Page 41 of Somebody to Save
A man and a woman were seated on a bench, both of them smiling wide and their arms wrapped around the little blonde girl between them. I knew it was Addison, not only because we were in her childhood home, so it was an easy guess, but because I’d know that smile anywhere. Her hair was pulled back in pigtails, and she was the perfect mix of both her parents.
My heart broke for her all over again.
“So, this is wheretheAddison Hawkins grew up?” I asked.
“Yes, it is,” a voice from my right answered.
I looked up to see one of Addison’s grandmothers. Her black and gray hair was pulled into a tight bun, and she straightened her cream sweater as she walked out of a room just inside the front door.
“You must be Grams,” I said by way of greeting. Sticking out my hand, she took it with a smile. “I’m Beckett Crawford. It’s so nice to meet you.”
“IamGrams. Or Gabriela. It’s nice to meet you, too, Beckett.” Her dark eyes were soft and shot to Addison, who stood beside me. They widened slightly as she tried to hide her smile of approval, and I could see Addison’s blush bloom across her cheeks out of the corner of my eye.
Addison cleared her throat as I dropped Grams’s hand. “Is Nana about ready, or should I?—?”
“I’m ready, I’m ready,” another voice—Nana—said from behind Grams. She stepped out of the way, and Nana pushed her walker into the little entryway. We were quickly running out of room in the small space.
Nana stopped in front of me and looked me up and down. “You must be Beckett,” she said flatly, tucking a piece of her short white hair behind her ear.
“And you must be Nana.”
I would have offered to shake her hand as well, but I got the distinct impression she didn’t want that. Similar to Grams, she shot a look over at Addison, but rather than an excited, eye-widening glance, it was drenched in uncertainty.
“We should get going,” Nana said, reaching for her purse on the little side table by the door.
“Yes, I’m starving,” Grams added, and we all shuffled out of the house.
“You’ll have to give me the grand tour another time,” I whispered to Addison, who gave me a guarded smile but nodded.
“I’m sorry about Nana,” she said quickly as I held the door open and waited for the two women to walk outside. “She’ll come around. Eventually.”
“No worries, baby girl. Nothing I can’t handle.”
Nana pushed her walker down the ramp on the other side of the porch. Grams followed behind her, and Addison waited for them while I opened the passenger-side door.
“Hope you don’t mind squeezing in the back with me,” Grams said. “It’s easier for Helen to sit up front with her hip.”
“Of course, it’s no problem.” Addison tucked Nana into the seat, and I folded her walker to put in the trunk. Addison met me at the back of the car.
“Thank you for helping,” she said. “You don’t have to, though.”
I set the folded walker in the trunk, and Addison reached up to close it. But I stopped her with a hand over hers and hooked my other under her chin, tilting her face up to look at me.
Addison had made her intentions known before our date: that she wasn’t interested in anything casual. She was a relationship type of woman, and that’s what she wanted. And I already knew that’s what I wanted to give her, but after our date, I was even more sure.
I wanted to make that clear to her, too.
“I want to help, Addison, because I want you.” We didn’t have much time for me to expand, so I kept it simple. Then I leaned down and kissed her softly. It was a chaste, sweet kiss that did nothing to curb the growing need inside me, especially after a few days without her.
But with her grandmothers waiting, one of whom I was still trying to win over, I wasn’t going to push my luck.
We closed the trunk and got in on opposite sides of the car. Sliding into the backseat, I realized very quickly that it was much smaller than the front. My knees were pressed into the back of the seat in front of me, and I was glad it was a short ride. Otherwise, there would be muscle spasms and lots of aches and other pains.
“You going to be okay squished back here with me?” Grams asked with a laugh, patting my knee.
“I think so.”
“So, Beckett,” Nana began from the front.
