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“Is that my grandson?” I turn and find Grandpa slowly getting up out of his recliner. I jump up and head over to offer help, but he waves me off. “I may be old, but I’m not that old,” he teases, standing up and stretching his back. “’Bout time you stopped by for a visit.”
“Sorry, Grandpa. I won’t let it go that long between visits again.”
“Good,” he says, nodding. “Who’s that pretty lady? She single?” he asks, nudging me with his elbow.
I snort a laugh and glance over my shoulder at Cricket. Yeah, she’s definitely pretty, but single? How do I answer that? “It’s…complicated.” Seems like a canned answer, but it’s all I’ve got right now.
Grandpa seems to notice the turmoil and indecision in my eyes. He studies them, acknowledges it, and then does what he always does. “I was just going to run down to the dining hall for some coffee. Care to join me?”
I smile and nod. Grandpa is offering an olive branch, taking me away so we can talk without Grandma’s ears. It’s not that I don’t appreciate or want my grandma to know my troubles, but it has always been her husband that I talk to about the hard stuff. Especially after Dad died.
“We’re going to run down and grab a cup of coffee,” Grandpa says as he shuffles into the tiny kitchenette.
My eyes meet Cricket’s. Hers dance with humor and ease as she sits with my grandma, eating vanilla wafer cookies and drinking tea. She knows of my plan to talk to my grandpa about the job situation, which is why she doesn’t get worked up that I’m leaving her alone for a bit with my grandma.
“I’ll be back in just a bit,” I tell her, leaning down and catching a whiff of her fruity shampoo. I almost kiss her goodbye, but at the last minute, I stop myself. My grandparents are watching, taking in our interaction, with broad smiles on their faces.
I give her an awkward pat on the shoulder and step back, hating the flash of disappointment I see in her eyes. It’s gone a split second later, but it was there. She wanted me to kiss her, expected it even, but I’m torn on what to do. We don’t have to fake a relationship anymore. No one’s here. We’ve decided to spend the week together, but does that mean we’re including PDA in our relationship? What is our relationship?
Hell if I know.
Winking, I head to the door and wait for my grandpa as he kisses his wife goodbye. Then, we exit their apartment and head silently down the hall. As we make our way to the upstairs sitting room, we pass a woman wearing a bright red top and floral pants. Her hair is curled and her lips are stained a dark shade of burgundy. She gives us a friendly smile and greets Grandpa. He nods and offers a quiet hello, but neither stop to visit.
“That’s Mrs. Donnelly. Her husband passed last year and now she’s sleeping with ol’ Elmer Fudd down the hall,” Grandpa says quietly as we approach the sitting room.
I glance back just as the older woman knocks on a door. An elderly man opens it, grabs her hand, and pulls her gently into his apartment. Shaking my head, I turn back to the old man at my side. “Well, you know, everyone needs love,” I tell him as we approach the coffee pot.
“That’s true, boy. Very true. They think they’re being all sneaky about it, but everyone knows. It’s all our dinner table talked about this past week,” he says, taking two mugs from the rack and pouring in the black coffee. “They usually keep this pretty fresh,” he adds, his shaky hand offering me the first cup.
“Thanks,” I tell him as I glance around and decide to take a seat at one of the small tables overlooking the courtyard in back.
Grandpa joins me after stirring in a scoop of sugar. “So, tell me what’s up,” he says as he takes the seat beside me, absently spinning the small stick in his cup.
Taking a deep breath, I spill. “I was offered a job yesterday. A good one.”
“That’s a good thing, though, right?” he asks, his eyes on me the whole time.
I nod my confirmation. “It is. I’m not sure what to do,” I confess, knowing that I’m not just talking about the job offer. “I like my current position. I wasn’t looking for something new,” I tell him, taking a small sip of my coffee. “I was approached at our reunion by one of my former classmates and he asked for a meeting.”
I go on to tell him about what I would be doing, without getting too much into it and revealing information I’m not allowed to. Grandpa listens intently, stirring his coffee between taking sips, and nods on occasion. He never interrupts, just lets me spill everything without reservation.
“So, you have two choices, Rueben. You stay were you are. You make decent money and have a lot of freedom to work wherever you want. There’s a lot of security in staying put. Or you take this job with the government. You’re working for a bunch of assholes who get off on hearing themselves speak. Not to mention, we’re not the most financially stable country. Last I heard we were how many trillion in debt?”
“Yeah, then there’s that,” I concede.
Grandpa’s silent for a minute, and I’m not really sure what to say. Do I want the job? Yeah, I think I do. But it’s scary to step away from your security and stability, to take the chance on the unknown. That step into the dark and trusting the ledge to be where you need it. That the move you’re making is a lateral one and not filled with regret.
“It would be a challenge, wouldn’t it.” It’s not a question.
“Definitely.”
“And you’d enjoy the hell out of putting those pieces together on that inter-web thingy, right?”
“Yeah.”
Grandpa just gazes across the table, giving me a knowing smile. “Follow your heart.”
I nod in reply, because I already know which way my heart is leaning. The nerves are undeniable, but it’s something I have to do. It’s something Iwantto do. A risk I need to take. “Follow my heart,” I mimic, returning his grin.
