AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I just got out of one.”
She makes a noise that sounds like a snort, but I must be wrong. My grandmother doesn’t snort.
“That was not a serious relationship.”
“You know about Sienna?”
What am I asking? Of course, she does. She keeps tabs on their entire insane family. The Howard family is vast and filled with reprobates and idiots. Her words, not mine. Apparently, the only family she accepts is Nancy and me.
“Yes. You were photographed here and there. Your mother told me.”
My mother and grandmother have kept a relationship going through phone calls about me. While my father wanted nothing to do with me, my grandmother took a significant interest in what was going on in my life. Strike that. My father wanted nothing to do with me until I made my first million. When he reached out, I smacked back and told him to get bent. My grandmother never said anything, but I think she approved. She’s been highly disappointed in all of her children.
“Yeah, well, she thought it was serious.”
Sienna only lives in Dallas part of the time since modeling takes her all over the world, but I knew she was due back soon. We broke up about a month ago, but she seems to think we are still dating or that she can win me back. And that’s why I had to skedaddle out of there.
“That’s because you’re a serious man. Most women will think that you want to settle down right away.”
“Are you blaming me?”
She shakes her head. “No. But I’m telling you to loosen up a little, and this won’t always happen.”
I blink. My grandmother telling me to loosen up is like having a priest tell me to find a hooker.
“Excuse me?”
She shakes her head. “You were always a serious little thing. I thought that it was a good thing. Your father…” she sighs, which has me on high alert. She doesn’t like sighing, remember? If she does it, it means there is something weird going on.
“What?”
She studies me. “You know I don’t make excuses for my children, but they did not have an easy time of it. Then add in their father. He wasn’t the best example of how to behave.”
True. My grandfather was a bastard. He was horrible, having affairs and not even having the decency to hide them. I have always thought that dating in Juniper could get sketchy for me. There’s a good chance that I’m related to half the town.
But my grandmother doesn’t talk about my grandfather. It’s like she would rather pretend he never existed.
“What does this have to do with me being serious?”
Another sigh. For a woman who would typically find sighing unseemly, she seems to be doing a lot of it. “I thought you would be the antithesis of your father. You had your mother’s intelligence, so if I fostered your serious side, it would serve you well.”
“It did.”
“To a point. When was the last time you took a vacation?”
I frown. “What? I’m here.”
“I mean arealvacation. Where you go to enjoy the local flavor. When was the last time you did that?”
“I went to Italy two months ago.”
She gives me a look. “I saw the pictures. You were on your phone at the fashion show. You could have cared less. Did you take in any of the sights of Milan?”
“I…Grandmother, where is this going?”
“I want to make sure you don’t waste your life. I want you to have fun.”
I swallow, my mind racing with the possibilities for a reason for this chat. “Are you sick?”
