I pulled into the front yard and parked next to my dad’s truck. He was home. Good.
Metal shrieked as I slammed my door, but instead of my dad greeting me at the door, I found Grandma Dorothy, her round face upturned as she grinned in pleasure.
“Liam!” she said. She hadn’t recognized me without prompting in longer than I could recall and it stopped me in my tracks on the top step. “It’s so good to see you.”
The hinges of the screen door groaned as I pulled it open to wrap my arms around her waist. She only came up to my chest, but when she encircled my waist with her arms, I felt seven-years-old again. Except she couldn’t heal all my hurts with Kool-Aid and cartoons anymore.
“Missed you, Gram,” I said as I bent down and pressed my lips to her hair.
“Missed you, too,” she replied.
“Shouldn’t you be at school?” A derisive snort followed the question.
“Don’t start,” Mom said with a stern look in my father’s direction as she pushed past him and tugged me through down the hall. Gram followed close behind, humming. Mom pushed me into a chair at the table. “Something’s wrong. Want tea?”
She was already making a glass before I could answer. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.”
“Son, I’ve had twenty-two years of deciphering your moods. I can tell when you’re upset.” She set the glass of iced tea down on the table in front of me. “Now you tell me what it is, or I’ll beat it out of you.”
Grandma Dorothy sat opposite me and Dad skulked in behind, but veered off for his recliner in the attached den. I ignored him, but I could feel his presence like the threat of a malignant tumor or a lurking aneurysm. It was only a matter of time before one of us blew up at the other.
“Charlie and I had an argument.” I had to take a couple deep swallows of tea to get around the knot in my throat. “She moved out.”
Mom laid a hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry. What happened?”
The words burned in my chest. I took another sip of tea. “I didn’t tell her something important and it hurt her.”
Grandma Dorothy began waving one hand and the other tapped monotonously against the table. I could almost feel Dad straining to hear from the other room.
“What was it?” Mom asked.
I sighed and the bunched muscles in my shoulder wound a little tighter. “About my plans for school next year. I applied to some schools out of state. We—” my throat closed around the words. I cleared it with another swallow of tea. “We’d gotten…closer since she moved in. I care about her—I love her. And I let her down.”
Dad snorted so loud, we could hear it from the kitchen.
“Ignore him,” Mom ordered. Grandma Dorothy’s humming increased in volume. “You haven’t heard from her?”
“No, and I don’t blame her. I should have talked to her about it, but things were going so good I didn’t want to ruin them. Then I got denied for the scholarship,” I said a little more loudly, “and I had to figure a lot of things out at once. She saw the information on my phone and it just blew up from there.”
Silence from the den.Good.
Grandma Dorothy continued to hum.
“Poor girl,” Mom said as she sat next to me at the table. “She’s been through so much. She’s probably just scared. She’s lost everything. I’m sure she was just afraid of losing you, too.”
I hung my head. “I know. I know that more than anyone. I was a fucking idiot.”
“Language,” Mom admonished. “Just give her time. If you love her, you’ll know what to do when the time is right. When you love someone you learn to put up with all of their bullheaded actions!” she shouted toward Dad.
“Thanks, Mom.” I leaned over and kissed her cheek. “How are things around here?” I nodded in grandma’s direction.
“They’d be better if she could stay home,” Dad thundered as he stalked to the fridge for a beer.
Mom gave me a pointed look that said to ignore him, but my blood heated at his words and my brain was screaming at me to engage. This was the fight I’d been spoiling for.
“A nursing home would be more secure. She needs more care then you’ll be able to provide,” I said.
The beer can hissed as he popped the tab. “We could handle her just fine here if we had you to help out in the fields instead of wasting time at that school.”
