AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"That makes sense. I totally get it."
Oh, my God. I was still in shock that someone believed me. "Right? And the biggest thing is this feeling I have. My dad was my hero. He was everything to me. He's why I love sports. I learned everything from him. He taught me everything. And I just have this feeling... I don't know. I can't even explain it."
"You don't have to," Josh said. "I understand."
With those simple words, I knew Josh had no idea what he was doing to me. I understand. That meant the absolute world to me. After all these years of pity looks if I ever brought it up, my fucking God, someone got it.
I didn't even know how to feel; the feeling was so indescribable.
As I pulled into my grandparents' driveway, a clenching around my heart that had been there for nearly three long years released itself. The sensation had been with me for so long, I didn't even recognize it. But having just one person who believed in me made all the difference.
"You okay?" Josh asked, his brows creased in concern.
I smiled at him and set the parking brake. "I'm good. So good."
His smile back pulled at my heart a little, I had to admit. It just felt amazing to be relieved of a burden like that.
A movement at the front door caught our attention. And there they were. My adorable, sweet grandparents, my grandma now so short. As we walked up, I realized Josh was going to tower over her. I mean, I was kind of on the short side, and she barely came up to my shoulder.
My grandparents both grinned, clearly excited that I had brought a guest. Josh didn't even wait for an introduction. He just leaned down and kissed my grandma on both cheeks, then shook my grandpa's hand, telling them his name and how happy he was to be here.
Of course, they loved this greeting and beamed at him, my grandma soon grabbing him with her surprisingly strong hand and pulling him into the house behind her.
I managed to whisper something in his ear, though, that I'd forgotten to mention in the car. "Hey, please don't say anything about all that stuff."
Giving me a quick glance, he nodded. "Right. Of course."
But after we talked about the podcast and dissected everything about it and the Dodgers, the conversation turned to my dad. And my grandparents practically told Josh his whole life history, even showing him all of his old photos, including one of my favorites of him standing near the Venice pier, lifeguard rescue buoy in hand.
And that night, my belly still stuffed beyond belief, I tossed and turned, probably annoying the heck out of Magic, as images of my dad haunted my dreams.
