Page 42 of Tattoo My Heart
She pushes at the door, giving me no option but to let her in. I remain standing by the door, halfway amused by this turn of events.
I let the door close, then lean against it. I cross my arms over my chest and my legs at the ankles, then wait the woman out.
When she turns to see if I am following her inside the house, I raise an eyebrow in question.
“I have to say,” she smiles at me, looking happy that I’m here. “I never in a million years imagined that when our little Evie brought a boy home, it would be someone like you.”
I try not to get offended. “Like me?”
“Yes,” she nods. “So… tall and muscly,” she continues.
“Muscly?” I chuckle.
She takes a minute to look me over, her eyes scanning me from head to toe.
“Very,” she finally confirms.
“Hmm, interesting.” I decide to play her game. “And what type of man were you expecting Evie to bring home?”
“Eh,” she shrugs. “Someone nerdy looking, you know?”
I try my hardest not to bust out laughing when I nod at her.
“Are you her friend?” I finally get to asking. I can only assuming this lady is here all the time. She sure looks comfortable walking around Evie’s house.
“I am her grandma’s best friend,” she tells me proudly. “And Evie’s next door neighbor.”
“Ah, that explains you sticking your face to Evie’s window at this early hour.”
The lady stares at me for a few moments before bursting into laughter. She sounds happy and bubbly, and I can’t help but laughing with her, although, I am not quite sure why we’re laughing.
“My name is Gertrude,” she finally informs me. “And who might you be?”
“My name is Cal…”
“Prentice?” she cuts me off with a shriek.
“You’ve heard of me?” I grin at her.
Gertrude takes her time replying, but when she does, she sounds beyond ecstatic.
“The girl is wilder than I’d given her credit for.”
I completely agree with that statement, but it is not something I’d want to discuss with an old lady named Gertrude.
“I saw her sneaking out of the house this morning,” my new friend now informs me.
“You did, huh?” She is confirming something I already knew given that I couldn’t find the damn woman anywhere in the house.
“You’d think she was leaving somebody’s else’s house,” Gertrude chuckles, “and not her own house. The girl’s always been fidgety like that.”
I nod and smile. Me and Gertrude seem to be on the same page as far as that goes. I follow her when she walks toward the kitchen, moving slowly, almost waddling from side to side.
“We’ll chat over coffee,” she informs me. “You can stay in that blanket if you want, or you can drop it.” I look down, remembering all of a sudden that I am technically naked in Evie’s kitchen, with her neighbor, Gertrude, who I just met.
I wink at her, getting a kick out of it when she blushes furiously. “Let me go put some clothes on.”
“Not on my account, honey,” she calls after me. “I was hoping to take a closer look at your tattoos.”
