Chapter 9: He’s Yours?

Rachel woke up early even though she went to bed later than she wanted. She decided to check out the rude young man’s claim of being Beatrice’s grandson by cashing in the implied rain check for breakfast with his supposed grandmother.

Beatrice must have either read Rachel’s mind or communicated with her grandson, but breakfast was waiting for her as if she had planned it in advance. Beatrice greeted her with a big, warm hug.

“Sit down, Dear, everything is almost ready. I went by a recipe on one of those online recipe pages. I hope it hits the spot.”

It did. Beatrice had prepared a spread of blueberry muffins, black tea, fruit salad, yogurt, eggs, and bacon.

“If I went by what my grandson likes to eat, I would have only prepared coffee and toast done on both sides.”

She giggled at her own joke and invited Rachel to sit down. Rachel had a big appetite this morning and the breakfast was delicious. Afterward, she helped Beatrice with the dishes and shared the high points of the exchange she had last night in her room.

“I think I might have met your grandson last night...”

“Really, Dear, do tell. He is so hard to keep up with. It seems like he is always traveling. You know, the room you are staying in used to be his. We built it so that he could have privacy to study law, but always be close by his grandma. It worked for him and me.”

“That explains a lot, like the minimalist decor and his having a key.”

“I forgot to communicate to him that the room was rented, so he should stay with me in the main part of the house. Ooopsy. I apologize, Dear. Nothing too bad transpired, I hope?”

“I found him in my bed when I got home and it turned out we had been on the same plane to England from the States.”

“Oh my goodness. I wanted you two to meet, but I did not intend for it to be quite so...shocking. Well, at least you had an icebreaker.”

Rachel decided it was better to leave out the disappointing details about how rude her grandson was to her and left it at having met.

“With all of the excitement, however, I failed to get his name.”

“Arthur, Dear. He has had a hard time of it. His mom was American, like you, and she recently passed away after a long fight with cancer. His dad was my son. They had a wonderful love story until things ran their course, so to speak. His mom went back to America when she got sick and left Arthur with his dad to raise him to be a man. He felt like she abandoned him in his teen years just when he felt he needed her most. But when do you not need a mom’s influence? Well we’ll talk more later about that story. Here comes Mr. Sunshine now.”

“Grandma, I have some errands to run in town. Do you need anything?”

“Why that’s so considerate, my dear, sweet boy. I’m fine, but I’m sure Rachel would appreciate a ride into town instead of taking a bus or a bicycle. It’s supposed to rain. Be a gent, Love, and transport her.”

“Yes. Ok Grandma.” Mr. Sunshine was quickly transforming into Mr. Storm Cloud with his grandmother’s new tenant.

“Shall we leave in ten minutes, Miss?”

“My name is Rachel, not Miss. I was thinking of going to the library before my shift. Can you drop me off there?”

“Fine Rachel.”

Rachel smiled her thanks to Beatrice for anticipating her need.

“I was planning on staying late and studying there so I’m not sure how our schedules will coordinate in terms of getting back.”

“Make it work, grandson, as a special favor to me. We want Rachel to feel welcome, don’t we?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Rachel noted what a perfect young gentleman he was with his grandmother. It was a night and day’s difference between that sweetness and the angry verbal exchange he had with Rachel last night. No wonder he was studying law.

“Ready when you are,” Rachel said as sweetly as she could.

“Fine Rachel,” he repeated, his special etiquette mantra, as kindly as he could muster.

Arthur grabbed his laptop case and backpack and held the main door of the house open to her as any true gentleman would. He unlocked the car doors remotely and held the car door open until she was safely inside and seat belted up. Then he revealed the Arthur she had met on the plane and in the rented room: Arthur the *sshole.

“Don’t think for a minute that I am doing any of this for you. I am doing it for my grandmother, who means the world to me. We live at the same place, so we have to get along, but I am not your taxi for hire and we are not friends. Got it?”

“Got it,” she repeated like a reprimanded child being put in her place. She agreed on the boundaries he was setting on their relationship from the outset. She had no choice. He started the car and headed toward town. She stared out the window sadly with tears in her eyes and in silence for the rest of the trip into town.

Would she ever be treated well by any man? Even just a friend or associate? She thought of her Dad, Kurt, and now even a stranger like Arthur. All of them seemed to hate her. She decided that she would be all business from here on out and not try to make friends, especially with any members of the opposite sex.