Page 11 of The Exit Strategy

My grandmother is standing on top of a barstool, folding herself into my freezer.

“What the hell are you doing?” Stepping behind her, I wrap an arm around her waist and haul her to the floor. “You’re going to break a leg or something.”

“Nah.” Nana Mae waves me off. “Osteoporosis isn’t setting in yet. But the damn hot flashes? Those are eating me alive.”

“What hot flashes? You went through menopause in your fifties.” I know because what I witnessed one summer was almost enough to have me following Nolan into medicine just to fix that shit.

She tuts and crosses her arms. “Who the hell knows. Doctors aren’t exactly studying aging female health, you know.”

Her shoulders lower, and she drops into a chair at the kitchen table.

“These hot flashes are because I’m fit to be tied, I tell ya. Fit. To. Be. Tied. And I left my ice packs in your freezertoday.” Nana Mae has her own cottage next door to her friend, Bea, but she spends half her time here.

She pulls her cell phone out of her housecoat pocket, unlocks it, scrolls for about a minute, then slides her phone across the table for me to see.

Fucking Grace’s face stares back at me, so I lock the phone and hand it back. “Fen showed me earlier.”

I should’ve known there was no way Junie would go viral without Nana Mae knowing about it. She’s a social media junkie. She has a social club dedicated to reality television dating shows that would put any of our fantasy football leagues to shame.

“Katie sent it to the group chat. She recognized Junie from all the pictures you got around here.” She lifts her head, possibly only now noticing that my home went through a hasty redecoration in the last twenty-four hours. She narrows her eyes but doesn’t comment. “She’s hoping Junie becomes the next contestant onUpgradebecause, and I quote, ‘that girl is in serious need of a life update.’ She does have that…spark. It’s probably what Katie was like at that age.”

I fall into the chair opposite Nana Mae. Katie is a forty-year-old divorcee with a distinct wardrobe and…opinions.

“How long have you known?” I ask.

Nana Mae has two tells. One, she rubs the pad of her index finger over her thumbnail and two, she won’t quite meet your eye.

She’s doing both now.

“You spoke to Nolan as soon as it happened,” I guess.

She shrugs. “The morning after, but he was…hesitant to send her here.” Lifting her chin, she finally stares me down. “I told him to send her anyway, and you’d offer her a job. You need the help. At least until I can get my hands on that little shit, Devin.”

My second cousin, Devin, is a problem for another day. Right now, I need to focus on Junie.

“They deserved everything Junie dished out,” Nana Mae says, staring down at her phone. “But I can see how there might be some…blowback.”

“She publicly eviscerated her ex-boyfriend and her ex-best friend at her own graduation party.”

“It’s not like she recorded it herself.” Nana Mae frowns. “Okay, so in her drunken stupor, she did create new handles, calling herselfI’m Not Sorry, and posted it, but still, I stand by what I said. They deserve whatever comes their way.”

My life is about to collapse with a Spite-Berry-sized explosion covered in Nana Mae’s special frosting.

“So how did it go when you saw her?”

I stare at my grandmother. “How did you?—”

“Cole.” She gives me the look. The one that says she’s known me my entire life and I’m not about to get anything past her. “You know that Fenway loves to spread shit. At least this time he’s using his powers for good. Anyone with eyes can see how much you love that girl.”

“That’s not?—”

“Remember who you’re talking to. I was there when you sold Papa’s antique cars to get her out of that mess her mama created. I’ve always known where your heart lies. Maybe now you can get your head out of your ass and do something about it.”

I stare at a spot on the wall behind her. If only selling cars was the worst of what I was hiding. “When Nolan called, I said that we needed Junie’s help with the books because that’s the truth. There isn’t a hidden agenda here.”

Not one I’m willing to admit, anyway.

“Don’t insult me or lie to yourself by pretending this is just about the books. You may not be willing to acknowledge where your heart is, but a heart wants what it wants, and yours has always wanted that girl.”