“As you probably noticed, he is the very definition of living in the moment,” Wyatt continued. “Every dinner is the best he’s ever had. Every beer or glass of wine is more delicious than the last. Every day is a cause for celebration, whether it’s a holiday or any random Tuesday. I don’t know anyone who enjoys life more than he does.”
“It sort of makes you realize that the little things—a glass of wine, a great meal, the company of friends—are actually the big things,” Tess said.
“They’re everything,” Wyatt said. “I learned that from him. His perfect day would be sitting on the deck at the house in Wharton, looking out over the lake, steaks on the grill, with family and friends gathered around the table. Laughter, good food, storytelling. Nothing better than that, for him.”
“Or for anyone. What was your grandma like?”
“Wickedly funny and highly intelligent. I’ve never met anyone as smart as she was, and she never went beyond high school. And, wow, their marriage.”
“Good?”
“The best. Don’t get me wrong, my parents have a good marriage. But Pop and my grandma—that was a love story for the ages. He worshipped her. And she loved him right back.”
“He must miss her so much,” Tess said. “You too.”
“It’ll be ten years this spring,” he said. “It’s still hard to believe she’s gone.” But then he shook his head. “It’s such a cliché. Everyone says that. But it’s true. I can’t believe he survived one day without her. They were soulmates. Yet another cliché.” He chuckled. “But they were. I don’t know how else to describe it. It was like they were two halves of a whole. You couldn’t imagine one without the other.”
Tess looked into Wyatt’s eyes. “I’ve never had that,” she said. “I thought I had a good marriage to Eli’s dad. He thought otherwise.”
“I’m divorced, too,” Wyatt said, shaking his head. “We haven’t had this conversation. It’s weird, isn’t it? It seems like we should know all about each other already.”
It did seem like that to Tess, oddly enough. It was as though they had skipped the getting-to-know-you stage and gone right to just being together. And they had only known each other a couple of days.
“We’ve been sort of busy with other things, I guess,” Tess said. “We really should have those conversations sometime soon.”
“We’ll do that,” Wyatt said. “When we’re not trying to solve a mystery.”
They climbed into the car, and as Wyatt started it up, he turned to Tess. “So, should we call my mom?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The call came through the car’s speakers.
“Honey!” Wyatt’s mother said, laughter in her voice. “You called your mother! What a good boy. How’s tricks?”
Wyatt chuckled. “Tricks are good, Mom. I took Pop to lunch today.”
“Oh, bless you,” she said. “I’ll bet he loved that.”
“We went to the brewpub near the hospital,” Wyatt said. “He had a beer!”
“Now I know he loved that.”
“It was fun. How’s Dad?”
“Keeping himself out of trouble,” she said. “He’s out playing golf with some of the guys. He’ll be sad he missed your call.”
“Tell him to give me a buzz later when he gets home if he wants to chat,” Wyatt said. “And how are you, Mom? Everything good?”
“I’m great! Can’t complain. So, what’s up, honey? I know you’re not calling to inquire about our health. I just talked to you last week.”
Wyatt caught eyes with Tess. “Mom, I have someone in the car with me, and the call is on speaker.”
“Okay, I won’t swear, then, or blurt out my Social Security number,” she said.
“A good policy all the time,” Wyatt said, smiling broadly and shaking his head. Obviously, this man loved his mother. “Mom, this is Amethyst Bell. Tess, meet my mother, Kathy.”
“Hi!” Tess said.
Kathy was silent for a moment. “Tess! I haven’t seen you in ages.”
Tess and Wyatt exchanged a curious glance.
“You’ve met Tess before?” Wyatt asked his mother.
“Of course, honey,” Kathy said. “I knew Indy and Jill back in the day. We went to school together and sort of lost touch after they moved down to the Twin Cities. But we’ve gotten together on and off when they’ve been in Wharton over the years.”