie. He was being himself—not the Boy Scout or the ‘nice kid' everyone's made him out to be.”

Jade sensed Tobin's surprise—and maybe his relief—that GG had picked up on that.

“So the whole . . . ‘you two can't be in the same room together' rule?” Tobin asked.

“It worked, didn't it?” A smug expression settled on GG's face. “Lordy, was it ever entertaining watching you two try and get around that rule every gol-durn time I had my back turned! If I would've insisted you buck up and figure out a way to get along . . . you would've resisted. But insisting you keep away from each other at all times. Pretty smart idea, if I do say so myself.”

Tobin laughed. “I will grant you that one, Miz G. It drove me crazy that every time I had this gorgeous woman to myself, you interrupted.”

GG buffed her nails on her shirt.

“I will say the lie detector test went over the top, though.”

GG blinked at Tobin. “What lie detector test?”

Jade elbowed him again. “Just some fun and games that backfired on me. Trust me; you don't want to know the details.” Evidently not all of the Mud Lilies were part of this matchmaking operation. No wonder they grilled her about GG's plans. They believed everything she'd been telling them.

“This next part? Let's keep it PG, kiddos. You two hitting the sheets was inevitable. The last thing you lovebirds needed was an old woman around all the time cooling your ardor.”

Jade grinned at the lovely phrasing—so different than Tobin's self-declared “sex-fest.”

“Pretty amazing that you became this”—she gestured between
them—“in such a short amount of time. I'm plumb tickled. And maybe feelin' like a hotshot because I was right. You both love me, and I love both of you, so how can you not love each other?”

“You do have a point.” Tobin looked at Jade. “I don't care how this came about. I only care that we're together from here on out.”

“We are. We'll make this life work, no matter where we end up.”

“Oh. That's so . . .” GG sniffled. Then she frowned. “What do you mean ‘no matter where you end up'? You're where you belong. That's why I cleared out.”

Their heads swiveled toward her.

“Run that by us again,” Tobin said.

“This house and the land? Are yours. Well, as soon as you get married and both your names can be transferred to the deed. I'm old-fashioned that way.”

“What? GG. That's so”—
crazy pants
—“insanely generous, but you don't have to move out and give us your house. We'd be happy if you lived with us. Heck, we'd just be happy to have a place to live because everything is so up in the air right now.”

“What Jade said, Miz G. I wouldn't feel right booting you out of your house.”

“I'm thankful you'd even offer, honey. Both of you. You're not booting me out. I'm bailing out. It is a lot of work for an old broad like me to take care of this place. It needs new memories. A family that make it more than just a house. It'll become a home. Your home. Your place to set down roots.”

“But GG . . . it's so much . . .” She could hardly speak.

“Jade doll, you're my only grandchild. I can be generous to you if I want and you just have to suck it up and take it.”

She laughed, even through her tears. “What about you?”

“Me'n Pearl and Tilda and Maybelle bought that piece of land across from Bernice's that's been for sale forever. We've all got these family
homes out in the country and it's time for us to have a swingin' bachelorette pad in the city.”

“If one can even call Muddy Gap a city,” Tobin said wryly.

“Oh hush, you. Anyway Holt is building us a fourplex, ranch-style spread out all on one level. We'll each have our own space. In the middle it'll have one of them shared courtyard thingies like in New Orleans. There are two spots to add on for when Vivien is ready to make a change and for Bernice if she ever divorces Bob. Holt has promised we'll be roasting chestnuts and drinking eggnog on Christmas Eve in our new digs.”

“I'm excited for you. But are you sure?”

“Yep. That's why all my stuff is gone. I wanted this to be a new start for both of you, from buying dishes and pots and pans together, to furniture.” She waggled her eyebrows. “I'm assuming Tobin's king-sized bed is all the furniture you have.”

“Hell, in my opinion, it's the only furniture we need,” Tobin said with a grin.

GG snickered.

Jade whispered, “You are such a guy.”

“Don't hear you complaining about that,” he whispered back.

“That said, I am giving you the kitchen table and chairs,” GG said. “They were my mother's so they're gen-u-wine antiques.”

“I'd—we'd—love that. Thank you.”

GG stood. “I'm staying with Pearl until the Mud Lilies Pad is done.”

“The sheriff is gonna lose his mind when he finds out you're all living in the same place.”

“We're saving that announcement for Election Day, so don't spoil our fun, sonny.”

Jade stood and hugged GG for a long time. “This is better than winning the lottery. I've got the man of my dreams who loves me and wants to build a life with me. I have a chance to do what I love and get paid for
it. Now we have this awesome house. And for the first time in my life I get to live close to you, GG. I'm excited about that.”

“Me too, girlie. But I'll make a suggestion; that you always call first before you come over and I'll do the same.”

“Deal.”

Tobin picked GG up off the ground and spun her one time. “I'm happy to see the wacky outfits are back in rotation.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” GG adjusted her tunic that resembled a painter's drop cloth and slipped on a pink-and-gold-striped beret.

Tobin kissed her cheek. “Thank you for Jade, Miz G. Everything else is just icing.”

“Love like that feels good, doesn't it?” She patted his chest. “And no more of this Miz G business. From now on you can call me Grandma.”