What if her answers were better than mine? What if mine were stupid? Why the hell did I care?
"Lovely." Grandma beamed. "Just lovely. You're dismissed."
"What?" we said in unison.
"You may go." Grandma's smile widened.
"But…" I scratched my head and let out a nervous laugh, "you didn't even tell us how we did? I mean, wasn't there a point to that exercise?"
"No," Grandma took a sip of tea, "I was just curious. You know me, flighty as a seagull." She laughed. "Ta-ta. Use sunscreen!"
Beth jolted up from her seat, but I kept my eyes firmly on Grandma. Something wasn't right. She was tricking me, but I didn't know how. The longer I stared the more mischievous her smile became. And then she blew on her hand and winked.
"You're evil."
"Thank you." She beamed as the door closed behind us.
Beth was a good few feet ahead of me, making her way toward the pool.
"Slow down!" I called after her.
"Keep up," she called back.
"Can you just, I grabbed her arm, "stop for one damn second?"
She stopped walking and put her sunglasses on. Hell, did that mean she was crying?
"What's wrong with you?"
"I just want to relax in the sun. Is that so much to ask?
"Yes," I snapped. "I mean, no."
"Jace," Beth put her hands on her hips, "what do you want?"
"I want you to stop yelling. I want to stop going to therapy with a senile eighty-six year old with felt pictures. I want my life back, but I want to kiss you more. So that's what I want," I grumbled
"Your life back?"
I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the wall. "The second part."
"A kiss?"
"I want more than a kiss, Beth. Don't you get it? I'm trying to protect you. I'm trying to do the right thing. I want you. Don't you see that I want you? Give me a reason not to want you—"
"My cartoon character was She-Ra."
"Huh?"
"I wanted to be a warrior princess."
"That doesn't help."
"I thought it would weird you out?"
"You wearing battle gear and wielding a sword?" I chuckled. "Not even close to helping."
"My most secure childhood memory was when I got second place at the science fair. My mom and dad weren't able to make it, so my grandpa came. He told me that as long as I had a heart to go along with my brain I'd turn out okay. He said hearts and brains shouldn't work separate but together." Her eyes glistened with tears. "He said I was smart, but he kissed me on the cheek and said what was more important is that he loved my heart."
I reached for her hand.
"He, uh, died the following day. Stroke."
I pulled her into my arms and kissed her head.
"And I hate vegetables." Her voice was muffled against my chest. "If I had to be one, I'd ask to be put in vegetable soup so I'd suffer a veggie death. I hate green things. I know I'm supposed to like them. I know I'm supposed to be super-healthy, but damn it, Jace, sometimes I just want a cookie!"
"I think I can do that."
"Really?" She stepped away and wiped underneath her eyes.
"Yeah." I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead again. "I'll buy you as many cookies as you want. And if your plan was to get me to fall just a little bit more for you, you succeeded."
"Oh yeah?" Beth sniffled, "Why's that?"
Grandma was a damn spy and had dug into my childhood, that's how. "I wanted to be He-Man when I was little. My most secure moment was when my dad said he was proud of me after I won Student Body President. He said all leaders should have a good head but needed to lead with their hearts first."
My hand trembled just slightly as I squeezed Beth's shoulder. "And I've been on vegetable strike since the fourth grade."
"A rebel."
"Oh yes. Every time my mom put carrots in my lunchbox, I swapped them with the girl sitting next to me. Cheetos and carrots? Same color. It helped that she was legally blind in one eye, plus she had a crush on me. I'd send her to get milk. She'd come back, and the Cheetos would be gone, leaving her with carrots. I lied for two years, Beth, I'm not proud of what I did. But sometimes a man has to do things, ugly things, to get what he wants."
"You stole cheetos from a blind girl. How does that not make the news and me walking with you into a hotel does?"
"Easy." I grinned. "You're prettier."
Beth's face reddened. "So how about that cookie?"
"How about it?" I reached for her hand and didn't let go. We fell into easy talk of She-Ra and He-Man escapades and decided that Grandma had broken laws of national security to get the information that she had. The woman had done her homework.
"Closed?" Beth pointed at the sign to one of the snack shops lining the beach. "Why is it closed?"
Why was her voice rising? And then I remembered her reaction to cookies a few days ago. The yelling, the stomping, the throwing.
"Beth, calm down. We'll find you cookies." I patted her hand.
She turned, her angry cat-eyes flashing with irritation. Holy shit. Where was Donkey when I needed a quick escape?
"Beth! Jace! Over here!" Someone or something was waving at us.
I couldn't make out faces because of the way the sun was setting. But I didn't need to make out faces. It was too late anyway. A fist came flying into my face and everything went very, very black.
Chapter Twenty-two
"Did you?" The agent sounded irritated.
"Did I what?"
"Break laws of national security for personal gain?"
Grandma seemed to think about the question. "Of course not."
The agent breathed a sigh of relief.
"It was for their gain. Not personal at all."
"Ma'am, that doesn't make it legal."
"I thought we've established I'm above the law, Gus? Sheesh, you're so forgetful, and I'm the senile one."
Beth
"Char? Jake?"
I was caught between wanting to make sure Jace was okay and also wanting to hug my sister and return the punch to Jake's face.
"Hey!" Char hugged me and then shoved Jake. "You ass, why'd you punch him?"
Jake cracked his knuckles. "He kissed you. Twice. Tried to steal you away. And was inappropriately touching your sister."
"Weren't you voted player of the year in Playboy?" Char asked. "Just curious."
"I'm a reformed man and happily married." Jake rolled his eyes. "Are you okay, Beth?"
"Since when is this one defending girls' honor?"
I ignored Jake's question and put my arm around Char.
"Marriage," Char rolled her eyes, "it's cured him. Disgusting, really. He won't even answer when I call him whore. Tragic, really."
"Heard that!" Jake snapped then poured some bottled water over Jace's face in an attempt to either drown him or wake him up.
"Why are you guys here?"
"Grandma kept hanging up on us." Char rolled her eyes. "And Rick's been trying to track down Jake and won't stop calling him. It seems our senator has it in his head that he isn't a public figure and doesn't need to keep his phone on."
"Sort of my fault." I meekly raised my hand. "But to be fair, neither of us have even touched technology in the past three days."
"We know." Char patted her on the shoulder. "Also, that Dr. Z needs to chill out. When we were trying to reach you, she kept saying that you were not to be disturbed, which frankly just freaked this one out." Char pointed to Jake, who was leaning on his hands and knees and now lightly tapping Jace's face.
"Wake up, bastard. Fight like a man."
"Fight like a man?" Jace grumbled, not opening his eyes. "Since when is getting sucker-punched fighting like a man?"