Page 72 of The Luck of Finding You
For the first hour of the flight, I try to sleep. I hoped it would come quickly, seeing as I’ve only slept for two hours in two days, but I’m too wired. In the end, I pull out Simone’s new book and try to distract my brain with someone else’s problems.
27
TALLY
“You can’t ignore that boy forever,” Gran says as I help her set the table for dinner. It’s Monday and I called in sick today like the chicken I am. I’m not ready to face Noah yet, even though I know that at some point I will actually have to. He got back sometime today but hasn’t come to pick up his dog yet, which I’m secretly happy about. Mo has turned out to be a really great snuggler when I’ve been reading or watching movies, which is how I spent the afternoon yesterday.
I kind of want to let him hang out in the shop when Noah’s working. I might take that to my grave. I don’t want Noah knowing I’ve gone soft for his dog.
“I can.” I stick my tongue out at her. I’ve become a child. I feel like I need to go on a run, which is very weird for me but feels like something I should do so I can plan what I’m going to say to Noah when I see him tomorrow. And make a plan of how I’m going to survive the next ten and a half months of working with him.
“Tally.” Gran looks at me, and there’s a feeling in my gut that says I’m not going to like whatever she’s about to tell me but that I also need to listen. “When I fell in love with Gramps, I knew he was it. I’d never wanted a man, yet there he was.”
I nod, because this is a story I know. Not that I really want to hear it again, but I don’t think I have much of a choice.
“I was happy, life was good. Then Charles, your grandpa, moved in next door. I was a senior in college. My mother was horrified that I was still attending school, that I hadn’t gotten married and started popping out babies. My roommate told me that there was a cute boy next door that I had to meet.”
Gran has that doe-eyed look that she always gets when she talks about Gramps. “I managed to avoid meeting him for almost two whole months. I paid attention so I could come and go when he wasn’t around. Then one day, my car wouldn’t start.” Gran sighs, like she’s still inconvenienced by this moment that happened sixty years ago.
I smile. This is my favorite part of the story; it always has been.
“Then this guy I’d been trying hard to avoid came up to me and said, ‘Need help?’ I told him no, even though if I couldn’t get my car started, I would miss my final exam. He said, ‘Want a lift somewhere, then? Then you can fix the car when you get back.’ I hate admitting that this was what made me look up, that made my heart race just a little faster. Here was a man who had offered to help, and when I told him no, he offered exactly what I needed. He didn’t say that he’d fix my car or anything. Just offered a ride.”
“And you were smitten.” I smile.
“I was not,” Gran snaps, but then she’s back in time again. “I was, however, running very late, so I accepted his offer of a ride. He didn’t say a word to me, nor I to him, as he drove me to the testing center. I told him thank you as I got out, and he waved and then was gone. I took my test, wondering how I’d get home when I was finished. When I walked out, there he was. Leaning against his car right outside the exit.”
I smile. I can picture Gramps doing this. He was probably smiling, a smile that I inherited but don’t use as often as him. But even though I see him in my mind with wrinkles instead of a twenty-year-old guy, he’s still Gramps.
“I walked right up to him and said, ‘What are you doing here?’ And he just kept smiling and said, ‘I knew you’d need a ride, Ginny. Want to get an ice cream?’ I was a little peeved that he already knew my name and I didn’t know his.” Gran sighs. “Then I always tell everyone that after that, the rest was history, but that isn’t quite true.”
I sit up a little straighter. What part of this story has she left out?
“Gramps was never proud of what happened next, which is why when you grandkids started asking about us and our story, we took this part out.”
Now I’m intrigued. “What happened?”
“We dated until I graduated. Charles still had a year left, and we had a whirlwind of a summer romance together.” Gran sighs. “Then one day in August, I woke up with a note taped to my door. He’d left.”
“He left? Left where?” I’ve never seen anyone love someone else as much as Gramps loved Gran. He was devoted to her more than anything else in his life. She always came first, before work, before kids, before anything.
“He went back home. Left without a number to reach him.” Gran gives me a sad smile. “I’d always said I didn’t need a man, then the only one I ever loved ripped my heart in two.”
“But the two of you got married.” I’m struggling to figure out how the rest of the story worked out.
“We did.” Gran takes my hand gently. “Sweetheart, this Noah man, he hurt you in the past, didn’t he?”
I nod.
“And Mo, he hurt you too?” Gran asks.
I hadn’t thought about it in ten minutes, dang it. My heart aches. “Yes.”
“Do you love either of them?” Gran watches me closely. “You don’t need to tell me that answer, but all I’m going to say is that the people who love us the most can often be the same ones who cause our deepest heartache. But when there’s love and mutual respect and both people are willing to try, you can have a good life together, if you give them a chance.”
“Is that what happened with you and Gramps?”
Gran smiles, and I know that she’s not going to give me the details of what happened next. “Something like that.”
