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When we walk into the living room, his grandparents are each sitting in a recliner chair. Some old western plays on the TV while his grandma does some knitting, and his grandpa dozes. It’s exactly what you would picture when you think about picturesque grandparents.
They both look over at us, surprised and a little startled. A wide smile spreads across his grandma’s face.
“Hey, darlin’! We weren’t expecting to see you until tonight.”
She stands up and walks over to us after setting her knitting down. “And you brought company!”
She holds up the bag. “And chicken.”
“Bless your heart,” she says.
“Grandma, Grandpa, this is Jenna.”
“Of course! I remember,” his grandma says. “It’s lovely to see you, dear.” She turns toward her husband. “Fred, get up off your keester and come say hello.”
The older man slowly gets out of the chair. “Alright, Ida, I’m coming.” When he gets over to us, he says, “It’s good to meet you, Jenna. But how about we move this conversation to the table so that Jenna can get off her feet?”
I insist that I’m okay, but Ida says, “Of course! Let’s all go in and get some of that chicken that smells so good.”
We all make our way in there and sit down around the small table. Ida pulls out a stack of paper plates and hands them out.
“Sorry, we’re using the fancy china,” she jokes.
“Trust me; I live on paper plates at home. I’m not a fancy girl,” I assure her.
We pass the bucket of chicken around the table along with the containers of sides, each of us scooping some out onto our plates.
The conversation flows easily, and I don't know what I was so worried about. Shane’s grandparents are two of the sweetest people in the entire world. And they’ve been kind enough not to bring up my recent life changes. I’m assuming Shane filled them in on some of the torrid details to make this entire thing a bit less awkward.
When we’re done eating, Shane stands up to take our plates to the trash. When he sees the can is full, he bags it up and comes out to the back door.
“Such a sweet boy,” Ida says with a slight smile.
“You raised him right,” I tell her.
“And let me tell you, darlin’, he’s crazy about you.”
Fred says, “Oh, Ida. Don’t embarrass him.”
“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” I assure them. Looking out the door after Shane, I add, “I’m pretty crazy about him too.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Shane
If I haven’t already said it a million times, Jenna is fucking amazing. I know she was nervous about spending time with my grandparents, but now that we are here, she is handling herself flawlessly. She listens to my grandma’s stories and engages with her, all while giving that warm-Jenna smile. And she laughs and jokes with my grandpa.
They love her. And truth be told, I think I’m falling in love with her too but in an altogether different way.
When we are done eating, I offer to show Jenna the rest of the house. Helping her up, we walk down the hallway into my bedroom.
“Wow,” she says, looking around as she takes a seat on the king-sized bed. “This is nice.”
“What were you expecting?” I ask.
The corner of her lip pulls up in a half-smile as she looks at me. “I don’t know. A twin bed with crappy plaid sheets and posters of half-naked ladies on the walls,” she jokes.
I return her smile. “Sorry to disappoint you. Once I turned eighteen, I decided it was time to upgrade the sloppy teenager room.”
