Page 62 of Awaiting

Alex turned to find Bexley standing behind her.

“Then, she’ll call my brothers, who are next up,” Bexley added.

“Hi,” Alex uttered. “I was just…”

“I know,” Bexley said. “And I know the process. It’s just hard to be this far away from her.”

Alex turned back to the front desk agent and said, “Thank you. Have a nice day.” Then, she turned back to Bexley and asked, “Do you need to stay? I can leave you two alone for a while or–”

“No, she kicked me out.” Bexley laughed. “She said you’re only here for a couple of days, and I shouldn’t be wasting your time here.”

“I just wanted to make sure she’d be okay.”

“Thank you,” Bexley told her. “Are you ready? We can go to the game if you want.”

“Are you sure? We can skip it. It was just an idea.”

“Alex, come on.” Bexley took Alex’s hand and pulled her out of the building. “It’s a decent place, right?”

“It’s a very nice place, Bexley. I saw the list of activities on the refrigerator. She won’t have a free moment.”

“I hope she makes friends. The ones she had are all gone,” Bexley replied.

The security team moved around them and ushered them to the waiting car.

“Stan will check on her,” Alex reminded when she slid in next to Bexley.

“He will. She calls him her grandson. And he loves her like she’s his own and vice versa. My brothers will be home for a couple of weeks next month. They’ll spend time with her, too. Alice would’ve also visited had she still lived here. She still calls her, though.”

“They’re close as well?”

“Alice lived in the apartment my grandma owned. They used to spend more time together than I got with her because I was traveling from center to center a lot, working.”

“I love that your grandmother is reallyeveryone’sgrandmother,” Alex noted.

“What about your grandparents? Are you close?” Bexley asked.

“Well, my father’s father is gone, obviously. His mother, the Queen Mother, is still around, but she’s not the kind of grandmother you spend a lot of time with unless you want to be scolded for not dressing appropriately or slouching at the dinner table. My mother’s parents live in an estate in Scotland. I see them once or twice a year. They’re kind people, but they’re not fans of me being a lesbian, so they prefer to communicate with me through my mother or my brother.”

“That’s too bad. I’m sorry,” Bexley replied.

“I’m used to it. We were never close, really, even before I came out. They were raised a certain way.”

“What way?”

“To produce the possible future Queen Consort. It was just a different time. Their marriage was arranged. They had two daughters. One of them ended up marrying my father. Then,Icame along, and they’d done their duty to God and country. They moved to Scotland and, from what I hear, barely even talk to each other.”

“God, I don’t want that,” Bexley said.

“What?”

“I don’t want that for my future. I don’t want to marry someone and then not talk to them, you know?”

Alex smiled at her and said, “I know what you mean. It was how things were done then. For my mother – in some ways, she still thinks that’s how things are done. But it’s not how I want things done.”

“You plan on making some changes?” Bexley asked.

“I do,” Alex confirmed.