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“What things?”
“He said he saw you at the lake earlier,” I closed my eyes, trying to keep the hurt and anger at bay as the memory of Oliver telling me those ugly lies resurfaced in my mind. “He said he saw you with someone else.”
Dan cursed softly under his breath and I couldn’t help the sobs that wracked my body. “That bastard! Don’t believe him, babe. He’s just lying. I could never do that to you.”
A fresh round of tears fell. “I know. I told him he was just lying and I don’t want to see him again.”
“Where are you now?” he asked me, his tone filled with gentle concern.
“I’m here at home. I was just closing up the kindergarten when he came.”
“Okay, I’ll just finish something up and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“It’s okay, babe. You did say you have an important project you are working on,” I told him. “I’ll be okay. I have Buddy and Grandma Margaret here with me, anyway.”
He laughed a little. “Well, Buddy will probably take a chunk off of him for me, right?”
I looked at Buddy, who had laid his head on my lap with that same sad look in his eyes. Dan was wrong; Buddy would never take a swipe at Oliver. I patted his head and smiled sadly, “You’re a traitor, Bud, you know that?”
“Amanda?”
I looked up to find Grandma Margaret looking at me worriedly. “I thought I heard you crying. Is something wrong, darling girl?”
I shook my head and gave her a wobbly smile. “Nothing, Grandma. I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine to me.” She reached out and squeezed my hand comfortingly. “Are you hiding secrets from your own grandmother now? We used to hide secrets fromyourparents.”
I laughed a little at that. “They always said you spoiled me rotten.”
“Well, what else are grandparents for?” she replied with a roll of her eyes.
It was true, though. One of the first people I told when Oliver and I became an official couple was Grandma Margaret. She was my closest confidante. I could tell her anything.
I took a deep breath and said, “Oliver told me he saw Dan kissing another girl at the lake today.”
I could not help the tears that started to leak out of my eyes, trailing hot tracks down my cheeks.
“Oh,” Grandma Margaret murmured sadly. She gently pressed my head to her shoulder as she held me the way she used to when I was a young girl. “And do you believe him?”
I shook my head wordlessly.
“Well, whatever happens, you’ve got me, angel,” she murmured, rubbing soothing circles in my back. “You’ve always got me.” She paused and then asked, “Did you talk to Dan about it?”
I nodded. “He said it isn’t true and he’s coming over as soon as he gets out of work.”
“Well, he should,” she muttered. “And not a moment later at that.”
I peered closely at Grandma Margaret and noted that she looked much older than she did. The lines etched into her features—“battle scars of age”, she called them—were more numerous and deeper. Although her eyes still sparkled with that same spunk that attracted Grandpa Frederick in their youth, she looked a bit more tired.
“I wish I could stay with you always, Grandma,” I murmured, leaning my head on her shoulder the way I used to do. “You have to admit that you do need someone to watch over you while I work.”
“Oh, pishposh!” she huffed. “There’s still a lot of life left in these old bones yet.”
“But you must promise me,” I told her, looking solemnly into her eyes. “Promise me that if something happens or you are feeling theslightestbit unwell, you have to call me right away, okay?”
She rolled her eyes again. “If it will make you feel any better, darling girl, then yes, I promise I will.”
“Good,” I said happily, leaning my head on her shoulder once more.
