Page 122 of Catch and Release

Grams knew.

Grams had known all along.

Because of course she had.

Willa wasn’t all that surprised, but she knew it was time for Grams to know. For real. After she and Shawn had talked through everything tonight, she knew he really was all in. And she was, too.

“I’ll take that water now, Scooby,” Grams said weakly.

Shawn nodded, then glanced at Willa before speed walking out of the room.

“You can trust him, you know,” Grams said softly to Willa after a moment.

Willa nodded with a sigh. “I know. Easier said than done. But I know.”

“I’ve never seen that boy look at anything the way he looks at you,” Grams said, and Willa’s lips tipped up in a shy smile. “Thank you, sweetie.”

Willa felt her brow furrow. “For what?”

“For giving this old lady the gift of watching her grandson fall in love.”

Willa grabbed Grams’ hand. “Thanks for being the mastermind behind the whole thing.”

Grams chuckled and sighed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with all the time on my hands now.”

Like Wyatt promised, Grams was discharged the next morning with a prescription for some pain medication and the recommendation for her to get a walker.

She flat-out refused.

Shawn rolled his eyes as Grams refuted every one of Wyatt’s arguments.

But he stopped at a Walmart on the way home and bought her the nicest walker he could find after treating her to lunch. She balked when she saw it, but he put his foot down.

“I love you, Grams, and I’ll never regret moving in with you. It’s been one of the best parts of my life. But I’ll be damned if I come home and find you like that again. You don’t have to use it all the time, but at the very least, use it when I’m gone. Give me some peace of mind. Please.”

His voice broke at the tail-end of his practiced speech, and he could tell that’s what pushed her over the edge.

She was reluctantly pushing it around the kitchen, putting on a show for him—a promise that she would use it if she needed to.

“The girls will be here soon,” Willa said, and Shawn grinned.

Tucker offered to cook dinner for the family tonight. Grams was still recovering from her fall, but she insisted on inviting everyone over for what she called a “family dinner.”

“I’m not dead yet, and your friends keep me young,” she said, and that was that.

Willa invited Layla and Amanda, and Hanna and Tucker had showed up a half hour earlier with boxes of food Tucker had spent the day preparing. Willa was setting the table with Hanna, going back and forth about each other’s jobs and how they ended up in Alabama.

The doorbell rang, and Amanda bustled in before anyone had the chance to answer it, with Layla right on her tail.

“Willaaaaa,” she said as she walked in, dragging out the end of her name. “Where’s your sexy neighbor? I need to ask him about his intentions.”

Shawn chuckled to himself as he heard Willa mutter something about “nosy friends,” before she engulfed the two of them in a hug.

“Alright, now, I made lemon bars and brownies,” Grams said, wiping her hands on the apron. “They’ll be done in about 20 minutes, so let’s eat!”

Shawn led her to the table and pulled out her chair, everyone else following, conversations weaving throughout the group as everyone settled in. The table was set to perfection and littered with crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, fried grouper, a salad, and some of Tucker’s famous french fries, among other things. It was all meant to be served family style, and Shawn’s mouth watered at the thought of everything Tucker had carefully prepared.

As they started passing around plates, Shawn took in a deep breath and smiled to himself.

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