Something Unexpected by Vi Keeland
CHAPTER 2
Beck
“WHERE ARE YOU?I just went by your office and it’s dark. The Franklin meeting starts in ten minutes.”
I pressed the button to put my cell on speakerphone and set it on the vanity in the bathroom so I could finish shaving. “I’m in Idaho.”
“Idaho?” Jake said. “What the hell are you doing there?”
“Apparently, Sun Valley is a popular place for jumping off cliffs. I came to talk some sense into our grandmother since she blocked me and I can’t call her.”
“Oh Jesus Christ. Leave the woman alone. She’s living her life, doing what she wants to do.”
“Has she ever mentioned to you that she wanted to go wingsuit diving?”
“No, but I probably didn’t mention to her that I wanted to go muff diving on that nurse she had when she was in the hospital last year. We don’t announce everything at family get-togethers.”
My brother didn’t worry about anything. Maybe because he was only twenty-three and still thought he was invincible. Ten years and one marriage ago, I probably had a lot fewer worries, too. “I think the friend she’s traveling with may be a little unstable and is pushing her into doing some of these crazy things.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well for one, yesterday this woman texted that I should bend over and pull on my ankles really hard so maybe I could see my own head up my ass.”
“Gram’s friend texts you?”
“Gram gave me her number for emergencies, right before she blocked me.”
“Let me guess, you’ve been using it to harass this nice old lady since you can’t reach Gram?”
“Nice old lady?” I pulled the skin on my neck taut and shaved a clean line. When I traced the curve of my chin, I nicked it. Shit. Damn cheap hotel razor. I got a piece of toilet paper to stop the bleeding. “That nice old lady also told me I was a gray sprinkle on a rainbow cupcake.”
Jake chuckled. “Man, she has you pegged and she’s never even met you. You need to relax a little. Gram is just trying to have fun. If I were in her place, I’d rather have three months of living than a year of waiting to die.”
I frowned. I wasn’t getting into this debate again. Three weeks ago, our grandmother had been told that her pancreatic cancer was back. It was the third time in ten years, and it now had metastasized to her lungs and esophagus. The doctors said another round of chemo and radiation would likely only extend her life expectancy from three months to nine. Though they’d also said there was a one percent chance that treatment could send the cancer back into remission and she could be around a lot longer. Gram had chosen not to have treatment this time, which we’d all supported, even though I’d selfishly wanted her to take the chance to be around in ten years.
But then she’d decided to take a crazy trip with a woman none of us had even met, and lately it felt like she was on a suicide mission.
“I gotta go. I don’t know what time they’re leaving, and I need to get a cup of coffee before I go argue with Gram.”
“What do you want me to do about the meeting?”
“Handle it.”
“You usually hate the way I handle things.”
“Surprise me. Goodbye.” I swiped my phone off and finished shaving. A little while later, I went down to the hotel lobby in search of caffeine. After pouring a cup of coffee, I turned to look for the cream and sugar, and my eyes meet a gorgeous pair of green ones. They were currently shooting daggers at me.
Shit.
Nora. The beautiful blonde from last night.
She was sitting at a table not more than five feet away.
“I see you found your way to the coffee,” she said. “Yet you somehow got lost last night on your way to the second floor?”
I shoved my hands into my pockets, feeling like an idiot. “About that…”
A familiar woman’s voice from behind me interrupted our conversation. “Good morning, my dear.”
I turned to find my grandmother. I’d assumed she was speaking to me, but her forehead wrinkled when she saw me.
“Beckham? What are you doing here?”
“I came to talk some sense into you.”
“Wait…” Nora’s mouth dropped open. “Beck as in Beckham, Louise’s grumpy grandson?”
I turned to her. “You know my grandmother?”
“Ummm... We’ve been traveling together for the last two weeks.”
“You’re Eleanor Sutton? I thought you said your name was—” Shit. You’ve got to be kidding me. I shook my head. “Nora…short for Eleanor?”
I’d assumed Eleanor was seventy years old, not a blond bombshell in her mid-twenties.
Gram motioned between the two of us. “You know each other?”
I wasn’t about to explain to my grandmother that I’d told her friend I wanted to fuck her like I hated her, then didn’t show up to close the deal. So I wasn’t sure how to respond. Luckily, Nora was better on her feet than I was.
She put on a smile even I knew was forced. “We just met at the coffee bar.”
My grandmother stepped forward and kissed my cheek. “Hello, sweetheart. It’s always lovely to see you. But if you’ve come to give me a lecture, I’m afraid you’ve wasted a trip, and you can turn your cute little derrière around and not let the door hit it on the way out.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I see your sparkling personality is intact. How are you feeling, Gram?”
