Page 108 of Pin-up Girl

“I believe the kids say you do you.” Granny offered.

Donna shook her head. “Yes. You do you.”

I loved the words. They meant more than I dared let on, but they were also hard to believe after a lifetime of Donna—Grandma—telling me otherwise. “Okay.”

“I know that it will take a while to see that I mean this,” Donna said. “And I will probably make a lot of missteps, but I will try to be kinder. You deserve that.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it. But I do hope to see it.”

Donna almost smiled.

“Bree.” Dee’s shout cut through the air, and she ran into the back room. “Hi, Granny. Who are you?” She looked at my grandma.

“I’m Donna. Aubrey’s grandmother. Who are you?”

“I’m Addison, but everyone calls me Dee.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Dee. How do you know Aubrey?” Grandma asked.

I should be grateful she didn’t ask if Dee was my daughter.

“She’s my weekend mom.”

Damn it, Dee.

Granny smiled, and Donna raised her eyebrows.

“My real mom moved away and abandoned me.” Bitterness tinged Dee’s voice. “Aubrey is my dad’s girlfriend.”

Well, fuck. This was about to get out. She was calling me Clint’s girlfriend?

I couldn’t really find fault with that.

“Brodie?” Donna asked.

Dee shook her head. “No, he’s not my dad. He doesn’t even look like me. Clint’s my dad.”

Donna gave me a questioning look.

I gifted her a sweet smile in return. “I do me.” I wouldn’t explain more now, but I wanted to see if Donna meant what she said about trying to understand. “Granny, do you have any orange and black beads? The bigger macrame ones?”

“I’m sure I do.” Granny stood and held out her hand. “Dee, come help me look.”

Dee followed her into the back room.

Donna was still staring at me.

“One apology doesn’t make things all better,” I said. “I wish it could. I’m willing to try as long as you are, but this is my life, and you don’t get to have input in it. Not for me. Not for Sylvie.”

Donna worked her jaw. “I understand.”

Another thought popped into my head—the threat from my aunt. Blackmail with an unspecified favor attached to it. I didn’t give a fuck now if that came out. It wasn’t as if she could cancel my policy, and she could tell the world I loved two men, if that got her off. “One more thing—you can tell Aunt Neva to take her self-righteous blackmail bullshit and shove up her sand-filled twat.”

Donna looked furious, but she didn’t have a chance to reply before Dee came back with the beads I’d asked for, and dragged me back to my store to make Halloween ornaments.

The conversation with Grandma rang in my thoughts. It wasn’t a conclusion, but it was a good start, and I was grateful for that.

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