Page 31 of The Wedding Driver
Foster took his hand in a firm shake. “Thanks. I’ll see you around.” He strolled up the path toward his truck, glancing at the carriage house. The conflicted emotions hadn’t settled. Jared was right. While his loss was the same, his story was different. Foster could agree that some of his fear was about protecting his own heart and soul.
However, he’d already experienced the worst pain a person could live through. He could endure being hurt by a woman.
What he couldn’t live with was causing that kind of pain to another human.
8
“Hey, Grandpa.” Tonya opened her grandfather’s door and stepped into the foyer.
No response.
“Where are you?” They had made plans for lunch a few days ago, but she hadn’t talked to him since. Her parents had gone to visit her mom’s sister and they had asked her to check in on him, which wasn’t a big deal. She loved spending time with him, but it was strange for him not to respond to a text or for him not to call her back. “Grandpa? Hello? I’m here. I’ve got your favorite sub from Angelo’s.”
“In the master bathroom,” his voice rang out, only it was weak and shaky.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
She dropped the bag and her purse and raced up the stairs and flung open the door.
Her grandfather sat on the toilet, hunched over, wearing a pair of jeans, gripping his elbow. “I fell and I think I broke my arm.”
“You scared the crap out of me.” For the last year, everyone had been worried about her grandfather living alone, but he was about as stubborn as they came and he refused to move in with her parents. Even Gael and Tayla offered to take him in. Lake and Tiki too.
But her grandpa refused.
Maybe this would be his wake-up call.
“Do you think you can put your shirt on and we can drive to urgent care, or should I call an ambulance?” One thing she’d learned about her grandfather over the years had been to put him in the driver’s seat of his life. As long as the choices were appropriate. Either way, he was going to get an X-ray and see a doctor.
“You can drive me.”
“When did you fall?” She found his shirt on the floor and helped him put it on. “Did you hit your head?” She did her best to examine him without him noticing while he dressed.
He groaned and cussed like a drunken sailor. Nothing new there. Maxwell Johnson had always had a colorful mouth.
“Maybe ten minutes before you got here.” He stood. “I think there’s an arm brace from when I broke my other arm a couple years ago in the closet in the other bathroom.”
“Then sit your ass back down while I go get it.” Another thing she’d figured out about her grandfather was that she couldn’t let him bulldoze her when he needed help. He didn’t like to be a burden and the older he got, the more he needed his family instead of the other way around and that frustrated him, which is why she often went to him when she needed guidance. However, he often gave her the best advice.
She rummaged through the closet until she found what she was looking for and made her way back to the master where she found her grandfather sitting on the edge of the bed.
“I can put that on myself.” He stood on wobbly legs.
She wasn’t about to argue with him. Based on the way he talked, he was fine. Her only concern, outside of the arm, was how her grandfather seemed to be deteriorating right in front of her eyes. Granted, he wasn’t a spring chicken and the aging process had certainly caught up to him these last few years. However, something seemed off about him and she wanted him to have a complete physical. This might be the perfect opportunity.
“That’s fine, but you’re going to let me help you down the stairs, whether you like it or not.”
He laughed. “You remind me of your grandmother.”
“You tell me that every time you think I grow a backbone.” She took him by his good arm and guided him down the stairs. She wanted to give him a good lecture about how he should be living on the lower level. Or how he should move, but she’d save that for after the visit to the doctor.
“You should be this confident all the time. I like the ring in your voice.”
Inwardly, she rolled her eyes. Behaving as if she were self-assured in every situation wasn’t in her wheelhouse. If she didn’t feel as though she knew what she was doing, or had a solid relationship with the people she was dealing with, she tended to be soft-spoken. It took her a while to settle into anything. She believed there was a time and a place and more often than not, it was never the right time for her to flex her voice.
She wasn’t like Tayla. Calling her assertive was being kind, although describing her oldest sister as aggressive would be too harsh. Nor was Tonya like Tiki who in her darkest hour took the bull by the horns and turned her life around.
