“Will it be better by Monday?” Jenny sniffed.
“Probably not by Monday,” Joanna answered. “But by Christmas it will be.” She decided to change the subject. “Are you looking forward to coming up tomorrow?”
“I am now,” Jenny answered. “I was afraid you’d be mad at me. Because of my hair.”
If there’s anyone to be mad at, Joanna seethed silently, it’s your grandmother, but she couldn’t say that out loud.
“Jenny,” she replied instead, “you’re my daughter. You could shave your hair off completely, for all I care. It wouldn’t make any difference. I’d sill love you.”
“Should I? Shave it off, I mean? Maybe Grandpa Brady would do it with his razor.”
Joanna laughed. “Don’t do that,” she said. “I was just teasing. Most likely your hair doesn’t look nearly as bad as you think it does. Now,” she added, “is Grandma Brady there? I’d like to talk to her.”
Moments later Eva Lou Brady came on the one. “Is Jenny right there?” Joanna asked.
“No. She went outside to play with the dogs.”
“How bad is her hair, really?”
“Pretty bad,” Eva Lou allowed. “Jim Bob says he could have gotten the same look by holding her finger in an electrical socket. Don’t be upset about it, Joanna,” Eva Lou added. “Your mother didn’t mean any harm. She and Jenny just wanted to surprise you.”
“I’m surprised, all right,” Joanna answered stiffly. “Now, is everything set for tomorrow?”
“As far as I can tell,” Eva Lou replied. “Kristin called and said you need us to bring along some papers from your office. We’ll pick them up on our way to get Jenny from school. We’ll leave right after that, between three-thirty and four.”
“Good,” Joanna said. “If you drive straight through, that should put you here right around eight o’clock.”
“That’s the only way Jim Bob Brady drives,” his wife said with a laugh. “Straight through.”
“How about directions to the hotel?”
“Jimmy already has it all mapped out. Do you want us to come by the school to pick you up? Jenny wants to see where you’re staying.”
“No, I’ll meet you at the hotel. It’s so close you can see it from here on campus. Jenny and I can walk over here Thursday morning so I can give her the grand tour.”
“Speaking of dinner, do we have reservations for Thanksgiving dinner yet?” Eva Lou asked.
“Yes. Right there in the hotel dining,” Joanna answered.
“Jim Bob needs to know if he should bring along a tie.”
“Probably,” Joanna answered. “From the outside, it looks like a pretty nice place.”
“I’ll tell him,” Eva Lou said. “I don’t suppose it’ll make his day, but since you’re the one asking, he’ll probably do it.”
