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Chapter 16
Luna
Luna shut the kitchen door as quietly as possible as she came into her grandparents’ house after a long day at the diner. It wasn’t super late at night, but with her grandfather still recovering, it didn’t matter what time of the day or night it was, he might be sleeping. And, since he needed every minute of sleep to make him stronger, she wasn’t about to be the one who woke him up.
She leaned back against the door that she’d just closed so gently and let out a relieved sigh, closing her eyes and enjoying the silence. God, it felt so good to finally be home! Her legs were aching, and so was her back…actually, she was hard pressed to think of a part of her body that wasn’t in pain. Every inch of her throbbed in time with the slow beating of her heart.
“Long day?”
Luna’s eyes flew open and she let out a small yelp of surprise as her hand flew to her chest.
Her grandmother, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in front of her, chuckled and Luna shook her head as she sat in the chair across from her. “Grandma, it’s not nice to laugh when you’ve just scared the stuffing out of someone. In fact, it’s a little cruel.”
“Sorry, honey,” she apologized, but Luna noticed that the twinkling smile was still firmly on her face.
“Grandma, what are you doing in here with the lights out, anyway? Even with the glow from the stove clock and overflow from the hallway, it’s pretty dreary.”
“Oh, I know. But I’m not reading or anything, and your grandpa’s taking a nap in the living room. I didn’t want it to keep him up.”
Luna nodded, glad she’d been speaking quietly. “How is he doing today?”
“Oh, just fine. He’s up and walking more, which the doctor said is really important. He’s eating what he’s supposed to.” She paused to give a rueful grin. “We’ll see how long that lasts.”
“Good. I’ve been worried.”
Grandma Grace patted her hand. “I know, my girl. I know. But how was your day?”
Luna hesitated, but then decided to go ahead. What Genevieve had said had been niggling at the back of her brain all day and she thought that, if she didn’t talk it out with someone, she was never going to get to sleep tonight. She’d just lay in bed all night and toss and turn, going around and around in circles in her mind, and in the morning the only thing she would’ve figured out was how many minutes long a night was because she would’ve been up for every single one of them!
She took a deep breath. “So, Gen said something today that I can’t seem to shake.”
“Really, honey? What?”
Luna looked down at her fingers, which were tightly intertwined on top of the kitchen table, then looked up and met her grandmother’s eyes. “She said that she thinks I love Connor.”
Grandma Grace’s brows raised slightly. “Oh?”
Luna’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t seem surprised. I mean, you do…but only a little. Or maybe like you’re only surprised that the comment stuck with me, and not the actual comment.”
Her grandmother gave her a half-smile. “I think that’s what they call projection.”
Inclining her head to the side, Luna said, “Touché. Yeah, I guess my thoughts have included variations on those themes for most of the day.”
“So, let me ask you something, honey.”
“Okay.”
“Gen says that she thinks you love Connor. What do you think?”
Luna took another deep breath. “Wow. You’ve zeroed right in on the other area my thoughts have been laser focused on all day.”
“Any conclusions?”
“Well…I mean, yeah. I…I think I do love him. I don’t know that I ever really stopped. I know I’ve missed him, pretty much every day since the last time we saw each other. So much that I couldn’t even come back here because I was afraid I’d see him and it would break my heart. And also, afraid that I wouldn’t be strong enough to leave.”
Grandma Grace’s brows shot up, and this time it was much more dramatic than the small gesture of a few moments before. “Well, honey, if you wanted to be with him so bad, why didn’t you just come back and be with him?”
This time it was Luna’s turn to raise her eyebrows in surprise. When, she spoke, it was with a sense of earnest resolve. “Well…because I had to be independent. You know…you’re the one that was always telling me that I had to be able to make it on my own, not to have to depend on anybody else. I couldn’t let you and Paw Paw down. Not after everything you did for me!”
