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My father cast an indulgent smile at his mother before glancing down at my mother as his shoulders shook with laughter. She squeezed his hand where her fingers were laced with his.
I didn’t like thinking about it, but Gram wasn’t long for this world. She had a resurgence of lung cancer and was choosing not to get it treated this time. She’d smoked most of her life and had only quit a few years ago. The cancer had spread, and the doctor gave her maybe six months.
My chest felt tight, and I took a quick breath. “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
Dennis chuckled.
“It’s Alice, right?” someone asked.
I glanced over. “It’s Alice Hall. She said she just moved back.”
Gram’s hand slapped her chest. “Aw, Alice. She’s a sweet girl.”
I nodded. My one exchange with her had been an exercise in restraint on my part as I tried to get my rampaging lust under control. It was blue from a distance, but the lake’s water was nearly crystal clear up close. So, although the view of her body was blurry, it had been visible. My view of her diving in had been far too clear.
“I’ll have to go over and see her. You should’ve invited her over,” Gram scolded.
“She sent her best wishes,” I offered.
“We’ll see her soon enough.” My grandmother glanced around. “Now where is our pastor?”
Just then, Janet James came out of the back of the house, waving. “I’m here!”
“Perfect,” Gram said, clasping her hands together.
“Is Janet actually a pastor?” I asked.
“She’s an officiant,” my grandmother replied. She smiled up at me. “For the purposes of today, she is.”
I knew Janet from the coffee shop she ran in town. She was also a dear friend of my grandmother’s. Apparently, my grandmother had babysat Janet when she was younger, but now they both considered themselves old. Janet was a good twenty years younger than my grandmother, but I suppose the decades felt shorter as you got older.
Janet stopped beside me, slipping her hand through my elbow and squeezing. “Hi, Jonah. You’re the best man, right?”
“Course he is. My friends are dead,” Dennis offered laconically.
I couldn’t help the laugh that slipped out. “Is that why I’m the best man?”
He grinned. “Most of my friendsaredead, but I love you like a son. If you were an asshole, I wouldn’t care if you were Bea’s grandson. You definitely wouldn’t be my best man.”
I chuckled again. We swung into the wedding, and it was over in a blink. The next thing I knew, we were enjoying the reception in my grandmother’s house. She came over at one point, interrupting a conversation between my mother and me. My mother grinned and wandered off for more cake.
Gram nudged me in the side with her elbow as she looked up at me. “I think you should go get Alice.”
“What?”
“She’s there all alone. Her parents are gone.”
“Gone?” I asked.
“Well, they died,” she clarified. “She can visit with everybody. We’ve got all this food, and you and she can be friends. You should be. Your place is closer to hers than my house.”
“I don’t know where her house is,” I hedged.
My grandmother blinked up at me. “Walk outside the front door and follow the path behind your house. It goes through some trees, and then there’s her house. It’s where she grew up.”
“Is it okay for me to show up unannounced like that?”
“Tell her I sent you,” she said with a firm nod.
