Lost and Found on Foxglove Street (The Foxglove Street #9)

Chapter 11

11

Ryan sipped the last of his wine while his grandmother and Grace chatted to one another, their conversation flowing easily. Miriam was still picking at her meal, taking small forkfuls every now and again. Her appetite wasn’t what it had been since before her cancer diagnosis, and it took her longer to finish her food, even when the portions were small.

He had no idea if Grace had sensed his grandmother’s slow pace at the table, but whether it was conscious or not, she had matched it, and had only just finished the last of her food. Ryan, as usual, had cleared his plate in record time. His grandmother’s cooking was too delicious not to wolf down at speed, and he knew it gave Miriam pleasure to see her food eaten with gusto.

While Grace had eaten with just as much enthusiasm as Ryan, she’d also talked at length during the meal, answering his grandmother’s questions about her work at the hotel and amusing her with the story about the bath she’d given Stanley the night before and the ensuing chaos unleashed in her bathroom. With Grace making such easy conversation, Miriam had been able to relax with her food and take her time, and Ryan liked seeing his grandmother looking so at ease in new company.

Sitting across from Grace at the dining table, he was able to study her features properly for the first time. Their previous interactions had been characterised by the drama of Stanley’s appearance on Foxglove Street, and then, this morning, taking him to the vet’s surgery and the boarding kennels and then back here to Ryan’s house. On each occasion, they’d been too preoccupied to talk to one another properly, and when they’d managed brief snatches of conversation in the car together, they’d both been sitting side-by-side and looking out of the windscreen.

Now that they were facing each other across the table, Ryan realised just how beautiful Grace was. Her hazel eyes were illuminated by flecks of gold that glittered when she laughed, and the soft sweep of her cheekbones and lush curve of her mouth gave her a darkly mysterious look. The way her hair fell around her shoulders left Ryan mesmerised.

What mesmerised him even more was that Grace seemed completely oblivious to her beauty and, thankfully, to the effect it was having on him.

“Well, I’m stuffed,” Miriam said at length and set down her knife and fork, her plate almost cleared, and with just a few stray green beans and potatoes left over.

“Thank you for a delicious meal, Miriam,” Grace said. “I loved it.”

“Thanks, Grandma,” Ryan added and gave his grandmother’s hand a squeeze.

“You’re both more than welcome, and it was my pleasure to cook. I thoroughly enjoyed myself pottering around in the kitchen this afternoon.” Miriam gestured to the table. “Can I leave the clearing up to you two youngsters? I think I’d like to close my eyes for a few minutes before we serve coffee.”

Ryan could see the fatigue now etched on his grandmother’s face. Despite her protestations that she’d enjoyed her afternoon of cooking, it was clear the exertions had taken it out of her and that she now needed to rest.

“Of course we’ll deal with the clearing up, Grandma. Why don’t you go through into the living room and have a quick nap or listen to the radio, and we’ll come through and join you once the coffee is ready.”

Miriam rose from her chair and nodded. “That sounds like a fine plan. But if I dose off, promise you’ll wake me?”

“I promise.” Ryan knew his grandmother needed her naps these days, but she had discovered that if she slept too long, she struggled to sleep through the night. Managing her energy levels was, he’d come to realise, a finely balanced juggling act.

“Good,” Miriam said. “In that case, I’ll see you both shortly.”

Once Miriam had departed for the living room at the front of the house, Ryan turned to Grace.

“Don’t worry about all these dirty dishes,” he said, gesturing to the tableware. “I’ll deal with everything later.”

“Don’t be daft,” Grace said, already getting to her feet and stacking the dinner plates together. “I can make myself useful. It’s the least I can do after enjoying such a great meal. We’ll have this lot cleared up in no time.”

They worked in companionable silence for a few moments, carrying plates and dishes and glasses to the kitchen area. Stanley rushed over to enjoy the leftovers from the dinner plates that Ryan scraped into his bowl before roaming the kitchen in search of any pieces of food that might happily drop to the floor while they cleared up.

Miriam hadn’t been joking when she’d said there was enough beef bourguignon to feed an army, and Ryan found containers for the leftover stew. It would please his grandmother to know he’d stored the surplus food in his freezer for another time.

“Your grandmother is a wonderful lady,” Grace said as they rinsed dishes and filled the dishwasher. “And she’s a wonderful cook, too.”

“That she is.”

“She looked tired all of a sudden at the end of the meal,” Grace said, lowering her voice and looking concerned. “I remembered you said she’d been unwell, and I hope she hasn’t pushed herself on account of me being here as a dinner guest tonight.”

Ryan shook his head. “She enjoyed your company. It’s not unusual for her to tire suddenly towards the end of the day, so don’t worry about that. She just…” He blew out a breath and pushed back against the worry that inevitably stirred. “She just struggles with how quickly fatigue can overcome her and pull the rug from beneath her feet.”

Grace gave a sympathetic smile. “It sounds like she’s been through something very difficult. I hope things get better for her.”

Ryan was touched by the thoughtful way she said this, expressing her concern and interest without digging for details that were private. Her considerate words and manner made him want to share those details with her. His grandmother, he knew instinctively from the way the two women had interacted during dinner, would have no qualms about him sharing some basic information about her illness.

“She was diagnosed with breast cancer ten months ago,” he told Grace.

