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“He’s the best helper.” My grandma appears next to him, almost as dirt covered as my son, her gray hair pulled back in a tight bun away from her face.
“Were you good for Nana and Papaw?” I ask Jackson, though it’s meant for my grandma and as such, she’s the one who answers.
“As always.” She runs a hand through his messy hair. “Jack, baby, why don’t you go clean up your tools,” she says to Jackson, who nods and takes off toward the garden. “Did you and Tess do anything fun last night?” she asks the moment he’s out of earshot.
“Actually, Tess stayed with Sebastian last night,” I say.
“So they worked things out?” she asks, knowing pretty much the whole story when it comes to Tess and Sebastian having heard me talk about it several times. My grandma is an amazing sounding board.
“It appears so; though, I’ve yet to actually speak to her since I dropped her off at his apartment late yesterday afternoon.”
“Did you end up doing anything then?” she asks; though, I kind of wish she hadn’t. Not that I have anything to hide, but her asking reminds me of the man currently sitting in my car just on the other side of the house.
“I actually hung out with Ant last night.” I bite the bullet and go ahead and throw it out there. Ant is my friend, and if he’s planning to stay in California it’s likely we will be hanging out in the future. No reason to hide it from a woman who knows pretty much every single detail of my life.
“Ant?” my grandma questions, thinking on the name for a moment and trying to pinpoint where she’s heard it before.
“He’s a friend of mine from high school. He actually dated Courtney for a while,” I quickly add, hoping that will squash anything she has to say on the dating front. “He’s actually staying with Sebastian, and we ran into each other when I took Tess over there.”
“And what did the two of you do?” She raises a brow, questioning.
“We went out for dinner and drinks. It was nice. We we’re pretty good friends in high school, but I hadn’t seen him since moving here.”
“Well that’s nice,” she says when Jackson bounces back up next to her, even though I get the feeling she wants to say more.
“You ready, buddy?” I ask, looking down at Jackson who nods excitedly.
“Thanks again for keeping him,” I say to my grandma, giving her a quick hug before extending my hand to my son who happily takes it.
“Anytime.” She smiles, dropping a kiss on top of Jackson’s sweaty head. “You be good for Mommy, and the next time you come over Grandpa and I will take you to feed the ducks,” she promises.
There’s a pond with a walking trail less than a block from my grandparents’ property and is probably Jackson’s favorite place to go when he visits.
“Okay!” he gets out excitedly, looking up at me as if to ask if he can come back tomorrow.
“Soon,” I promise, throwing my grandma another smile before leading Jackson around the side of the house to the driveway where my car is parked.
As if just remembering Ant, I pause just feet from the front of my car and bend down so that I’m at my son’s level.
“Hey, buddy. Mommy brought a friend with her,” I start.
“Is it Aunt Tessy? Are we going to the park?” I swear his memory is spot on. He forgets nothing I promise him.
“No, Aunt Tess wasn’t able to come to the park today, so I brought another friend to go with us. His name is Ant.”
“Ant?” He looks at me funny.
“Like the little ants on the ground,” I say, knowing that’s what he’s thinking.
“That’s a weird name.” He crinkles his nose, pulling a soft laugh from my throat.
“Yes, I suppose it is. But it’s short for Anthony, which really isn’t very weird.” I tip his chin. “Would you like to meet him?”
“Sure.” Jackson shrugs like he couldn’t be any less affected by the fact that he’s meeting someone new.
