Page 100 of Make it Real
“Then go get your woman.”
THIRTY-FIVE
callie
I wasn’tsure how this conversation would go, but I knew I had to have it, and I wouldn’t put it off any longer.
Granny picked up after the first ring. “Callie, my girl, you have perfect timing. We just got to our condo, and we’re all on the lanai looking at the beach.”
I giggled a little over that.Lanai. They’d been there half a day and were already full-fledged Golden Girls.
“Are you heading down to put your toe in?” I asked.
“We’ll go down in a little while. The movers should get here tomorrow, so we’ll stay in a hotel tonight.”
“Sounds good.”
I paced around the living room, my eyes stuck on the color swatches I’d taped to the dining room wall. I could do this. She would be better off knowing the truth. Just had to get through the tricky little part of telling her.
“Gran, can you find some privacy for a few minutes? I need to talk to you.”
“Of course. What is it?”
The background sounds of the other women faded out, and I heard a door close.
“I need to tell you something about Jed and me.”
“I’m ready.”
Oh dear, she sounded like she thought I was about to deliverextremelygood news. Maybe I should have planned better wording, but I’d never been the best at that. “Can you sit down?”
“If I get on the floor, I’m not getting up again. What happened?”
“Okay. So…” I exhaled until my lungs emptied out. “What I have to tell you is that Jed and I were never really dating. It was all fake.”
I imagined all sorts of expressions flying across her face in the silence that followed, none of them good.
“I’m going to need you to explain this to me,” she said. “What do you mean, it was all fake?”
“Gran, I hated all those set-ups y’all were sending me on. The guys weren’t the greatest, and there was all this pressure to find a man or you wouldn’t move to Florida. So I asked Jed if he would pretend to be my boyfriend.”
I paused, but she didn’t say anything, so I charged on. “He didn’t really want to, but then he saw me on one of those dates, and the guy was really handsy, so Jed stepped in and said he’d do it. I know I shouldn’t have lied to everyone, and I never meant to hurt you, I was just…afraid to tell you the truth, I guess.”
“Which guy was handsy?” She sounded like she could have throttled him herself.
“It’s not important. The point is, I should have just told you the truth. I tried, but I didn’t try as hard as I could have. I wanted you to move with your friends and be happy, and I could never have asked you to move out if you’d stayed.”
“You wanted me to move out?”
Now her voice had a layer of hurt to it. I should have kept my thoughts somewhat in order, but as usual, they’d all jumbled together and come out at the wrong time.
“No, it’s not that, I really loved living with you.” Another pause while I gathered up more courage. “But Gran, I want to sell the house. Maybe not immediately, but I want something of my own. I want something out in the trees that’s secluded and peaceful and cozy and mine.”
Might have just described Jed’s property. All except for theminepart.
“How long have you felt this way?”
“For a while. I’ve never really loved the house, after everything that happened in it, but I should have been honest with you. I didn’t want you to stay because of me, but I didn’t want you to leave because of me, either.”
