Page 13 of A Summer Mismatch
“I’m so excited we’re back at it again.” Polly’s grin could light up the room. Winnie looked around and saw matching, anticipatory expressions on everyone’s face. “My heart is racing faster than a sports car.”
Winnie’s too, and she hoped they didn’t crash.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Julia
GrandmaWinniemovedaroundthe room like fingers zipping across the piano keys in “Flight of the Bumblebee.”
”Is everything okay, Grandma?”
“Sure is? Why do you ask?”
“Because you haven’t sat down since we got here.” Julia raised her eyebrows when Grandma Winnie looked over at her, her cheeks a little flushed.
“I’m sorry, dear. I’ve just got a lot on my mind tonight.”
“Why don’t I finish plating dinner, and you relax and watch the game with Grandpa and Cameron.”
Cameron loved Grandpa Horace. In fact, Julia didn’t think it was going too far to claim that Grandpa Horace was Cameron’s favorite person in the world. They seemed to run at the same pace since Grandpa’s retirement, and the two liked nothing more than sitting for hours together, whether they were watching movies, listening to ocean waves, or just thinking.
Tonight, they were watching a basketball game while Grandma Winnie and Julia talked in the kitchen. Grandma Winnie had made her homemade butternut squash ravioli with cream sauce, and they were just waiting for the bread to warm up. Julia, who had attempted to make the meal only once, knew what a time-intensive dinner it was, and her heart warmed with her grandma’s show of love.
“I won’t say no to sitting down, but I’d rather stay in here and chat with you.” She pulled out the stool and gratefully took the glass of water Julia filled for her. “What’s going on in your life lately?”
“A bird pooped on me Tuesday.” At least Logan had already walked away and she’d been spared one more embarrassing moment. She could be grateful for small blessings.
Grandma Winnie’s eyes brightened and she rested her elbows on the counter. “That’s good luck!”
Julia highly doubted that. “Where’d you hear that?”
“My mom used to tell me that. And I’ve seen it.”
Julia laughed. “Well, it didn’t feel lucky at the time, but I guess there’s really nowhere to go but up after a bird poops on you.”
“True. Are you ready for summer school to start?”
Julia sighed. “No. Thank you again for keeping an eye on Cameron while I teach. I should have told them I couldn’t do it, but everyone else was busy or traveling, so I was the only one left.”
“It starts Monday, right?”
“Yes, and I’ll be back here by noon. And on Fridays, I’m taking my students to the library for reading buddies, so you can bring Cameron to the library to read and hang out then. He’ll love it.” Reading buddies was a program that Julia had started with Katherine, the librarian at Diamond Cove’s island library, out in the middle of Paradise Lake. Julia brought the first, second, and third graders to library every Friday during the summer, and each child was paired with an adopted grandparent from The Palms to read books with. Some of the residents didn’t get many visitors, and Samantha had told her that they especially looked forward to Fridays with the kids.
“Have you heard from Timothy again?”
Julia sank into the stool at the counter beside Winnie and shook her head. “Not a word.” She hadn’t expected she would though.
“Do you miss him?”
Julia shrugged. “More the idea of him, I think. He has these little habits that drive me crazy, but I guess I liked not being alone every weekend.”
“Like how he talks in a baby voice to a lot of us.”
“No.” Julia shook her head, incredulous. “Please tell me he does not do that.”
“He absolutely does.” Grandma Winnie’s lip curled. “His voice goes up an octave, and he speaks to us like we’re toddlers who won’t understand what he’s saying.”
“I hate it when people do that.” She’d seen it happening to Grandma Winnie more and more lately—waitstaff at restaurants, cashiers, even some of the staff at the doctor’s office. People often spoke to Cameron that way as well, and it really got under Julia’s skin.
