Page 85 of Landon & Shay: Part Two

Shay’s grandmother, Maria, smiled ear to ear as she saw me. “Well, I’ll be…if it isn’t a blast from the past.”

She didn’t hesitate to pull me into a tight embrace, and even though I stood almost a foot over her, I melted into her arms, squeezing her back. “It’s good to see you, Maria.”

“You too, Landon.” She pulled back and slapped my chest. “But also, I’m mad at you. Just disappearing all those years ago.”

She went straight in with no pause for a reunion.

“I know. I’m sorry. Those years were really tough for me.”

“Still, that wasn’t an excuse to just up and disappear. Even though I was very upset with you for what you did to my granddaughter, I still worried. You know you were always like family to me.”

“And you were to me. I wish I had a better excuse for my actions, but I don’t. I went through a dark phase in my life, Maria. I lost my way.”

“But you made it through that rough patch, yes?”

“I did. It took a lot of time, work, and therapy, but I did. There are still some hard days, with dark thoughts, but I fight against them.”

“I always knew you’d make it to the other side of the darkness.”

“You believed in me when I couldn’t see a way, that’s for sure.”

She eyed me up and down and then a small, gentle smile fell against her lips as she placed a comforting hand against my cheek. “How’s your heart?”

Three words. Three simple words and instantly I was that teenage boy who was so lost, standing in front of a woman who’d so often helped me find my way. I slid my hands into my pockets and cleared my throat. “Still beating.”

“Let me make us some tea,” she said, walking to the back room. “You can go wait in the studio, we can sit, and breathe, and catch up.”

I did as she said.

Maria’s yoga studio was a true treat. It was spacious and felt exactly as the name would have one assume it would feel—harmonious. I pulled down two of the yoga mats that were hanging against the wall and lay them down on the wooden floor. When Maria came back, she held two cups of tea in her hands, still wearing that smile of hers. She handed me a cup, and then took a seat on one of the mats. I did the same.

It amazed me how youthful Maria still looked after all the years that had passed. Based on looks alone, she could’ve been the same age that I left her at years before. I assumed yoga had been good to her. Plus, she had a way of living a peaceful life—never letting negativity touch her too much.

“Even though it’s nice to see you, Landon, why do I get the idea that you’re here due to my granddaughter?”

“You’ve always been pretty good at reading me.”

“What can I say? I’m a well-read woman.”

I smiled a little and took a sip of the tea. The warmth of the cup felt amazing against the palms of my hands. “I need to make right of a situation. I mean, obviously there’s a lot of things I need to make right when it comes to Shay. But the most recent is this whole coffee-gate fiasco. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have lost her job, and now the internet is losing its mind and mocking her nonstop. It’s my fault the paparazzi was there. I should’ve never gone into that shop knowing how they follow me around.”

“Did you tell her to throw the drink into that woman’s face?”

“No, but—”

“Then it’s not your fault.”

“No, it is. Those people took videos of her because I was there.”

Maria arched an eyebrow. “Did you tell those people to follow you and take those videos?”

“Well, no.”

“Then it’s not your fault. I understand why you might think you are to blame for what happened in that coffee shop, Landon, but this time the blame does not fall on you. It’s not your burden to carry.”

I rubbed the back of my neck and frowned. “For a split second on Christmas, it felt like Shay was almost going to let me back in. I mean, obviously not in the same format as before, but we were friendly with one another. Almost playful, and I screwed that up.”

“If at first you don’t succeed…” she murmured, grinning my way.

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