AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Come here,” she said, and I slipped into her arms so easily. I had missed her embrace. Her tender caress on my back. Gram’s soft touch on my shoulder as she comforted me.
“I felt so alone here without you until Cal looked at me and smiled. Told me how beautiful I was,” I sobbed.
“You are beautiful, Abby.”
I didn’t feel beautiful. Compared to my family of gorgeous people. Needing glasses made me feel awkward and nerdy. Kids at my old school called me nerdy girl or worse. She didn’t need to hear that. Not Gram. To her I was her beautiful Abby.
She pushed me back and removed my glasses, laying them beside her. Then she wiped my face. “Stop that now. What brought on those tears?”
“I’ve missed you,” I told her.
“I’ve missed you too more than I thought I would because I had friends. A life I thought would fill the void.”
She pulled me to her and hugged me. “Abby this was harder on me than I ever imagined not seeing you, Tyson or your mother.”
“Gram it was hard on us too.”
“I didn’t see one of Tyson’s football games. I always went to a few of them until the weather turned cold.”
We released each other. She caressed my cheek making me smile. “I’m thinking of selling my house and moving to White Oak Creek. I’ll miss my friends, but I miss my family more. As your mother informed me today, I’m Miss Social Butterfly I’ll make new friends. I can’t make a new family.”
She had made my day. I wanted her here with us. I grabbed my grandmother around the neck and squealed softly so I didn’t bring the entire house to my room.
“You like that idea?” My grandmother asked.
“I do Gram.”
“Winter isn’t a good time to sell so I’ll spend this time getting the house ready. In the Spring I’ll most likely put it on the market which is good right now. The house should sell quickly. Then hopefully by Summer I will be living here with you guys.”
Summer seemed so far away. I was disappointed. I thought Gram would be here sooner. She touched my chin when I dropped my head. “Time goes fast Abby. I’ll be here before you know it.”
I nodded.
She leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I’m going to bed.”
“Night Gram.”
When she closed my door, I picked up my phone and called Cal. He didn’t answer. He must have fallen asleep while he waited for me to talk to Gram. I was so disappointed.
I went to the desk in my room and got my laptop. I decided to write for a while until I was sleepy. When I crawled into bed, at one in the morning I took a selfie of me and sent it to Cal so he would have it in the morning.
I missed you.
Chapter 15
I dragged myself out of bed, showered and checked my phone for the hundredth time. Still no word from Cal. Then I went downstairs to help Mom with Thanksgiving dinner which wasn’t quite dinner because we were eating at three.
She had no problem putting me to work. I diced celery for her homemade dressing while Gram did the onions. Mom was tearing apart the bread. The turkey had been cooking for hours.
“Where’s Dad?”
She smiled at me. “Where else? In his office working.”
I rolled my eyes. “He should be able to put that shit away for one day.”
Gram chuckled at me. Mom rolled her eyes and loaded the bread into the big roasting pan that she used to make the stuffing.
She went to the sink to get water to soak the bread. That is when hell broke loose in the Gardener house. Something must have snapped in the water line or the faucet because water was shooting out of the sink’s faucet like Old Faithful. Mom was screaming at the top of her lungs, “Help me. Help me. Don’t just sit there.”
