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“Well, hello dear,” she began, as she glanced at me over the tops of her bifocals.
“Hey,” I mumbled as I walked in the room. I tugged at the sides of my dress, pulling them down over my curves as I neared her bed.
“You look terrible,” she said, as she leaned forward and stroked my forearm. “Did something happen at the office again?”
Half-listening, I frowned at her question. “What? At the office? No, I…”
It was in that moment I remembered I’d lied to her about having dinner with Gabe. So, as best I could, I explained I hadn’t told her about it only because I didn’t want her making a big deal over nothing. And after the way things went, I was convinced ‘nothing’ was indeed the future of my relationship with Gabe. In any case, for the next minute or so, she grilled me with the kinds of questions you’d expect…
Where did you go?
I don’t remember.
What did you eat?
I don’t know.
What did you talk about?
Nothing.
It wasn’t long before she grew weary of my disinterested behavior and less than enthusiastic responses. She let out an exhale laced with frustration.
“I have to say that doesn’t sound like a very enjoyable date to me, Fiona.”
“Well that’s because it wasn’t a date, Grandmother.”
As I finished my thought, she cocked her head to one side. “Now, Fiona. When a man comes to pick a woman up and take her out to dinner, it’s a date. Lots of things change in this world, but that’s not one of them.”
With that, I plopped down on her mattress and as I did, the old springs inside squeaked. I hesitated for a moment or two before I responded.
“He um, didn’t pick me up. He sent a limousine to get me.”
My grandmother leaned away from me a bit. She frowned. “I see. Well, surely he accompanied you on the way home, then.”
“No,” I grumbled. “He didn’t come back with me either. He sent me back in the same car. Alone.”
“Well, that’s…” she started. But almost as soon, she stopped and waved off her thought as if she shouldn’t have had it in the first place.
I studied her for a moment or two before I narrowed my gaze at her. “What?”
“It’s nothing, Fiona. Never mind.”
“No, don’t ‘never mind’ me. You were going to say something, now what is it?”
“Well, Fiona… He didn’t come to pick you up or take you home but instead sent you both ways alone? Hmm, frankly, it sounds like something a man would do with a lady of the night.”
I scoffed at her insinuation. “What are you talking about? Do you mean… like a prostitute?”
“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…”
“That’s completely ridiculous,” I said as I shook my head. “You don’t know what’s going on. It’s nothing like that at all.”
“Is it ridiculous? For something you claim isn’t true, you seem awfully upset.”
I thinned my lips at her psychic nudges. “First of all, I’m not upset. Secondly, yes, it is ridiculous.”
My grandmother reached up towards her face and grasped the side of her glasses between the tips of her frail fingers. After nudging them back into position, she placed her palms in her lap and with eyebrows raised she said, “Tell me why.”
“Okay, well, for starters we didn’t have sex. If that’s what you’re insinuating.”
In spite of our argument, if he’d asked me, I couldn’t be certain I wouldn’t have gone home with him. That was the case even though I have no idea how I’d explain that to my grandmother.
I missed him. I wanted to reach across the table tonight. I wanted to smell him, hold him, fuck him. And yes, I wanted to tear Mandy to shreds. I’ll admit it. But I just didn’t care. The thought of him inside someone else—it was more than I could stand.
“I’m not insinuating anything, Fiona,” my grandmother began, as she continued to try and make her point. “Sex or not, that’s not the way a man should treat a woman he’s interested in romantically.”
I shook my head and stood from her bed. “I don’t want to talk about this right now. Get your rest. We need to talk about your treatment. You need to do something about it.”
She waved me off. “Don’t try and change the subject, Fiona. As to my treatment, you already know how I feel.”
“Yes, I do. And it’s selfish. We are going to discuss it. I’m not going to just sit here and watch you die.”
My grandmother looked away from me. Silence fell between us. For the moment, I was content with that only because we would be dealing with this soon. She might not like it, but I was past the point of worrying about whether or not her feelings got hurt. I leaned down to hug her and as I did, I felt her upper body flex with frustration.
