Page 29 of Grace of Spades

"Of course, sweetie. Is everything okay?" She asks.

"It will be," I assure her but I might be lying.

"If you're sure." She says kissing the top of my head before dishing up Diane and Ronald's plates.

"Ruby seems quite taken with you," Diane observes with what looks like approval.

"It's mutual." I smile.

"Good. You deserve a strong female influence." She nods stabbing a noodle with her fork rather hard.

"So, what did you go to college for?" I ask trying to wrestle the conversation back to a safe topic.

"I was a Psychologist. I specialized in addictions." Well, there goes that plan.

"What about...Grandpa?" I try again. Judging by the small smile on her face, I did the right thing. Hooray!

"He was a lawyer, like Andras."

"A defence attorney?" I ask.

"Yes."

"Cool. So, what do you do now that you're retired?" I ask.

"Well, we usually putter around the house and travel a lot. Have you travelled much?" She asks.

"No, but I've always wanted to," I admit.

"Well, when you graduate maybe we'll take you on a trip." She offers. "Where would you like to visit if you could?"

"Everywhere." I chuckle.

"Ah, you have my nomadic soul. I don't like staying in one spot for too long either." She says with a wink as Ronald walks back inside with bloody knuckles and Christian and Andras on his heels looking concerned.

"I'll grab some more plates," I volunteer, standing up and heading to the kitchen. I take a deep breath as I grab an extra setting and try to calm myself down.

Ruby finds me too quickly and starts swatting at me again pushing me back into the tense dining room so I stumble. I have no plates now but Ruby is right behind me muttering about stubborn girls and blessing my heart. There is no escape.

"So, I hear you've driven your grandfather to the gym already. What happened?" Andras asks with a smirk.

"You have a gym in here too?" I ask incredulously making him chuckle and nod.

"Nice try. Don't change the subject." He smiles.

"Worth a shot. Mom came up in the conversation." I confess.

"Oh. Got it." He nods dishing up himself and Christian some food.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. What's your name?" Diane asks Christian. He stands up and offers his hand to both of them.

"Christian Bianchi. I work for your son." He smiles.

"I offered him food since his father is busywith work." Shit. Mr. Bianchi must have taken my advice about cleaning house. Probably for the best. A man like that can't have any weak links in his circle.

"Oh, of course. I was just curious." She smiles I don't miss her glance between Christian and me. I can practically feel her plotting. Dear God. Leave it alone, woman!

"So, Grace and I were just talking about taking her on a trip after graduation." She continues.