“Thank you, sweetheart,” Lottie said, smiling wide.
Sweetheart?Rachel sat up. Her grandma only called people she cared about that.
Jamie set the plate between them before turning to her grandma. “Where are you going to sit, Lottie?”
“I have things to do inside. You sit with Rachel and have your lemonade.” Lottie waved her hand as she went back inside.
Jamie sat back down. “It seems she’s leaving us alone. I can’t be that bad then.”
Rachel snorted. “She’s practically blind.”
He arched his brow at her. “Your nose is growing.”
“I hated that story,” she said. “I much preferredBeauty and the Beast.”
“Just like Coco,” he said with a smile.
She frowned. “Coco?”
“My cousin. She’s my best friend.” He raised his glass. “Although Coco always wanted to be the Beast, because he had a better wardrobe and dancing plates.”
“I think I’d like Coco.” She clinked her glass to his and took a sip.
“I think so too,” he murmured.
“What stories did you like?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I didn’t like to read. I liked looking at pictures.”
“Do you have a reading disability?”
“No.” He grinned. “And before you ask, I’m not lazy either. I just like photos. With a photo, everyone can find their own story in it. There’s magic in that.”
“What a unique perspective.” She was in media, and she’d never thought of it that way. Usually they fed people the story they wanted to convey and didn’t account for people finding their own story.
“My mum taught me that.”
“You’re close to your mom.” She could tell by the sweet expression on his face.
“My dad too. Are your parents…?” He let the question trail off.
“Living their own lives,” she replied with a dismissive wave. “It’s better that way. I’ve always got along better with Lottie anyway.”
“Your grandmother is a fine lady.” He stretched out his legs again and crossed them at his ankles. He gestured to the lawn. “There’s an immediate satisfaction of seeing the rows in the grass, isn’t there?”
“You did a good job for never having mowed the lawn before.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He laughed. “Are you a landscape artist?”
“Hardly.” She laughed. “I work for a PR firm. Taylor, Mackenzie, & Inglewood.”
He raised his brow. “TMI?”
“Never”—she pointed at him—“say that.”
Smiling, he asked, “So you come up with clever ways of getting people excited about your clients?”
“I try to.” These days she mostly fetched coffee for the people who came up with the clever ideas. “What do you do?”