The look of dismay on her face was unmistakable. “I’m so sorry, Ryan. Poor Miriam. She’s going to be okay, though, isn’t she?”

“Her treatments were brutal, but her prognosis is good, for the moment at least. I just hope it stays that way.”

“It will,” Grace said, her words firm.

Ryan appreciated her words of comfort. “When her treatments ended, and she started to feel better, Grandma decided it was time to enjoy herself and have some fun.”

“Quite right, too.”

“For the past couple of months, she’s been visiting family and friends and spending time with the people she loves and doing things that make her laugh. It’s my turn right now to play host.”

Grace smiled, her eyes lighting up at this news. But no sooner had the smile appeared than it vanished.

“Oh! But here I am shoving my way into the precious time you’re meant to be sharing with your grandmother and guilt-tripping you into looking after a stray dog!” Her voice was filled with anguish as she spoke, and the look in her eyes was one of utter torture. “I feel terrible! I’m so sorry!”

Ryan laughed, eager to brush off her baseless concerns. “You haven’t shoved your way into anything and you aren’t guilt-tripping me into doing anything I didn’t want to do, either.”

She didn’t look convinced, so Ryan added, “If anything, having Stanley here today was a useful way to encourage my grandmother to slow down a little. When she arrived yesterday afternoon, she came armed with a list of activities for us that nearly made my eyes fall out of my head in shock. If I did everything on her list, I’d be completely knackered, and I’m much younger than she is and I’m not dealing with the brutal after-effects of cancer treatment. She insisted on coming here on the train yesterday by herself from her last stop-over, and then we were straight off to the cinema together. Today, she wanted us to go out to lunch, then have a long afternoon walk out in the countryside, and then go to some pub quiz night afterwards.”

Ryan shook his head, imagining how exhausted Miriam would have been had they done all of that.

“But thanks to Stanley, we ended up having a leisurely stroll to the shops on the high street and then Grandma enjoyed some kitchen pottering while she made her casserole. Even that much left her winded, as you just saw. So, if having Stanley here means I can use him as an excuse again tomorrow to make sure Grandma maintains a sensible pace, then the truth is you’re doing me as much of a favour as I’m doing for you.”

He said these last words with an eye on the doorway, in case Miriam should happen to reappear and overhear what he was saying. She didn’t want to be handled with kid gloves and he didn’t want to upset her or make her feel that he was treating her like a child—but he did want Grace to understand the delicacy of the situation, if only so she wouldn’t worry about it.

The look in Grace’s eyes a moment ago had told him she would worry terribly unless he put her straight.

“Your grandmother was so kind to me tonight, inviting me to stay for dinner,” Grace said. “And it was incredibly kind of her to allow her plans to be derailed by a stranger with a stray dog.” She added the last of the glassware to the dishwasher and gave him a hard look. “Are you sure having Stanley here tomorrow won’t be a nuisance?”

“We already went through all of this, and my answer’s the same now as it was then.”

“But this time you’re spending with your grandmother is important.”

“Yes, it is. And the way I see it, so long as we’re spending that time together, it doesn’t much matter what we’re doing. All I care about is that my grandmother is here and that she’s happy.”

Ryan watched as she considered what he’d said, mulling it over. Eventually, she gave him a nod.

“Okay. Well, once we get past tomorrow, I’ll be off work for a few days anyway to look after Stanley and I won’t have to exploit your good nature.”

“So, we’re agreed on the plan? No more going back and forth punishing yourself about all this?”

Ryan grinned and was pleased when a smile at last returned to Grace’s lips, too.

“Agreed. We’ve got a plan and we’re sticking to it.”

Stanley appeared beside them just then, having completed his final check around the dining table and the floor beneath the kitchen counter for any signs of food morsels that might have been dropped. He planted his bottom on the ground and wagged his tail while looking between them and his empty food bowl on the other side of the room.

“I see what your game is, mister,” Ryan said. “But there’s no way we’re feeding you anything else tonight. Considering how much you ate earlier, I’m surprised you haven’t exploded already.”

Stanley sniffed and turned to Grace instead, cocking his head at her.

“You won’t get past me with that cute look, Stanley,” Grace laughed. “I’m no more of a fool than Ryan is.”

Stanley let out a whine followed by a sigh and continued staring at them both.

“Hope springs eternal,” Ryan said, still smiling at the daft dog. “Do you think it’s weird that we talk to him like he’s a human?”

Grace gave him an amused look and shook her head. “I quite like talking to him.”

“Me, too.”

“I mean, look at that cute, friendly face. Why wouldn’t you want to talk to him?”

Stanley cocked his head again and made the funny little grumbling sound in his throat that Ryan had grown fond of throughout the day.

“I think he’s an old soul,” he said.

Grace’s smile widened and she turned towards him, her eyes dancing. “I like that. He is an old soul. That sums Stanley up perfectly. Well done.”

Laughing softly, she reached out and patted his arm. The gesture was, Ryan knew, just a simple acknowledgement of his amusing description of the dog. But Grace’s hand on his arm felt like more than the friendly pat it was intended to be.

At least, it felt like more than that to Ryan.

But before the thought had fully registered, Grace was already turning away to finish wiping down the kitchen counters and the moment—such as it was—had vanished.

Ryan wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.