He was standing there basking in her approval and grinning like a fool when a truck towing a silver Airstream drew up in front of the house.

He stared at it. He’d seen lots of Airstreams recently, but there was something familiar about this one.

The door of the truck opened and two badly dressed senior citizens climbed out.

No. It wasn’t possible!

“Yoo-hoo! Mat! Nell!”

Nealy gave a delighted squeal as Bertis and Charlie Wayne charged up the sidewalk.

He sagged against the porch post. Just when he thought it couldn’t get worse . . . First it had been the kids . . . then he’d added a wife and a dog. Next had come a house in Iowa . . . then a Ford Explorer.

Now Grandma and Grandpa had shown up.

Chapter 17

17

CHARLIE SHOOK HANDS with Mat while Bertis hugged Nealy and tweaked Button’s toes. Nealy still couldn’t believe they were here. “How did you know where to find us?”

“Didn’t Lucy tell you? She gave us the address just before you left. What a dickens that child is.”

Just seeing Bertis made Nealy feel better. Last night had turned her world upside down. She’d expected to enjoy making love with Mat, but she hadn’t expected that great rush of feeling to last.

It was hard to remind herself this was only a fling. If she was lucky, they would have another one or two nights together, but then it would end. Sometime in the distant future when it wouldn’t be so painful, she could see herself taking out the memories to examine while she was standing in a receiving line or listening to an overly long speech. The idea depressed her. Bertis and Charlie had arrived at a perfect time.

“Lucy’ll be thrilled to see you.” She shifted Button to her hip. “She’s working out back right now.”

“It’s good to keep them busy.” Bertis slipped on her reading glasses, peered at Button, and wiped a speck from the baby’s chin. “Since we were heading west anyway, we decided to stop by and check on you.”

Charlie stretched to ease a kink from his back. “We’re going to Yosemite, always wanted to see it. But we aren’t in any hurry, and Bertis was worried about Lucy.”

Bertis let her reading glasses fall back onto their chain. “We thought it might be hard on her finally having to face her grandmother’s death.”

Mat’s eyes narrowed. “You knew about her grandmother?”

“Oh, she told us all about her.” She clucked her tongue in disapproval. “Imagine a fifty-three-year-old woman marrying one of her students. Of course, I didn’t say what I was thinking to Lucy.”

Mat’s jaw was starting to twitch. “You knew about Nico, too?”

“See, Charlie, I told you his name wasn’t Nick, but you always argue with me.”

Charlie scratched his head. “What kind of name is Nico?”