Page 7 of Make it Real
I wouldn’t be in this old house for long once Granny moved. After I had her happily settled in Florida, I would sell this house and find a place to make all my own. In six months, maybe a year, I’d find someplace free from the bad memories and heartache that greeted me around every corner here.
I’d somewhat obsessively been checking real estate sites since she first seriously considered moving. Searching for the exact right house where I could start fresh, a place to fill with friendship and love and laughter. Preferably with a wrap-around porch and closets bigger than a lunchbox, but I would keep an open mind.
I hadn’t admitted any of that to her yet, though. Gran had moved in with us when Mom got sick, but technically, the house had been left to me when she died. Telling Gran I wanted to sell would feel too much like evicting her, and I didn’t have it in me. Yes, I wanted her to move to Florida, but I wanted her to do it for herself, not because I had my own selfish agenda.
For now, I kept all of those house dreams to myself.
“I’m a grown woman, Gran. I can handle living here on my own.”
Her expression didn’t change. “Rita’s already given Nora your number to pass along to her grandson.”
I drew in a deep breath, hoping the fourth—or was it fifth?—time would be the charm. I’d repeated myself so often, it all ran together. “I don’t really want to go on another date with a stranger. It makes me uncomfortable.”
“Nora says he’s a fine young man.”
Not exactly irrefutable proof. Nobody’s grandmother described him as a spoiled man-child who expected to go home with a woman on the first date. But since every last set-up had come from a friend of a friend, I couldn’t burst their bubble and tell them the truth. I’d found vague but true excuses to feed to Gran and her friends for why those first dates had never led to second ones, but clearly,“We’re just not on the same page”hadn’t gotten the message across.
“I’m not looking for a boyfriend right now.”
My college boyfriend had pretty well seen to that, but again, I hadn’t looped any of them in on that mess. I wasn’t sure knowing the details would make a dent in their eagerness, anyway. They were more of theThere’s plenty of fish in the seacamp thanOne bad apple spoils the whole bunchlike me.
“It’s because of all your romance books,” Carmen said. “Your expectations are too high because you think the men you go out with should be like the men in those books. They’re not realistic.”
Oh, she did not come for my romance novels. “If that were true, I’d expect the men I go out with to be seven-foot-tall blue aliens with horns on their heads and who worship the ground I walk on.”
Rita slid a notepad and pencil across the table. “I need titles.”
Granny ignored her. “You know I don’t ask for much. I just want to be sure that my grandbaby is taken care of when I’m gone. If I go to Florida, or…wherever.”
Oh my word, not this. Nothing like the threat of her supposedly imminent death to twist the knife in my back. Or front—she wasn’t subtle with the guilt.
“Gran, you’re going to go on kicking for a long time,” I soothed. “And youaregoing to Florida. You think your friends will let you stay behind?”
“Not for one minute.” Rita’s enthusiasm earned anothershut your mouthlook from Gran. She wiped away her smile and tried for a more conciliatory expression. “But of course, we’d understand if you feel you need to stay for Callie’s sake.”
“Callie will be just fine on her own.” I hated how petulant this argument always made me sound, like a little girl stomping her foot mid-tantrum. “I don’t know how many times I need to say it.”
Gran stood and put her hands on my cheeks. “Callie Louise, you’ll understand one day. You’ll have someone who can look out for themselves, but that won’t stop you from wanting to love on them and take care of them, too. Your heart will be torn between giving someone your love, and giving them their freedom, and then what will you do?”
“I expect I’ll give them loveandfreedom.” A girl could dream.
Her smile held so much affection, it snapped my will to argue right in two. She’d been my whole world for years, I loved her with everything I had—I didn’t want to keep letting her down over this. Even so, a small, selfish part of me needed to get out from under her firm embrace. I hated the battle that raged inside me, between appreciating her for all she’d done and been in my life and wanting to find my way on my own.
“It won’t be as easy as you think,” she whispered. Letting me go, she walked into the kitchen and pulled out a frying pan. “Eggs for lunch today, ladies?”
Carmen and Rita joined us in the kitchen, ready to help out. Rita sidled up next to me, waving her phone in my face. The photo on the screen showed a blond young man on a boat somewhere, smiling into the camera. He looked like the kind of guy who’d be named Preston or Montgomery and used the wordsummeras a verb. I still couldn’t figure out where they found all these guys. Maybe they had a secret app for pairing off grandchildren.
“Is this Stan?” I crossed my fingers for a miracle.
“Oh, I’m not sharinghim.” She bumped her hip against mine. “This is Greg, Nora’s grandson.”
“Gregory Alcott the third,” Gran clarified.
“Doesn’t really sound like he’s from Magnolia Ridge.” Not a lot ofthe thirdsaround here who went by anything other than Bubba.
“He was raised in Southlake, he’s just in town for work,” Rita said. “Pretty cute, right?”
“Pretty cute.” He was no Jed Evans, but so few men were. Hard to live up to a six-foot-something former soldier who looked like he’d been chiseled out of granite and had a laugh that could bring out the sun on your cloudiest day. But who was keeping track?
