care,” Judson said with finality, reaching for his coffee once more.
“Don’t—!” Amazed, Liza cried, “Granddad! How can you say such a thing! Your own father built Timberlake, and you—why, you and my grandmother added all those wonderful—”
“I don’t give a damn about that lodge,” Judson said sharply. “The place holds a lot of bad memories for me. If it burned to the ground tomorrow, I wouldn’t care.”
Liza was shocked into a brief silence. Then she said, “Good grief, why don’t you sell it, then?”
“I’ve had offers,” he admitted, toying with the knife at his place. “One from a fellow your mother used to know way back when. He’s in the hotel business now, I understand.”
“Well, rather than letting the building go to pot—”
“How bad is it?”
“You mean you haven’t seen it?”
“I don’t want to see the place. Not without your grandmother,” Judson declared, glaring at Liza as if daring her to argue further.
“Granddad, she’s been gone forty years or more! You haven’t ever been up to the lodge since then?”
“I have no reason to go,” Judson growled. “And you can just forget—”
“Sell it,” Liza commanded, cutting off his threat. “It was a beautiful place once and somebody should enjoy it.”
“Let Cliff Forrester enjoy it. He deserves something.”
“I thought you didn’t like him.”
“I didn’t say that! I just don’t want him hanging around my granddaughter, that’s all. He’s done his duty for his country, and I know what that’s like, so he can have the lodge to himself if he wants his life that way. I don’t associate with him more than once or twice a year, and that’s all you ought to do. He deserves a place to live out the rest of his days in peace.”
Liza couldn’t help laughing. “You talk like he’s an old plow horse who needs a pasture. He’s a young man!”
Judson gave her a frosty glare. “What are you thinking, Mary Elizabeth? You haven’t fallen in love with that boy, have you?”
“Don’t be silly! I just met him an hour ago! It’s just—well, he’s not crazy. He seemed perfectly nice to me. A little peculiar, maybe. And he’s not a boy! He’s a grown man, and a very attractive one, if you ask me.”
“He’s ten years older than you, at least!”
“So what?” Liza countered angrily. “When are you going to stop interfering in my life? I have a right to make friends with whoever—”
“Simmer down,” Judson said, finally allowing a weary grin. “I thought a few years in the city might tone down that temper of yours, but I can see it didn’t. Your grandmother could fly off the handle faster than anyone I knew—until you came along!”
“I’m sorry,” Liza said, wishing she hadn’t flown off the handle quite so fast.
“No, you’re not sorry. You like putting me in my place once in a while, don’t you?” He laughed ruefully. “Are you going to stay in Tyler or not?”
“For a day or two maybe,” she said cautiously.
“All right, what do you want from me?”
Liza smiled. “How about loaning me twenty dollars so I can go buy some jeans at the dime store?”
“Done”, said Judson, reaching for his hip pocket. “That’s a damn peculiar outfit you’re wearing, I must say. Some jeans would be an improvement.”
“Shut up, Granddad.”
“Don’t tell me to shut up when I’ve got twenty dollars in my hand. Here, take fifty.” Judson threw the bills on the table between them. “There’s more where that came from. I’ve got charge accounts in every store in town, so you buy what you need.”
“But—”
“No buts about it! It’s the least I can do for my favorite granddaughter. Now, what are you going to do once you buy your jeans?”
“I’m going back up to Timberlake.”
His face flushed at once. “Who gave you permission to go back to the lodge?”
Liza grinned. “You will.”
“Like hell! Tangling with Cliff Forrester is too dangerous—”
“Tangling with me has been known to be hazardous, too, you know!”
“Oh, for crying out loud!” Judson exploded. “What would you do with yourself up there, anyway? Make that boy’s life more miserable than it is already?”
She shrugged airily. “I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll see what happens, I guess.”
“Mary Elizabeth...”
“I can take care of myself, Granddad.”
He glared at her. “You have a plan, don’t you?”
“I’ve got some ideas,” Liza admitted, laughing at the pained expression that grew on her grandfather’s face.
“You’re just like your grandmother,” he said with a sigh. “Headstrong and reckless. There’s no talking sense to you. And no use warning you about Forrester, right?”
“No use at all.”
Marge arrived then with a plate loaded with blueberry pancakes, and made a fuss over Liza. In a few minutes she brought a side order of sausage and hash brown potatoes, too. Marge had been a part of Tyler since Liza’s childhood. Her diner was the local meeting place and Marge made it her business to be friendly with everyone. She welcomed Liza back to town and traded jokes with Judson before heading over to another table to refill some coffee cups.
Liza ate her pancakes voraciously, listening to her grandfather tell her all the local gossip. The biggest news was that the school had hired a new football coach, which had set the town on its ear since the coach was a woman. Someone at the next table heard Judson mention the issue, and a friendly argument broke out.
“Hiring a woman football coach is like electing a monkey to the Senate,” one man bellowed. “Sure, he can do the same job as all the other senators, but he sure looks silly doing it!”
Liza listened to the townsfolk argue, feeling suddenly quite invigorated as she was swept up in Tyler’s latest controversy. It felt a lot better than being swept downstream by her own troubles. Life wasn’t so terrible after all.
An hour later at the dime store, she bought some jeans, a couple of T-shirts, a few pairs of panties and some cheap sneakers. The clerk was one of her high school classmates, and they chatted for twenty minutes before Liza left the store.
She
