Page 56 of Best Friends for Never

“—I’m saying is that Jackie Peeps is wrong. How can you not root for your hometown to win the big hockey game?”

“Wait. You watch hockey, Gran?”

She stops mixing and peeks over her shoulder at me. “Yes! Where the hell have you been for the last ten minutes?”

“Sorry,” I mutter. “I’m just . . . It’s . . . I . . .”

She sighs, then sets her spoon down. She turns and heads for the table, wiping her hands on her apron.

“All right,” she says as she sits across from me, where I’ve been bagging cookies for the last couple of hours. “What’s going on? You’ve been a mopey little shit for the last week. Reminds me of that time Jessica or Julie or whatever her name was dumped you in eighth grade, and you boo-hooed for a week.”

“Her name was Kelsey, and I did not cry for a week. It was one day, and it was my first heartbreak.”

“Well, whoever she was, I hate her.”

“Youjustbought flowers from her at the farmers’ market.”

“I did no such thing!”

I laugh. She did. We even joked about Kelsey’s claim to fame, which is that she was my first girlfriend. Gran just has no clue who she is because she was never able to get her name right the whole three months that we “dated.”

“Anyway,” Gran says, cutting me a look that could kill if she wasn’t so damn tiny and unintimidating. “What’s on your mind, bub?”

I set aside the cookies I’m bagging and lock my fingers together, resting my forearms on the table. “Parker.”

Gran’s lips pull into a frown. “What’d you do, Noel Carter?”

“Hey! I didn’t do anything!”

She arches a brow at me. “Why don’t I believe you?”

“Because you’ve been in cahoots with Parker for years and never told me about it. Now you like her better than me.”

She rolls her eyes with a huff. “Please. I love that girl like she was my own, but she’s not my own. You are. I love you more, but that doesn’t mean I want to see her hurt. So I ask again—what’d you do?”

“I really didn’t do anything, Gran. We were having lunch after the ceremony last week, and we started talking about all the renovations Parker’s done around town. She admitted to redoing your kitchen—somethingyoucould have told me, you know. Then I offered to pay her back for the project because I don’t believe you should be spending your money like that, especially when I’m more than capable of taking care of you.”

“First, I don’t have to tell you shit.”

I roll my lips together so I don’t laugh at my grandmother sayingshit.

“Second, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think it was important who redid my kitchen.”

“It’s Parker. Of course I’d want to know.”

She shrugs. “Third, even if I had paid for Parker’s labor, it would have been my money to spend as I please. You might make the big bucks, but you don’t need to take care of me. I haven’t had a partner since your grandfather passed away—before you were even born—and I have been getting along just fine. I don’t need anyone’s assistance but my own.”

If I weren’t so worried she’d smack me for it, I’d reach over and high-five her for her empowering speech.

“And fourthly, youdiddo something wrong.”

“How?!” I toss my hands into the air, completely at a loss.

“Because Parker is an incredibly independent person, and she doesn’t need your money either. That business of hers she built is successful as hell, and this town wouldn’t be doing half as well as it is if she didn’t have the genius idea of renovating houses and using them as rentals for the tourists. Your offer was like a slap in the face to her, especially after you’ve been gone so long.” I shrink farther down in my chair with each biting word. “You think you can just roll into town, act like you haven’t spent the last ten years away, and throw money around to fix everything? That doesn’t erase all the years, Noel.”

As much as Gran always supported me in leaving, I knew deep down that a part of her was hurt by it. But this is the first time I’ve heard her so angry over it.

“I’m sorry,” she says after several tense moments. “You know I’m glad you’ve found success. I really am. It’s just ...”

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