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Amanda, who had been stirring her coffee, knocked her teaspoon a little too forcefully into the inside of her cup, spilling the deep brown liquid. She looked at her grandmother, flabbergasted at her audacity.
“Well?” Grandma Margaret persisted. “Isn’t he?”
I turned to Amanda. Her mouth was open but no words came out of it.
Does she think I’m really hot?I wondered.Or not?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
AMANDA
The warm morning sunshine spilled over the veranda when I stepped out with Grandma Margaret. So far, she had been feeling better, but I still could not help but worry about her often. Over the years, she had become a little more…frail, although that same spunky spirit glimmered in her eyes.
We had just finished breakfast and because it was a nice Sunday morning, we decided to spend it outdoors. The wooden floors creaked a little as we walked over to the couch and I wondered vaguely if I would ever find someone who could help me fix it.
But first, I need to settle that leaky roof before the rains come in, I thought to myself. I was afraid that when winter came, it would not survive the snow.
As we sat on the couch, Grandma Margaret leaned back with a smile on her lips. “Have you ever wanted something you couldn’t have, darling girl?” she glanced mischievously at me. “And I don’t mean that handsome doctor coming over to check on me later.”
I could feel the heat spreading across my cheeks as I stared out onto the street before us. Of course, I had dreams but they were the ones I never spoke about.
Because they could never come true, I thought sadly to myself.
“When we were younger,” Grandma continued wistfully. “Your Grandpa and I always wanted to swim in the Adriatic Sea together. When we were younger, we thought we had all the time in the world.” She shook her head sadly. “And then life happened…You know how it is—we would never have changed anything. I knew he lived a full life that he enjoyed. It’s just that…I wish we made time for our dreams, too.”
“Oh…” I murmured.
She patted my hand. “Nobody ever dies telling themselves that they were thankful they stayed where they are. There’s home—you’ll always have that. And then, there’sout there.”
“You miss him, don’t you, Grandma?”
“Every single day, darling girl. Every single day.”
We sat there side by side, watching the people passing by on the street in front of us. We fell into an old game that we used to play when I was a little girl—we would pick off a random stranger off the street and spin stories about them, giving them names and dreams and grand adventures.
Stories.
We liked to create stories from this veranda.
“How about we go to the mall to buy some food, Grandma?” I suggested. It was almost time for lunch and we had spent the entire morning playing our game and telling stories of the days in the past.
She nodded. “I haven’t been to the mall for so long. Maybe I could also buy some wool so I could knit something for my hot personal doctor.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know if Oliver would appreciate you referring to him like that, Grandma.”
“Refer to me as what?”
I looked up to find Oliver walking up the path from the street.
He had always had the talent to show up the moment someone spoke of him...
Buddy immediately leapt up from his position at our feet, wagging his tail, barking out a greeting to Oliver. He laughed and played a short game with my old dog, scratching the soft white fur of his belly, before heading up to us.
“How are you two lovely ladies today?” he asked with a charming grin. Today, he was dressed in a simple, white button-down with the sleeves pushed up his forearms. When he moved, I could see the muscles in them.
I mentally shook my head to clear it of my rampant thoughts. “Grandma and I were just getting ready to leave for the mall. We were thinking of having lunch there and maybe window-shop a little.”
“Sounds absolutely wonderful,” he smiled. He sat down beside Grandma Margaret and began discreetly checking her up, feeling her pulse, his dark brown eyes running over her without missing a detail. “Your pulse is a little fast today, Grandma.”
