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“You need to start taking it easy, Gram. You work too hard. Maybe you should start cutting back.”
“Nonsense. I’ll be just fine.”
I know she will be, but I still worry about her. She isn’t getting any younger and she needs to learn how to enjoy life instead of working all the time. No matter how much Jaxon and I tell her this, she just won’t listen. She’s a stubborn old bat. But she’s one of my favorite people.
“You just missed Mac,” she says, and looks up at me. Her eyes are inquisitive, like she is trying to figure something out. She knows we dated as teenagers. Hell, everyone knows. She also knows my feelings toward him now. Why in the hell would she tell me this when she knows I want nothing to do with him?
I hold her gaze and reply, “Yeah, so?”
After looking at me for a few seconds and realizing I’m not going to give anything away, she surprises me with, “I overheard Jesse tell Ethan he caught y’all kissing in the hallway of your mama’s house the other day.”
Fucking Jesse and his big mouth!
I shrug and tell her, “It was nothing. Just a lapse in judgment.”
I pick up the coffee pot and pour the hot liquid into the mug. After dumping in a few scoops of sugar and creamer, I pick up my cup to take a sip. I look at my Gram over the rim of my cup. She’s still watching me, but this time there’s sadness in the depths of her eyes.
“You’re wasting time, Mia,” she tells me softly. “I don’t know what happened between you both all those years ago, but I do know that the feelings y’all carried for each other are still there. They may be buried deep, but they are there all the same.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. I no longer have feelings for Mac. The circumstances surrounding our breakup made sure of that.” I tell her the almost truth. The real truth is that I do still have feelings for Mac. I hate myself for it, just as much as I hate him. But no matter how I feel, there is no way we could ever get back what we had. I could never trust him again and I refuse to live my life worrying and wondering what he’s doing or who he’s with.
“What happened between the two of you?”
“You know I don’t talk about it, Gram,” I tell her quietly.
“I know, but I wish you would. Sometimes it helps with the pain. And sometimes when you talk about it, it helps you realize things may have not been what they seem.”
“Yeah, well, I know exactly what happened. And there are no other explanations. It is just as it was.”
She looks at me for another minute before she shakes her head and lets it go.
“What time are Jaxon and Bailey due back?” she asks.
Relieved that we are finally off the subject of Mac, I lean back in the booth. “Around lunchtime tomorrow. Surprisingly enough, they only called twice. I thought I was going to have to turn my phone off, but they did well.”
“I’m sure Jaxon had a lot to do with that. I imagine they are pretty occupied,” Gram says, with a mischievous smile.
“Gram, really?” I say, cringing. This is my seventy-year-old grandmother. She’s supposed to be modest and not think about things like that. What she said is just wrong.
“What? My mind works just the same as it did when I was younger,” Gram says, chuckling.
“No, you’re not supposed to think like that anymore. That part of your brain is supposed to be broken and not repairable, especially about your grandson.”
“Oh, pish posh. My mind is just fine. I’m not stupid, Mia. Jaxon is a good-looking man and Bailey is a beautiful woman. Of coursethey are doing other things besides worrying about this sweet little angel. They both know she’s in good hands.”
“Yeah, whatever,” I mumble, not in the least appeased knowing my Gram still has a working sexual imagination.
We talk for a few more minutes before she gets up to put in my lunch order. Thirty minutes later, I stand and grab the car seat with Amari buckled in, and walk up to the counter to pay. Just like every other time, Gram refuses my money. I give her a quick kiss before Amari and I head out the door. Our next stop is the small grocery store before heading back home.
9
Mia
Her heart…
ACOUPLE OF DAYS LATER, I pull up to the one house I never thought I would step foot in again. The outside looks much the same as it looked all those years ago, except for a few changes here and there. It looks as though there may be a fresh coat of paint as well. This used to be one of my favorite places to be. Now, I dread every second I sit here.
I didn’t tell Mac I was coming. To be honest, I debated with myself the entire time I was behind the wheel. I stopped a couple times to turn around, knowing I was going to regret coming here. I’m feeling a whirl of emotions: fear of the unknown, anger at Mac for dredging up the past, and worry that something may change once Mac tells me what he has to tell me. My mind is waging a war with my heart. I desperately want to know, but I’m also scared.