“If the dumb doctors hadn’t gone and told me the devil was back, I wouldn’t even know it. Maybe a little more tired than usual, but then again, we’re on the go a lot.”
“That makes me happy to hear. Can I get you some coffee?”
“I think we need to hit the road.”
“Actually…” Nora frowned. “I texted you earlier, Louise. I guess you haven’t read it yet. They canceled the jump for this morning due to high winds. The company said they’d give me an update by lunchtime to let us know if there’ll be an afternoon jump, but if there is, it wouldn’t be until four.”
“Well then…” Gram turned to me. “I’m breathing, and I’ve got a full face of makeup on. So you can take us out to breakfast, preferably someplace that has Kahlua for my coffee.”
I smiled. “You got it.”
“I think I’ll stay behind,” Nora said. “I have some work to catch up on.”
“You’ve gotta eat. Might as well let my grandson foot the bill. Besides, maybe he can show you he’s not as much of a jackass as he seems over text.”
It looked like Nora was going to try to bow out again, but my grandmother was a hard woman to say no to.
“Come on.” Gram motioned toward the lobby. “We were supposed to be on our jump, so there’s nothing you have to do that can’t wait an hour.”
Nora forced a smile. “Sure. Let’s go.”
***
“I’ll take an eggs benedict and a coffee with a shot of Kahlua,” Gram said to the waiter.
He smiled. “I’m afraid we don’t have Kahlua. We don’t have any liquor, actually.”
“That’s fine.” My grandmother patted her purse. “Got some in here. You can pretend you don’t see me spiking our drinks. I wouldn’t take the sale away from you, but I don’t expect you to take the happiness from me, either.”
The waiter chuckled. “I won’t see anything.”
Nora was next to place her order. While she spoke, I zoned in on her lips moving—the lips I’d imagined wrapped around my cock while I took care of myself in the shower this morning. It hadn’t been easy to behave last night, especially after I realized my room was right down the hall from hers. But when I’d paid the bar tab and saw how many glasses of wine Nora had consumed, I couldn’t do it. I might be a man some women regretted, but it was never going to be because they hadn’t had the capacity to say no.
“Sir?” I looked up to find the waiter with an expectant face.
Nora’s sly grin made me think she knew where my head had just been.
I cleared my throat. “I’ll have the eggs benedict and a coffee with cream, please.” After the waiter walked away, I laid my napkin across my lap. “So how do you two know each other? I don’t remember you mentioning Nora before this trip.”
Gram patted Nora’s hand. “She lives in my building.”
“At least the blog makes sense now.” Gram’s partner in crime had been blogging about their trip since the beginning, taking videos of my grandmother doing all kinds of crazy shit. The page was called Live Like You’re Dying.
“What do you mean?” Nora asked.
“Well, I had assumed you were older. I don’t know too many people my grandmother’s age who blog.” I looked at Gram. “No offense.”
Nora folded her arms across her chest. “Well, if she’s not offended, I am. There isn’t a certain age for women to do things. Why is it only a young person can blog or go skydiving?”
Oh Jesus. Now this was the woman I’d been texting with.
“I didn’t say older people couldn’t do those things. I just said I don’t know too many who do.”
“Did you ever stop to think that’s because narrow-minded younger people are ageist and discourage their family members from living their lives to the fullest? When they should be encouraging them? Believe it or not, your grandmother didn’t have to go to the library for a technology class in order to figure out how to block you.”
I looked at my grandmother.
She grinned. “Don’t look at me for help. You’ve been digging your grave with Eleanor ever since I gave you her number to use in an emergency.”
“Speaking of those wonderful texts we’ve exchanged,” Nora said. “The next time you’re rude to me or demand I pass along a message to your grandmother—particularly one that you know damn well will upset her—I’m going to block you, too.”
Normally if someone spoke to me like that, I’d be salivating, waiting for my turn to rip them a new asshole. But for some crazy reason, all I could imagine was arguing with this woman in private—then fucking the attitude right out of her.
I smirked. “Noted. Thanks for the warning.”
My acquiescence seemed to diffuse her anger, and for a half a second I considered bringing up how many deaths had occurred while wing diving the last few years, just to get into it with her again. But then Gram started talking about a snorkeling trip they were planning, and the way her eyes lit up made the inside of my chest warm. Snorkeling seemed harmless enough…
“And then once we get the hang of it,” she said, “they start chumming.”
“Chumming?”
Gram nodded. “For the sharks.”
Andthere goes the harmless snorkeling trip. “Seriously, Gram? Swimming with sharks? Why can’t you just snorkel and look at the colorful fish?”
