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“But she’ll make a great mother and wife someday with how organized and responsible she is.” Dori leans over and whispers something into Ethel’s ear.
Meanwhile, my grandma is humming to Whitesnake because she turned my satellite radio station to the eighties channel like she always does.
“Oh believe me, I bet that girl is one of those,” Ethel says.
I lean farther back in my seat to try to hear them.
“Really?” Dori asks, her gray eyebrows raised.
“There’s a little bit of that girl in all of us,” Ethel says.
Both women laugh, then they look in the rearview mirror.
Thankfully, Grandma belts out, “Sweet lip honey be the death of me.”
“Midge!” Ethel scolds.
Dori laughs and elbows Ethel. “A little bit of that girl in all of us. Some of us a little more than others.”
“Whoops, sorry. Your grandfather loved this song.” She looks at me dreamily with her cheek on the seat cushion.
Although I’m thoroughly creeped out by this, I do see how much Grandma misses him.
Finally, I get off the highway, following the signs to the departure area. I stop along the curb and flag down a skycap to check them in, figuring that will help whoever from Ethel’s family is coming to get them through security, but of course my grandma is the one who demands the skycap not take her bag.
“I told you, I got it.” Grandma tears a bag away from one of the skycaps.
“Midge, he’s just trying to help,” Ethel says.
“This has all my medicine in it.”
The skycap puts up both hands, and I figure this is my time to step in.
“Relax, Noah, I’m fine.” Grandma pushes past me, pushing my shoulder and causing me to spin around.
My eyes lock with the woman standing behind us.
Mandi.
Guess maybe there aren’t that many Mandis in the immediate area.
She’s with a blonde who stops walking and looks between us. “Do you know him?”
“Mandi.” I can’t stop my smile, and seeing her own grin at our impromptu meeting only sparks my interest more. “What are you doing here?” Which is a stupid question because I’ve already figured it out.
She points at the grandmas. “I’m getting them.”
The blonde rushes over to help clear up whatever the problem is, informing the skycap what flight they’re on. She pretty much handles it like a pro, and neither Mandi nor I have to intervene except to tell Ethel she can’t take her knitting needles in her carry-on.
“I’m not going to stab someone,” she says.
I clear my throat behind Mandi. Her neck cranes from looking up at me. All I want to do is run my hand to the back of her neck to tilt her head up so I can kiss the living shit out of her.
“Is this some volunteer thing?” I ask.
“Like I’d voluntarily agree to take three elderly women to Hawaii to be badgered about being—” She cuts off her sentence. I get the same crap from my grandma all the damn time.
“Noah, thanks for the ride.” Dori pats my cheek. “Next time though, fifteen minutes before planned. You never know with traffic.”
