Page 57 of Grounded
“You don’t know how good it is to be home. I don’t care if I never spend another night away.”
Annie laughed. “You weren’t exactly staying at the Ritz.”
Annie remembered the instructions the nurse gave her at the hospital about how to support her grandmother and let her walk the few steps into the house with the walker.
Inside, her grandmother stopped to look around.
“If I could bend over, I would kiss the linoleum. This looks like heaven to me.”
Annie let her stand there and look around as long as she wanted to. She could see joy splashed all over her grandmother’s face.
“I guess I better rest a bit,” she said, and Annie followed her, holding onto her as her grandmother took small, slow steps toward her bedroom.
“And look at this picture by my bed. I don’t know what to say.” Her grandmother’s voice choked, and Annie could feel her own throat tighten.
Neither spoke as Annie settled her grandmother into bed. When she finished, Annie stepped back and put her hands on her hips.
“As someone I know would say, ‘You look as snug as a bug in a rag!’ ”
Her grandmother laughed, but Annie could see the effort had drained her. “Why don’t you get some rest this afternoon? Here’s your new cordless phone. If you need me, press these two keys and it will automatically dial my cell phone.” She showed her grandmother how to press the 1 followed by the star button. “That way, wherever I am on the farm, I can be reached.”
“One and star. I’ve got it,” her grandmother said and leaned back on the pillow.
“Here’s the remote if you want to watch television. I’ll get you a glass of water in case you get thirsty.”
“Do we have any tea?” her grandmother asked, perking up a bit.
“We do, although I made it, so it won’t be as good as yours.”
Annie brought the sweet tea, and her grandmother took a drink of it before lying back again on the pillow.
“It’s good!” she said.
Annie smiled at the compliment. “You rest, and I’ll make you sausage and biscuits for supper.”
Her grandma’s eyes were closed, but Annie was sure she saw a faint smile push up at the corners of her mouth before her face relaxed into sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Four
After vanilla ice cream with caramel topping and a final game of Rook where she and Joe barely beat Betty and Jake, Annie helped her grandmother to bed before joining Jake in the dark on the back porch.
“I haven’t played Rook in years,” she said, sitting down next to him in the other metal chair. “I’m glad you suggested it.”
“I used to play when I lived in Atlanta, but everybody in Cincinnati plays Euchre.”
“Everybody in New York plays poker, according to Stuart,” Annie said, folding her legs up to her chest and hugging them.
“I tried it a time or two, but I don’t like losing money.”
“Neither do I! But with Stuart, everything was easy come, easy go.”
“Did you ever visualize yourself growing old with him?” he asked.
The question surprised her and she thought about the answer before responding. “I guess I never actually let my mind go that far. I thought love was enough to handle anything in the future. But now I know that sometimes what appears to be love for a person might really be love for an idea. I loved the idea of who I thought Stuart could be, not who he really was.”
She turned to see his face, but he was looking up at the night sky, his profile lit by the moon and the faint light from the barn lot.
“What about you,” she said gently.
