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“Jeannie, we should ask everyone over to our house,” Abe suggested. “We haven’t had a get-together at our place in some time.”
Spencer cocked a brow. “We were there like—”
“Two months ago,” Jeannie replied in a tone that made it clear she’d countedexactly.
“Gran, we can all meet somewhere else. You don’t have to go through all the trouble,” Nick said.
“Oh, nonsense, you boys. I’d like to have all of you at the house.” She looked at me too. “Especially the children.”
Even though she was well past ninety, she crouched easily, putting her knees on the grass, and held her arms out. Ben gave her a hug.
“You two come here,” she told the twins.
They immediately asked Nick to put them down and ran to Jeannie. Lately, they were very accepting of other people. I wondered if they would get used to living with Bob and Sophie if it came to that.
“Would you like to come to my house?” Jeannie asked them.
“Yes!” all three said in unison, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Clearly Ben was leading the small group.
Then Jeannie let them go and quickly rose to her feet. My parents couldn’t do that even though they were in their late sixties. The woman was truly fit. She beamed at us again. She was mischievous. Or possibly knowing. Maybe a mix of the two.
“How was your evening?” Penny asked. Spencer cleared his throat, giving her what I could only describe as a warning look,and she shrugged. I realized Jeannie was hanging on to Nick’s every word.
“Just had dinner at home,” Nick said.
“Both of you?” Penny raised a brow. Spencer cleared his throat.
“Yes.”
“I thought you were meeting your friend,” Jeannie added.
This was fascinating. I wasn’t mad in the slightest. It was unusual but fun.
“No, I postponed that. I was tired,” Nick replied.
“I bet it was nice having the house to yourself for once,” Jeannie said. “By the way, I’m very happy to have the twins as well as Ben at the house anytime for a sleepover.”
“Three kids, Gran?” Spencer asked. “We’ll see.”
After a bit more chatting, I gently nudged Nick. “We should get going,” I said.
After saying our goodbyes, we headed to the car. By the time Nick and I secured the twins in their car seats, they were already asleep.
He closed the doors quietly and then was by my side, hand on the handle.
“What was that back there?” I asked.
“You picked up on it?”
“That Penny and Gran are plotting?”
“Strong word, but sure, why not?”
I giggled. “They seemed to be up to something. You think they suspect anything?”
“As a general rule, everyone’s constantly under suspicion in my family.”
“Oh, that sounds ominous.”