AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m fine,” I lied.
The truth was I couldn’t imagine never seeing Granddaddy again. I was worried that Grandma wouldn’t be able to go on without him. He was her everything.
“Somehow, I don’t believe that,” he replied.
“I mean that I am as well as can be expected. I just lost my grandfather, Taz; the only grandfather that I’ve ever known. I am worried about my grandmother. She was so dependent on him for everything. I can’t fathom her being able to cope without him.”
“I’m really sorry, baby,” he said softly.
“No. Don’t say that,” I said not masking my irritability whatsoever. “I don’t need you trying to be nice or civil to me. I particularly do not want you to call me ‘baby’.”
“Lindsey, please,” he started, “I want to explain about what happened a few weeks back.”
What was there to say? He had made it perfectly clear to me that he ‘didn’t do virgins’. My God, he acted as if my being a virgin had made me damaged goods. How screwed up was that?
“Taz, as far as I am concerned, you said it all that night. There is nothing more that you could possibly say that would make your treatment of me any less deplorable. I can’t deal with anything other than getting my grandmother and helping her and my mom get through this, got it?”
The rest of the trip was in silence. Taz had respected my need to focus on comforting my grandmother and my mother.
Once we picked her up, I consoled her the whole way back. She seemed to have morphed into a solemn state of shock. Not weeping or wailing; eerily quiet and reserved.
Taz helped her out of the car and up to the house. My grandmother seemed to respond to a male presence. It somehow gave her a sense of security. I could see that. I got her suitcase out of the trunk and headed to the front door.
Slate was at the door, taking it from me. I could hear Mom in the kitchen, sobbing together with Grandma.
Everyone had departed. I looked at my watch it was after 1:00 a.m. in the morning. I suddenly realized it was Christmas.
I glanced over at the Christmas tree that we had all decorated the day before. There was nothing underneath it. Bryce would be up bright and early expecting Santa to have made a drop.
Taz was getting ready to head out. He said something to Slate about seeing him in a few days.
“Taz,” I said, getting his attention, “would you mind helping me carry the Christmas presents down and placing them under the tree for Bryce?”
“Shit,” Slate said, “I totally forgot about that. I can handle that Lindsey.”
“We’ve got it, Slate,” Taz spoke up, following me up the stairs to my room where they were stashed.
It took several trips but Taz and I managed to get them all downstairs and arranged underneath the tree.
It was just the two of us in the living room now. Slate had joined my mother and grandmother in the kitchen.
“Thanks, Taz,” I sighed as we finished and he stood to put his jacket on. I was wiped out. I was worn out; totally exhausted. He sensed it.
Before I could object, he was there pulling me into his strong arms, his long fingers smoothing my hair. He just held me; rocked me back and forth. He comforted me and I didn’t resist it. I blinked tears back as I buried my face against his chest.
I felt his lips brush against the top of my head, softly kissing my hair; whispering to me that everything would be alright.
I tilted my head up to face him. He lowered his face to mine. His lips captured mine in a soft, gentle kiss. And then he was gone. I didn’t know when I would see him again, and that hurt.
CHAPTER 14
I lay awake in my bed upstairs. I kept looking at the clock wondering when blessed sleep would finally come.
The first time I glanced over at it the digits read 2:09 a.m. That’s when I could hear Mom and Slate making love in their room below mine.
I suppose it was a comforting thing more than anything else. Mom needed to feel alive and Slate certainly made her feel that.
Grandma had taken one of her ‘nerve’ pills and was sleeping soundly in the other bedroom upstairs. She was all cried out for the moment.
