By Appointment Only Read Free Page B

of the center administrators realized how valuable her assistance was and rounded up some grants to supplement the small percentages her patrons were offering as payment.
    Now, after several years, her situation was permanent, and it made her happy and energized to know she was doing something meaningful with her life. Grammy and Papaw had been her touchstones. In her mother’s absence, she had made her home with them, and she had never felt any lack of love and caring. They were her family.
    Now she had adopted a wider, extended family in their stead. A family whose idiosyncrasies might be frustrating at times, but a family who loved her unconditionally and who would do anything for her, as she would for them.
    She pulled her little green Prius to a halt inside the front gate of the Fluffy Palms and got out. Hoisting two bags from the trunk, she made her way down the walk to the eighth apartment on the left, now a most familiar address.
    When her knock yielded no results, she used her key and let herself in. “Elda . . . where are you, darlin’? I’ve brought you some things to try on.”
    A short, heavyset woman with improbably orange hair appeared around the corner, her gaze guilty as she rubbed what looked like brownie crumbs from her chin. “You’re early,” she mumbled, wiping her hands on her ample, polyester-covered hips.
    Hannah dropped the bags on the table and rolled her eyes. “You were on the phone badgering me thirty minutes ago . . . remember?”
    Hannah slid past her hostess to peer into the small kitchenette area. The incriminating evidence sat on the counter, a steaming square pan of goodies still warm from the oven.
    She frowned slightly. “Elda, you know what the doctor said. Your blood sugar can’t take this. It’s important, love, that you stay on your diet.”
    Elda harrumphed and headed for the sofa. Her favorite soap opera played quietly as she gazed at the television screen mutinously. “Might as well be dead if I can’t eat,” she sulked.
    Hannah leaned over the back of the cushion and pressed a kiss to her wrinkled cheek. “Quit pouting. Your handsome suitor may have ideas about that. Come on into the bedroom and try on this stuff. I bought you a dress that will knock his socks off.”
    Elda snickered, following her down the hall. “What if I want him to stay completely dressed?”
    When Elda disappeared into the bathroom, Hannah plopped on the bed. “You know it’s okay to fall in love again. Right? It’s been a year and a half. You aren’t betraying your husband’s memory.”
    Elda poked her head around the corner. “Have you been watching too much Dr. Phil ?”
    Hannah grinned after her. “You were married sixty-four years. It’s bound to be difficult to get back in the dating pool.”
    Elda’s voice was muffled. “We’re not dating. People our age don’t date.”
    “Do, too.” Arnie, for all his smarminess, got part of the credit for bringing Elda out of her grief-laden funk. He’d moved to Fluffy Palms right after Christmas, and his over-the-top gallant attentions to the sturdy old woman had perked her right up.
    Elda stepped into the bedroom wearing an emerald-green dress that flattered her coloring and made her look taller and thinner. “It’s a good dress,” she said grudgingly. “You’ve got an eye. But where would I wear it?”
    “Did you ever hear of dinner and a movie?”
    Elda studied her reflection in the mirror. “He’s probably thinking bingo and sex.”
    “Elda!” Hannah was shocked in spite of herself. She didn’t want to think about her surrogate grandmother having intimate relations with anyone, much less Arnie. Hannah had her doubts about whether or not the amiable Arnie was on the up-and-up, but Elda trusted him, so that was that. Elda outweighed him by at least fifty pounds and could probably keep him in line under the worst of circumstances, so Hannah decided her own worries were probably unfounded.
    By the time Hannah left thirty