Bill gives a low woof, like he’s backing Dad up.
“Is it just you and the pups?” I ask.
Dad points toward the kitchen. “Grandma Nancy is finding things to whip up in there.”
“Sounds about right.” I grin.
“Is that Tully I hear?” she calls.
“Hey, Grandma. Yep, it’s me.” I walk toward the kitchen, and she peeps around the corner, waving me over for a hug.
I wrap my arms around her, and she laughs when I lift her.
“Whew,” she says, when I set her down. “What I wouldn’t have given for your grandfather to have done a little arm work.” She squeezes my bicep. “You could have taught him a thing or two with all those weights you lift. I bet that’s a nice plus with the ladies, sweeping them off their feet like that. If he’d picked me up every now and then, I would’ve said yes more, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Grandma! You’re making me blush,” I tease.
“When is it a good time to have your mom allude to sexual activity with your dad?” Dad asks, shuddering. “Never. Never is it ever a good time.”
“Oh, Everett.” Grandma Nancy laughs. “Honey, being the father of five children, you can’t exactly pretend to be innocent in the ways of the bedroom.”
Dad runs his hand over his face. “‘Ways of the bedroom’?” He looks at me in horror. “How did this conversation derail so quickly?”
I can’t hold back the laughter for another second. This little derailment is exactly what I needed to lighten my mood.
“Didn’t know I raised such a prude,” Grandma Nancy adds.
I burst out laughing, and her lips twitch, the only outward proof she shows of how proud she is of making me laugh.
“I’ve got wild rice soup on the stove, ready to eat,” she says.
“I just ate, Grandma.”
She stares at me, highly affronted. “You ‘just ate’?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you can eat again. You’re too thin.”
“You were just complimenting my muscles not even two minutes ago.”
“You could disappear sideways.”
Kevin sits at my feet and gently runs his paw over my knee, his request for pets. When he’s ignored, he gets more aggressive with that paw, so I don’t waste time giving him scratches. Bill gives me the side-eye, but when I pet him, he melts into my hand.
“I know what you’ll want,” Grandma Nancy says, pointing at me. “There’s Minnesota sushi in the fridge.”
“Mmm, you got me there. I can never turn that down.”
She grins. “I knew it.”
She hurries to the refrigerator and pulls out the plate of pickles rolled with cream cheese and ham that look like little sushi rolls.
“Eat up,” she says. “We need to fatten you up.”
“Fatten me up too much, and I won’t be able to lift the ladies,” I say, grinning at Dad.
“Lord have mercy,” he gripes, while chuckling in the next breath.