Page 51 of Before Eve
“I heard that.” A small woman comes through the same archway West had.
Her gray hair hangs to her shoulders in wild kinks, and big gold hoops adorn each ear. She wears a calf-length dress that flits and flows around her and a dozen or so colorful bangles clink on each wrist. Bold eyeliner marks the only makeup she wears. She is hands down the coolest Gramma I’ve ever seen.
West goes straight to her, wrapping her in a hug. “Hi, Gramma.”
“Hi, baby.” She kisses each cheek and rocks him.
He takes a step back and turns to me. “This is Eve.”
“Hello Ms—”
“Uh-uh.” She walks straight toward me. “You call me Gramma.”
I hold my hand out for a shake, and she ignores it as she pulls me straight into a hug. But not just a hug, it’s a strong, warm, full-on-contact embrace like nothing I’ve ever received before. Like she can protect me from anything that might ever try to hurt me. It’s the best hug I’ve ever had. I feel a bit split open by it, as if I could cry happy tears again.
When she lets go, I have the unnerving urge to ask her for another.
She takes my hand between both of her warm ones. “He’s never brought a girl home before,” she whispers with a glimmer.
I’m the first girl he’s ever brought home. Isn’t that something?
CHAPTER 26
Gramma turns to Vianca.“Did you show Eve her room?”
“Not yet. You’re going to stay in my room,” Vianca tells me. “And I’m bunking with West in the living room.”
“You don’t have to give me your room.”
Vianca waves her hand through the air. “West and I stay up all night anyway when he comes. Popcorn, zombie movies, Twizzlers. It’s a whole thing we do.”
“It is,” Gramma says. “Take her room. You’ll never get any sleep otherwise.”
I think popcorn, zombies, and Twizzlers sound fun.
Vianca shows me to her bedroom where a twin bed with a trapeze sits under a window. In the corner is a desk and computer and beside that a bookshelf. An oversized crème fabric chair takes up the other corner with a thick burgundy throw rug underneath it. It’s all so cozy and wonderful and just the type of room I would have loved to have.
“Dad put your duffel on the bed,” she says. “Make yourself at home and come on out when you’re ready.” With that, she spins her chair and is gone.
“Hey,” West says, coming on in. “What did you think of the grand tour?”
“West, your family is amazing. I can’t believe you grew up in all this love.”
His head tilts in this adorable and curious way that asks why “love” is amazing to me when to him it’s normal. He holds out his hand. “Come on out. Dad’s making his world-famous nachos for Vianca’s birthday.”
Smiling, I take his hand, and he leads me into the kitchen where tropical music fills the air with a fun drum rhythm. Maria sits on a stool at the island, and there’s a lower section to accommodate Vianca’s chair. Mr. Wolf stands at the stove stirring something that smells delicious.
Gramma hits the blender and starts dancing to the rhythm.
We take seats beside Vianca and Maria, and everyone starts talking at once. Vianca and Gramma, West and his dad, Maria and Gramma, then Vianca and West, Mr. Wolf and Maria, then Gramma and West…and on and on it goes, one conversation bumping into another.
I sit quietly, taking it all in, loving it. Every once in a while, someone asks me a question and I answer, then they’re off on another tangent. It’s exactly what a family should be like.
Gramma puts a frothy drink in front of me and winks. “I make the best virgin margaritas around.”
We serve ourselves nachos, and I have to admit, they are the best nachos I’ve ever had. We all eat right here in the kitchen, piled around the island. If it had been me, this would be the best birthday ever.
Eventually, everyone’s done eating, dishes pile in the sink, and we move into the living room. Maria cranks the music louder, and they all start dancing.
