Page 54 of Layla Meets Her Match

“You know it.” I don’t care how tired I am. This guy will be parked on Layla’s couch, hanging out with her anytime she’ll let him.

She leans up to give me a short kiss on the lips, one we both linger over, and then pulls away grudgingly. “I can’t wait,” she whispers.

“You and me both,” I murmur. I kiss her forehead and then break our embrace.

“One more thing,” she says, sliding her hand down my arm and taking my hand to hold me back. She reels me back in. Quite easily, if you’re wondering. Would I skip practice to hang out at the bakery truck with her all day and risk Coach benching me for the game against the Houston Pumas on Sunday? I probably would. Luckily, Layla would never ask that.

“Yeah?” I ask.

She stands on her tiptoes, leaning in for another kiss. Just before she reaches my lips, she says, “I love you, Linc.”

My heart speeds at those words, and my grin overtakes my face. “I love you too.” I have another question I need to ask Eli and Landon. How soon is too soon to ask her to marry me?

Dottie has a contented smile on her face when she settles into the passenger seat of my Bronco a few minutes later. She’s got a box of thank-you cupcakes on her lap from Mila, but I think the reason she’s humming under her breath has more to do with me and Layla than the treats. It’s nice to see her so happy.

But I also need to take the opportunity to ask her what Layla encouraged me to ask a couple nights ago. I want to put her relationship with my grandpa behind us. Of course, neither of us are ever going to be able to forget it, but we don’t have to have it hovering over us all the time like it feels like it is right now. Maybe me getting this out in the open and Dottie having an opportunity to air her own thoughts will do us both good.

“I need to ask you something, Dottie,” I say as we head in the direction of Harmony Homes. “It’s going to be a hard question.”

She turns and frowns at me. “Oh?”

“I’m sorry,” I say, reaching over to take her thin hand in mine. It’s so soft, and I try not to think it, but it’s sort of silky, just like I remember my grandma’s being. I keep a hold of Dottie’s hand anyway, hoping it will give us both strength.

“Sorry for what, dear?” she asks, worry in her expression.

“My grandpa isn’t here to ask some of these questions to. Questions I need to at least try for answers. So I need to ask you, and I’m sorry about that, because you are really important to me, despite everything.”

She draws in a long breath and then reaches with her other hand to pat mine. “I’ve been preparing for this since that first time you came over after the adopt-a-grandparent day. I knew if you were there in my living room, it was more than just that you liked me.”

Fortune is with me, because we get stopped several cars back at a stoplight just then, so I can look over at her. “I love you, Dottie,” I say with feeling. “Even though it’s complicated. You’ve been a light in my life.”

Her eyes shimmer, and she pats my hand again. “Thank you, Lincoln. I appreciate that. Ask your questions.”

My turn to draw in a deep breath. “Did my grandma know?”

She looks down at her lap, shame evident, and guilt pricks at me. Do I really need to know this badly, to cause Dottie this kind of pain?

“Never mind, Dot—” I start, but she shakes her head and cuts me off.

“I’ve done what I could to make things right over this,” she says. “Said my prayers and everything, but I know that there will always be ramifications. I can’t hide from that. It’s okay.” She gives me a firm nod. “I don’t think your grandma knew. I never heard any whispers about us. Most people didn’t even connect us together. We were all in different social circles, hardly crossing paths. Oh Lincoln, it’s one of the things I pray for—that she never knew.”

“I thought he loved my grandma,” I say in a whisper. The light has turned green, and I think it’s best that I can’t look at Dottie right now. But her grip is tight on my hand, holding on to me like this conversation might make me disappear. I give a light squeeze back, reassuring her. I’m not going anywhere, hard as this is.

“He did,” she says. “He loved us both. He didn’t talk about her when he was with me, but I knew he loved her. Doesn’t make any of it right.”

Maybe what I saw between my grandparents wasn’t all a lie. Wasn’t just Grandpa staying because that’s what he thought he needed to do. Maybe I can be okay with that.

“How did you meet?” I ask. “You said you didn’t see each other socially, and that’s how my grandma never knew, but then how …?”

“I was a volunteer at a local hospital, and your grandfather was involved in a fundraiser through his business. We got to talking at a few of the planning meetings. Struck up a friendship over some books we’d both read. We started planning to read the same books. Calling to have discussions about them.”

“Grandma always said she didn’t have time to read. Teased him about it,” I say thoughtfully.

Dottie huffs. It’s an unspoken doesn’t make it right. “I should’ve seen the path I was wandering down, but then one day it was just too late.” She shrugs and doesn’t elaborate on that. “We would say we weren’t going to speak again. And months would go by. Then I’d break down and call him over something. Or he’d call me.” She pauses a long time. “I’m very, very sorry,” she finishes quietly.

I don’t ask any more questions, and Dottie and I are silent the rest of the way back to Harmony Homes. We don’t talk again until after I’ve walked her to her apartment.

“Do you want to come to the game on Sunday?” I ask. “I’ve got a suite for Layla and everyone, and she’s bringing Margot. She could use an extra set of hands.”

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