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Once we arrived home, Grampa tried to sneak off to the main house where Sean and I had grown up. I lived in the detached garage that was converted into an apartment for Sean and Chris when they were in their early twenties.
I tried to follow Grampa into the house, but he turned on his heel and stared at me. “Where do you think you’re going?”
My eyes widened. “To help you.”
He shook his head. “I don’t need help, honey. I’m going inside for a nap. You can have Chris take you to the bookstore to get the car, maybe keep yourself busy for a while.”
Grampa continued walking and waved me off over his shoulder. “I’ll have plenty of time to be old and need your assistance, but not today.”
I knew he didn’t want to cause me stress. But the way I coped often involved caretaking.
I blew out a breath, slowly turning around to find Chris waiting for me. He was leaning against the front of his truck with his hands in his pockets. He shrugged and offered a small smile. “Need an escort?”
I shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
His eyes widened. “No arguments, really?”
“Yep. Come on. Your invite window is closing.”
I rode with him back to the Sparks to get my car, lost in thought about Grampa and whether this incident was just the first of more to come or just an unfortunate fluke. He was going to have to let me make sure he had the right pills in his day-of-the-week dispenser. Maybe I should find a reason to sneak and check every day to be sure he took them properly.
“He’s going to be fine, you know,” Chris said. “Everything’s okay, Sav.”
I’d been staring out the window, but I turned to him. His little smile seemed confident enough to make me feel better.
“Yeah. I know.”
I thanked him when I got out, then I realized he was following me home.
I hadn’t asked him to, and he hadn’t told me he would.
When I got back to Grampa’s and got out, he was already out of the truck, walking toward me.
“I just wanted to make sure you were going to be okay,” he said as he reached me. “I know sitting at the hospital . . . well, I know how tough that must be for you.”
I nodded but didn’t trust myself to speak.
“I can hang around a while, if you want some company. I mean, seeing that Sean’s not here to do it.”
I laughed out on a breath. Sean was wrapped up in Nicole. If not for her, he’d have been there all afternoon and would be the one asking me if I needed company.
Chris knew his best friend pretty well.
The mild argument we were having when Grampa fell flashed through my mind, but I really didn’t want to be alone and caught up in morbid thoughts and fears about Grampa’s health.
“Okay,” I agreed. “Thanks, Chris.”
I unlocked the door, feeling his presence behind me as I pushed it open and prayed the living room was relatively clean enough for company. My living room was tidy, and my sink was only half full of dishes. There were panties on the floor near the couch, so I quickly picked them up and chucked them into my open bedroom door.
Chris chuckled.
I eyed him, daring him to say anything, but he smiled. It was genuine and warm.
I had to look away and grab the wine I had in the fridge. I bought it a few days ago but hadn’t dug into it with Penny yet. When I returned from the kitchen, Chris sat on my small loveseat, looking around the room with his arm spread across the back of the couch.
“This place looks so different from when Sean and I lived here,” he said.
I snorted, placing the glasses on the table before working to open the bottle of wine. “I bet it’s much cleaner.”
