years. I can take care of myself.”
“I know that, Gramps,” Tori said, remembering that he hadn’t been quite that confident the evening before.
“If you’re determined to paint the shop, I’d be grateful, but after that ….” He let the sentence dangle with words unsaid.
Daisy wandered into the kitchen and sat in front of Herb, looking hopeful.
“You know, Mr. Cannon,” Kathy began, “you’re not the only family member here who needs a lifeline.”
“Kathy, don’t,” Tori warned, but her words had no effect.
Daisy cried, and Herb pulled a piece of ham from his sub, offering it to the cat, who swallowed it whole.
“Tori hasn’t been exactly honest with you,” Kathy told Herb.
He turned his gaze toward his granddaughter.
“Please!” Tori implored.
“Tori lost her job,” Kathy began. “Right now the two of you need each other to survive.”
Herb’s gaze intensified. “Is that true?”
Tori took a deep breath. ”I wasn’t going to say anything, but yes. When my lease runs out, I’m not sure where I’ll end up. I was sort of thinking it might be here with you. Not forever,” she hastened to explain. “Just until I find another job. I thought maybe we could work together over the summer to get the shop back in the black and then….” She didn’t finish the sentence.
“If you need money,” the old man said, but Tori shook her head.
“My bet is you’ve got less than me, but at least you have assets here with the shop—and the Lodge. I was hoping if we could make the most if it this summer, it might carry you through the lean winter months.”
“You lost your job?” Herb repeated. “What did you do wrong?”
“Nothing. They cut teachers, not sports programs.”
“But you had to do something wrong,” the old man accused, looking at her with disappointment. “Bosses don’t let good people go unless they do something wrong.”
“That’s not true, Mr. Cannon,” Kathy said. “I’ve been following the school board decisions in the paper. The voters are the ones to blame, not those now out of work.”
Tori swallowed, wounded by her grandfather’s condemnation. She watched him give the cat another piece of meat. “I’m going to send resumes to every school district in a three-county radius. If nothing else, I can probably substitute-teach and I might pick up some tutoring jobs, too.”
“That don’t pay much,” Herb said sourly and took a bite of his sandwich.
“It’s better than starving,” Tori muttered. They definitely needed a change of subject. “We won’t have Kathy for more than a day or so. I thought maybe tonight we could go through some of the stuff here in the house to see if there’s anything worth saving. “Do you want to help us, or do you trust us to decide whether to keep or toss stuff?”
Herb reached for the salt and liberally shook it over his potato salad. “As far as I’m concerned you can toss it all.”
She should have expected that reaction. “I thought I’d rent a tent so we could set it up next to the shop and let your customers look at the stuff.”
“Renting tents costs money,” Herb grumbled. “Money we don’t have.”
“Actually, I borrowed an E-Z Up canopy from my landlady and brought it with me,” Kathy said. “She used to sell jewelry at craft shows. She said you could borrow it for a few weeks. She’ll need it back before Labor Day, though. That’s when she throws her annual family picnic.”
“She’ll have it back long before then. I’ll make sure of it, and please thank her for us,” Tori said.
“Sure thing.”
They ate for a few minutes in awkward silence, with only the sound of cutlery on plates breaking the quiet. Daisy rounded the table, but got no scraps from her owner or her best friend. Eventually, she sauntered out of the kitchen.
Kathy finally broke the quiet. “Did the police come back today?”
“No,” Tori said
“Yes,” Herb answered.
“They did? You didn’t tell