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“Oh honey, look at how pretty you are. You were pretty before, but now . . . I bet your daddy has to beat them boys off with a big stick. I’m just so happy to see you,” she coos in my ear as she hugs me tight.
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I smile at her and squeeze her back. “I’ve missed you so much!”
Last time I saw Granny in person, I was about fifty pounds heavier and hadn’t been put through Mom’s beauty boot camp. Back then, I could never get a boy to look my way, but now . . . I’ve heard guys refer to me as hot. Things have changed so much since then.
Granny hasn’t seen me since I overhauled my appearance. I should’ve taken it upon myself to come see her. I’ve been a little selfish over the past couple of years, but I want to change all that. I want to start caring more about others.
Dad opens his door and stretches on the other side of the car. Granny sees her opportunity to hug him and takes off after him. It’s nice to see them embrace because they haven’t seen each other in years.
Last time Dad was here, Mom was with him, and Granny didn’t have a problem telling Dad right in front of my mom what she thought about his wife. Granny has never liked my mother, but Dad was so head over heels in love he didn’t care what his mother thought. After that day, Dad and Granny never spoke. Granny refused to apologize for the way she felt about Mom and the fact that she called her a “gold-diggin’ hussy” because she felt her opinion was justified.
It took a lot for Dad to call Granny and ask her if we could come live with her. That’s how I knew our situation was dire because Dad swore he would never speak to his mother again after that. Of course no one would ever believe there was any bad blood between the two of them if they saw them now.
It’s amazing how old grudges can disappear when people learn to let go. There’s no awkwardness between them at all. Granny busies herself hugging and kissing him, while singing Dad’s praises, neither of them mentioning the past to the other.
“I’ve missed you, baby,” Granny coos as she pulls back and cups his face in her hands. “It’s good to finally have you back.”
I swear I see a little tinge of embarrassment on his face when his cheeks redden just a touch at the sweetness of her words.
“Well, come on, you two, dinner’s a-waiting,” Granny beckons as she turns and heads back toward the house.
And just like that, the falling-out between them is a thing of the past.
I follow Granny into the house because we haven’t eaten since we left Columbus and I’m starving. A nice fresh salad followed by my standard pudding cup will totally hit the spot right now. I hope she has fat-free Italian dressing. Since I’m so weight conscious now, I tend to only eat salads for dinner so I can keep the figure I’ve worked so hard to get.
The house feels smaller inside than I remember, and everything is exactly the same as the last time when I was here. All the furniture is the same as when Dad was a kid. I wonder if I can con Granny into a little redecorating after I get her hooked on HGTV. This place can use some new life breathed into it.
The aroma of greasy food wafts in the air throughout the whole house, and it smells like absolute heaven. What I wouldn’t give to not have to obsessively count calories. Dieting sucks, but I have to work extra hard to keep the weight off. I’m not one of those girls who is blessed with the ability to just eat whatever. My body is very curvy by nature, and if I don’t watch my intake, I’ll turn into one immense curve like before.
“Wash up and then sit down at the table for dinner,” Granny instructs.
After I return from the bathroom, I find Dad and Granny sitting down at the square wooden table in the kitchen. My eyes dance over the spread that’s lying out on the table—fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and all the works. This is bigger than most Thanksgiving meals I’ve had at home with Mom. I bite my lip, and wish like crazy I could indulge, but I need to behave and stick to a salad like normal. The only problem is there’s no salad in sight.
Huh, maybe it’s in the refrigerator. Granny knows that I’m on a salad-only dinner plan. I’ve complained to her enough about it on the phone. I can’t believe that she’s forgotten that’s what I eat.
I sit down at the table next to Granny. “Hey Granny, did you get my dressing?”
“Nope, not yet. It’s on my grocery list though,” she says as she spoons a heaping helping of mashed potatoes on my plate. “I only go shopping every other week.”
“Did you fix a salad for me, though?” I ask, puzzled.
She shakes her head, and my face muscles twitch, threatening to show my disappointment. I guess one little home-cooked meal won’t kill me. I’ll just run two extra miles tomorrow to make up for it.
AVERY
Life sleeping on a couch is rough. I miss my bed, but I miss the privacy of my room more.
A girl needs her own room. That’s where we do our best meditating. When I got the grand tour last night and discovered my room is the couch, I wasn’t happy, but I knew I had to be thankful that I wasn’t sleeping on the streets. The silver lining in all this was when Dad told me that he already arranged with Granny to build an extra room onto the house for me. Seems as though Granny has a bit of money saved up and she wants me to have this. The only problem is that Dad says we don’t have enough money to hire someone to build it, so he’s going to do it himself.
I don’t have much faith in my dad’s handyman abilities. I’ve never even seen Dad as much as pick up a hammer. There’s no way I can picture him constructing part of a building.
I’m almost positive that the room is going to be lopsided.
He reassured me that he knows a little about construction, and that my room will turn out just fine, but I’m still pretty worried about it. He even told me yesterday that we can use Granny’s truck to go into town and start buying supplies.
It’ll probably be the highlight of my day since there’s not much else to do.
