Page 171 of Fiery Romance

On Saturday morning,I open my door and see an unexpected guest.

“Gran!” I start bawling like a baby and throw my arms around my grandmother’s neck. She smells like baby powder, eucalyptus, and sunshine.

“Oof.” Gran stumbles.

Grampa has to hold a hand to her back to steady her.

It’s always been like that. I throw all my burdens on my grandmother and she’s steady for me while my grandfather is steady for her.

I love these two more than life itself and it feels like a small miracle that they’ve shown up right when I need them.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” I bawl, soaking my grandmother’s neck with my weeping.

“There, there, chile.” Gran pats my back, soothing me with the kinds of sounds you’d make for a baby. “Of course we’d be here.”

“We’d never miss your grand event,” Grampa says, his eyes twinkling. He’s a perpetually thin man with a thick moustache and beard. Gran always jokes that Grampa is so slim because he doesn’t like her cooking.

I know for a fact that’s not true. It’s just that Grampa has amazing metabolism and, thankfully, I inherited that trait.

“It’s really notthatgrand of an event.” I sniff and wipe my tears away with the back of my wrist. “Only my friends, the franchise owners, my employees and a few local businesses attend.”

“Yes, but it gets bigger and bigger every year, don’t it?” Gran’s eyes twinkle like the stars.

She has strong features, big nose, big lips and tiny eyes. I’ve always thought of her as exceptionally beautiful. Especially her smile and her skin the shade of a cool earth after rain.

Her gold hoop earrings swing back and forth. “Look at you.” She tuts and uses soft thumbs to swipe my cheeks. “Crying and carrying on. You’d think you were seeing a ghost.”

“Thank you so much for coming, Gran. I thought no one was going to make it.” My brothers sent their love, but they’re both too tied up to attend. “I really love that you’re here.”

“Bumblebee.” The nickname rolls off her lips like it did when I was a child. “Why are you crying so much? What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Fine my backside,” Grampa mutters. “Can’t you just admit when you’re hurting? This generation is emotionally stunted.” He scowls. “I blame the cell phones.”

“Cell phones can be good, Grampa. I use mine for work more than anything else.”

“Exactly. Everything for you is ‘work, work, work’. Especially now that you and Taz gone broke up.”

My heart stutters.

I train my eyes on the ground, my bottom lip quivering. “I actually have something to tell you.”

Gran stares softly at me.

Grampa already looks annoyed.

“We didn’t exactly break up,” I squeak.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Ain’t no love story got to be long.” He shoves his hands down, emphasizing every stage. “It’s ‘see the girl, court the girl, marry the girl.’ If it takes more steps than that, it ain’t worth it.”

“Oh, don’t be a fuddy-duddy. Acting like you didn’t have your own rollercoaster ride trying to get a ring on my finger.”

Grampa clears his throat. “That’s different. You were the one holding up the train. Wasn’t me.”

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