“Why would I do that when I can watch a giant monster with five rows of teeth eat all the colorful fish?”
“I completely understand wanting to travel and do things, but why do they all have to be dangerous? You never had a desire to do any of these things before you found out…”
Gram frowned. “Found out that I’m dying. It’s okay to say it, Beckham. I’m dying. Chances are, in a few months I won’t be around anymore. So why not do things that give me an adrenaline rush and make me fear my own mortality? Lord knows sitting around at home, I’m not afraid of anything. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? I cross against the light and get hit by a cab? I want to feel alive. And hell, if I go a little earlier than expected because the wings on my wingsuit don’t flap enough, or a shark thinks I’d make a good dessert, at least I’ll have one hell of an obituary.”
I was smart enough to know when to shut my mouth. I’d talk to my grandmother when she was alone and not feeling so ornery. Right now I changed the subject and tried to enjoy listening to her explain all the things they’d done so far. That made for a peaceful remainder of our meal.
After we got back to the hotel, Gram said she was going to lie down for a while. She claimed she’d been too excited about the impending wingsuit dive to sleep well last night. So I walked her to her room and asked if we could have lunch together, just the two of us.
She kissed my cheek at her door. “I’m happy to spend as much time with you as possible. But you’re not going to change my mind, Beck.”
“I’ll come by and get you around noon?”
On my way back to my room, I decided to knock on Nora’s door. I appreciated her keeping what had gone down between us to herself. And I owed her an apology. I also recognized that I’d have a better shot of getting through to Gram if Nora were on my team. As odd a couple as they made, they seemed pretty tight.
Nora’s face fell when she answered. “I hope you don’t think you’re getting a rain check from last night. You lost your opportunity when you stood me up.”
“About that…”
She started to shut the door. “I don’t need an explanation. It’s your loss.”
I stuck my foot in the doorway. “Hang on a second. You might not need one, but I’d like to give you one anyway.”
She rolled her eyes. “Say what you need to say and go.”
“You had six glasses of wine. I saw it when I paid the bill.”
Nora shrugged. “Was that too many for you to pay for? I’m not reimbursing you.”
“I’m not complaining about the cost. But the six glasses are why I didn’t come up, as much as I wanted to. And trust me, I really, really wanted to. I might’ve even stood outside your door for ten minutes trying to convince myself I wouldn’t be a piece of shit for knocking since you’d invited me. But in the end, I couldn’t take advantage of a woman who’d had too much to drink.”
“Only two of those wines were mine. Louise and I met two ladies for drinks before I met the Tinder Loser. I told her I’d pick up the tab. I was perfectly sober, especially considering I’d been sitting there a couple of hours.” She tilted her head. “And by the way, I was looking to be taken advantage of.”
I dropped my head. “Fuck.”
“Worked out just as well, anyway. Obviously I didn’t know you were Louise’s grandson—the one who’s been barking at me like I work for him.”
I raked a hand through my hair. “She’s my grandmother. I’m worried about her.”
Nora put her hands on her hips. “Because she’s doing dangerous things for the first time in her life, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Did you know your grandmother is a certified scuba diver? She was one of the first women to take the certification course in nineteen sixty-seven. Her favorite kind of dive was exploring deep-sea wreckage.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Did you know that when she was twenty-three she navigated Lava Falls, one of the most difficult whitewater runs in the world?”
“Really?”
She nodded. “Your grandmother is not the shrinking violet you think she is. She’s a badass. Maybe if you stopped looking at her as someone old and frail who needs to be taken care of, you could see that.”
“Why didn’t she ever say anything?”
Nora shook her head. “Maybe it’s because you never asked. Do you know how she and your grandfather met? Or why we’re going to a ranch in Utah to visit a man she hasn’t seen in sixty years?”
She’d made her point. Now she was just pissing me off. “Do you know who sat by her side every single day after her first pancreas surgery? Or after the cancer came back and she was sick for months during her treatment?”
“I’m not questioning whether you care about your grandmother. I’m saying you need to support her in her choices now, whatever they are.”
I was quiet for a moment. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because you knocked on my door.”
I shook my head. “No. Why are you traveling with a woman three times your age? What’s in it for you?”
Nora’s nostrils flared. “What’s in it for me? Go screw yourself.”
“People don’t usually do things without there being something in it for them.”
“What are you implying?”
“I’m not implying anything. I’m simply asking why you’re taking this trip.”
Her answer was to growl at me. Literally growl. Right before she slammed the door in my face.
I blinked a few times and then a smile crept up on my face, surprising even me. I probably needed my head examined, but Nora Sutton was sexy as shit when she was angry.
