No, Bas didn’t want to talk about the desserts. He didn’t want to talk about food period. “But I’m not your husband, Ms. Sadie,” he decided it was time to point out.
“No, but some day you’ll be somebody’s husband if you live long enough. You’re young, too young to be worried about some nasty ailment like high blood pressure, which can lead to other problems like heart disease. It’s best that you get a handle on things now before it’s too late. And while you’re living here I intend to help you. I owe it to my Albert and your mother to do so.”
Bas shook his head in frustration. “But you don’t know my mother.”
“Doesn’t matter. We’re all members of the ‘Mothers Club’ and I know wherever she is, she’ll thank me for trying to save her son from an early grave.”
Bas sighed deeply, recognizing the stubborn glint in the woman’s eyes. It was the same glint he’d seen in his own mother’s eyes several times, and the one he had seen in Kylie’s the day she had confronted him after finding out about his medical issues. Ms. Sadie was right. Once a mother, always a mother. All mothers shared a bond to make their kids’ lives miserable.
Bas decided to use another approach. “Ms. Sadie, don’t you think getting involved in my medical business is carrying things a little too far? I’m just a resident here for a while. I’m a grown man—thirty-five. Shouldn’t my eating habits be my decision to make?”
“Yes.”
Bas nodded, glad they were finally getting somewhere. “And don’t you think you’ve crossed the line by serving me oatmeal instead of the breakfast you gave to everyone else this morning?”
He watched as the older woman pushed a curly lock of gray hair away from her face and in that instant he saw it—the look of stark worry in her eyes. She actually thought his fate could be sealed like her Albert’s if he didn’t eat differently. Aw hell. All he needed was the old woman worrying to death about him. And although she had agreed that what he ate was his business, he knew as far as she was concerned, to feed him the high-calorie foods he liked would be like signing his death warrant.
Bas knew there was only one thing he could do and that would be to find another place to stay as soon as he could. He refused to hang around Newton Grove for the next three months and live under the same roof with an older version of Kylie Hagan Steele.
It just so happened he had run across a place for sale the day he’d been out riding around with Reese. It was a quaint little cabin just outside of town on a small lake in the mountains. If nothing else it would be a nice piece of investment property. He would see a realtor about it first thing tomorrow.
He met Ms. Sadie’s gaze. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll eat the oatmeal every morning if it makes you happy.” Just until I get that cabin, he decided not to add.
Her worried look brightened into a smile. “Thank you and it will. And when you live to your late seventies with kids, grands and great-grands like me, you’ll be grateful that someone cared enough about you to make sure you stuck to a proper diet.”
“Not a chance,” Bas muttered under his breath as he scooted back to the table to eat his oatmeal.
Leah smiled as she looked at herself in the oval mirror she held in her hand. “I think even after all these years no one can take care of a woman’s head like you can, Kate.”
The older woman chuckled and waved her hand as if refusing to accept the flattering comment. “Doing your hair has always been easy. I’m glad you didn’t put all that crazy dye in it while living out in Los Angeles. That would have damaged it for sure. Your hair is just as thick and healthy as it’s always been.”
Leah smiled at the compliment. “Thanks.” Kate had been doing her hair ever since Leah was a teenager and her dad had agreed to let her get a perm. Kate was right, Leah’s hair had always been thick and healthy, but what Kate had been too nice to add was that it had also been unmanageable. While Jocelyn could get by with going to the hair salon every two weeks, Kate was sentenced to see Leah on a weekly basis.