Nerd Gone Wild by Vicki Lewis Thompson Page B

them where it would hurt the most. I wanted Grammy to take back the money.” Slapping another piece of bread on top, she picked up both sandwiches and handed one to Mitchell.
    “Thanks.” He took the sandwich in both hands. “Did she?”
    “No. Instead she wrote them a note saying it was a shame they’d treated me so callously, but because money seemed to be more important to them than gracious behavior, they could keep it.”
    “Hm.” He bit into his sandwich, chewed and swallowed. “I have no idea what this meat is.”
    Ally sat on the edge of the bed beside him and took a bite of her sandwich.
    He glanced at her. “Do you recognize the taste?”
    She shook her head, still chewing. Then she swallowed. “A little gamey.”
    “Then we probably don’t want to know what it is.” He lifted the bread and studied the meat. “Are you going to eat it?”
    “Are you kidding? This is my refrigerator-raid sandwich. You bet I’m going to eat it.” She took another big bite.
    “Me, too.” He tucked into his sandwich with gusto. About halfway through the sandwich he got up and opened both beers, twisting off the caps with his fingers.
    “Nice job.” She accepted the beer, impressed at the way he’d opened it. “I’m beginning to think you have hidden depths, Mitchell.”
    “Because I can twist off the top of a beer bottle?”
    “No, because you can manage my grandmother’s estate
and
twist off the top of a beer bottle. That combo is hard to find.”
    “Not so much.” He grinned at her. “If I could twist it off with my teeth, that would be saying something.”
    “I’ll bet Rudy can.”
    “Which could be another reason he’s missing a few of those pearly whites.” Mitchell took a swig of his beer. “So how did that work for you, that your grandmother let the sorority keep the cash?”
    Ally considered that. “I thought it sucked.”
    “Yeah, me, too.”
    “I mean, maybe they all had an attack of conscience and are still feeling guilty, but I doubt it. But that was Grammy. She never wanted to descend to petty behavior. Which is why I never could understand that she—” Ally caught herself just in time. The new-found comradely with Mitch had made her forget that some topics were better left alone. Like Kurt.
    She would love to know if Grammy had said anything to Mitch about Kurt, but she didn’t want to ask. Grammy hadn’t known that Kurt was up here in Alaska, and there was no reason for Mitchell to know, either.
    If Mitchell left when the snow cleared, that might be about the time that Kurt would drive up to see her. She hoped he’d bring her mentor, the person who would teach her the ropes. They might pass Mitchell going the other way, headed for the airport, which would be perfect. If Grammy had mentioned Kurt at all to Mitchell, she wouldn’t have had anything good to say.
    Grammy had to be embarrassed about her rejection of Kurt. When Ally had tried to get her to talk about him, her usually poised grandmother had turned bright red. She’d refused to discuss Kurt and had forbidden Ally to mention him again.
    “I take it you’re not going to finish that sentence?” Mitchell said.
    She turned to find him watching her and knew she’d have to come up with some plausible ending to her comment. “Oh, she fired one of the staff over some little detail. But I have no right to judge. I’m sure she had her reasons.”
    Ally hadn’t agreed with her reasons, though. A maid had put through a call to her grandmother from Uncle Kurt. Apparently the young woman had been bold enough to say that she couldn’t see the harm in a stepmother talking to her stepson on the phone. Grammy had sent her packing that very day.
    “She did demand loyalty.”
    “Yes, she did.” Which meant Ally had battled feelings of disloyalty from the moment she’d started communicating by e-mail with Uncle Kurt. Grammy would have hated it. But Uncle Kurt understood Ally’s need for adventure and Grammy never had. He’d