Page 40 of No One Wants That (Blitzen Bay)

“You’re walking fine,” I say, narrowing my eyes. “And I know that mouth is working. You could have at least yelled out a warning.”

“But then I wouldn’t have seen you get rejected,” she says, smiling. “It’s really made me feel so much better.”

“I see how you are,” I say, nodding slowly. “That’s fine. The next time you fall into the lake, I’m leaving you there. And I might even sic a bunch of raccoons on you.”

“Make sure they’re the baby ones. I heard they don’t have rabies.”

I take a deep breath in and exhale it slowly as I look at the ceiling.

“Hey Kit,” Gabi says as she comes out of the kitchen with food for the couple next to us. “You eating or drinking or both?”

“Hey, Gabi. Just drinking. White wine—something light and fresh.”

Gabi pours her a glass and heads back into the kitchen.

“Where’d you disappear to after we got off the trail?” I say. “I thought you’d come down for the barbecue.”

“Your friends Millie and Raine brought food up to my room.” She takes a sip of her wine and peers at me over the rim. “They seem cool.”

“They are. They’re two of the best people I know, but don’t tell them I said that.”

“Why?” she says, turning toward me. Her knee touches my leg. She doesn’t move it. “Don’t you like people to know when you’re fond of them?”

“Believe me, they know. Everyone knows everything I’m thinking. My grandma used to say I had a direct channel from my brain to my mouth. Everything that I think shoots right out.”

“She used to say it?” She grabs the bowl of pretzels next to me and starts popping them in. “Have you gotten more discreet or something?”

“Definitely not, but my grandma died about eight months ago.”

“Oh, Butch, I’m sorry,” she says, putting her hand on my thigh and squeezing it. “Were you close?”

“Yeah,” I say as I glance down at her hand. She doesn’t move it. “She and my granddaddy lived a block over from us. When I got to be too much for my mom, she’d send me over there for the day.”

“How often did that happen?”

“Enough,” I say. “I was quite a handful.”

“That shocks me.”

“I’m sure it doesn’t. Are you close to your grandparents?”

“I was. They’re all gone now. I was closest to my paternal grandma. Elle and I spent so much time with her when we were growing up.”

“Did they both live in Atlanta?”

“Yep. Grandma’s house was about five minutes from our elementary school. We’d walk there after school and entertain her with our stories of the day. We kept doing it all through high school.”

“It must have been hard for your grandma when you left for Spain.”

“Oh,” she says, taking her hand off my leg and turning back toward the bar. “She was gone by that time. She died when I was a freshman in college, but it was definitely hard on Elle when I left.”

“So you and Elle are close?”

“Yeah, we’ve been attached at the hip from the second she was born. She’s the main reason I’m moving back here.”

“Your grandma would be glad that you’re going to live close to each other again.”

“Hmm, I’ve never thought of it like that, but yeah, she would be happy.” She shakes her head to try to stop a tear from coming out of her eye. “I’m sorry I’m getting emotional. I rarely do. It’s just that Grandma was everything to me.”

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