He found her exactly where he’d expected—watching reruns of Law & Order, one of her favorite shows. “Hey, Nana. I’m going to start on the yard.”

“After you get done, go on in the kitchen and fix you a plate. I made some spaghetti. All you need to do is toast the bread.”

Gabriel smiled. “Thanks, Nana.” Between her and Serenity, he was kept well fed. That reminded him, he hadn’t decided what to have for his picnic date with Serenity. He toyed with picking up something from Ms. Ida’s, but he wanted to make up for the candied yam fiasco. He waved at one of Nana’s neighbors as he started up the lawn mower. Her yard was twice the size of his and took twice the time.

“You sure have Della’s yard looking good.”

He paused in sweeping. The same woman he’d waved at earlier, who looked to be around the same age as Nana, came toward him, leaning heavily on a cane. “Thank you.”

“I haven’t seen you before. Are you one of Top Lawn Care’s new employees? They canceled my appointment, and I need to make another one.”

“No, ma’am. I’m just helping my grandmother.”

She frowned and studied him critically. “You’re Della’s grandson?”

He’d just said that. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Gabriel, you’re not done yet?” Nana called from the porch. “Oh, hey, Inez.”

“Hey, Della.” The woman started in the direction of the porch. “Why didn’t I know your grandson was here?”

“Was I supposed to take an ad out in the paper to let everybody know he’s here? He came to visit me. Wasn’t nobody else’s business.”

Gabriel took that as his cue and eased his way to the other end of the yard. His Nana was a trip. She didn’t want anyone in her business, but she had no problems getting deep into his. He finished sweeping up the grass, rinsed off his mower, and dried it. Hopefully, the afternoon heat would dry it completely by the time he was ready to leave. Seeing the neighbor still talking to Nana on the porch, he decided to go through the side door and enter the house through the garage to avoid being caught up in whatever conversation they were having. He’d just sat down to eat when Nana came in.

“Whew, that woman can talk your ear off. Made me miss the good part. I wanted to see if Detective Green caught that man who killed his wife, and she was out there asking me all these questions about when you came to town.” Nana shook her head and grunted. “Then she had the nerve to ask me about getting you to do her lawn, too.”