Page 57 of Hogging the Hunk
“When are you going to come to the dark side and sit down to watch them with me?”
I barked a laugh. “Never, if I can help it.”
Granny peered up at me as she held an enormous bowl of popcorn on her lap. The smaller-than-usual kernels had a red hue. Maren must’ve gotten around to shelling the strawberry popcorn she’d harvested last autumn from the garden. “Parker watches them with me when he’s not busy.”
“Studying his trade?”
“Sort of, I guess. He likes them, too, though. Whenever I get mixed up with the storyline, he can get me straightened out.” She held her snack up in offering. “Popcorn?”
“You’re going to ruin your appetite for dinner, you know.”
“Since when did you become such a grumpy old woman? This is my dinner today.” Granny laughed when I winced at her comment and patted the arm of the couch next to her chair. “Come sit down for a spell. I feel like I haven’t talked to you in ages.”
“That’s because I’ve been in the Solomon Islands for three months.”
Granny threw bits of popcorn at me. I blocked them, and they scattered every which way. Before some were lost in the recesses of the couch, I dug them out and put them on the end table.
“Don’t get smart with me, little miss.” Granny shook a finger playfully at me. “I know you were gone for a while, but we hadn’t really talked long before that. You were always so busy with work, even when you were here.”
A tight lump strangled my throat. Work was the excuse I used to keep from confronting anything that bothered me. Greg. Milo. Ellie. My plans or rather, lack thereof. Life. “I might have been hiding behind work a little, yes.”
“Wow.” Granny blinked behind her glasses. “I thought it was going to take a lot more prodding to get you to admit that.”
“I had a lot of time to think and dissect my intentions while I was away.”
“About anything in particular? Or maybe anyone?”
I cleared my throat, trying to stretch out the tightness. “Are you really going to make me spell everything out for you?”
Granny handed over the popcorn bowl to me and clasped her hands in her lap. “Pretend like I’m your senile old grandma who can’t remember anything. Explain everything nice and slow.”
The popcorn was light and crispy and it roused an appetite that had been sparse since my impending return to Button Blossom. “I—” Granny’s outfit distracted me. “Are you already in your pajamas?”
“All my clothes are out on the line drying and I think you of all people would appreciate me not roaming around in the buff. Besides, it’ll be bedtime in a couple of hours. I’m prepared, that’s all.”
I sat up in my seat, reading the front of her sleep shirt. Woke up sexy again. “Wait a minute… are those my pajamas?”
“This?” Granny pinched the sleepshirt, like she wasn’t sure what pajamas I was talking about. “I’ll have you know I found it at the thrift store, fair and square.”
“Because that’s where I donated it.”
Giggling, Granny rocked back in her chair. “Well, finders keepers. It’s mine now. It’s awfully fitting for me, don’t you think?”
I couldn’t help but laugh along with her as she pretended to fluff her white curls. It eased the heaviness weighing on me, and I was already glad I had Granny to help me get through this rough patch. At the end of the day, even if I ended up without Milo’s affections to show for my effort, I had so much love in my life.
“Now quit getting distracted. Tell me what prompted you to up and hightail it to those faraway islands.”
“For one, I wanted to know I made a difference with my work.”
“Pfft.” Granny’s lips vibrated with her scorn for my answer. “You know you’re just as needed here as you are anywhere else in the world, right? The work you do for our community is also important. You don’t have to travel thousands of miles away to be a hero.”
“Alright, alright. I get your point. There was definite overlap with what I did in the Solomon Islands and what I do here.”
“So, let’s back up to the original question—why did you run off? You seemed so happy and the next thing we all knew, you were packing up and leaving.”
I thought for the umpteenth time of the night I’d baked cookies with Milo and Ellie. After it all came tumbling down, I’d driven home in a blinding January snowstorm, made harder to see through for all the tears popping out of my eyes and streaking down my cheeks. Try as I might, sprawled in my bed that night, I couldn’t quite identify why my emotions were so raw. I’d understood long before Ellie snapped at me that she continued to struggle with the loss of her mother and her fear that my presence would replace Lexi. It made sense that Milo had to choose Ellie over me—they had a blood relationship and what was I to either of them? Not even a girlfriend. I had no claim on Milo’s affections, nor his loyalty, and waiting for that to change wasn’t acceptable to my timetable.
When Greg had cast me off, then Milo fell through, I had to lick my wounds somewhere away from all the people who would look at me with pity and shake their heads that no matter how hard I tried, things hadn’t worked in my favor.