Page 200 of High Stick Heartthrob

“I had a life with her, Hazel,” Charles said. “The best life ever. I bet if you think long and hard you’ll figure it all out. Trips she took. Times she wasn’t home.”

“So you’re telling me she was never on vacation,” I said. “She never went to Vegas with friends? She never went on a seven-day cruise?”

Charles chuckled.

“She lied to me,” I said.

“She embraced the love we had,” Charles said. “Being secretive. Flirting about getting caught. There was something to it. We just enjoyed it. I’d come home and she’d be here waiting. Or I’d find a note on my porch.”

“With pictures,” I said.

“With pictures. I’d write her back. We’d pass each other in public. Just for fun.”

“This is insane. You know that, right?”

“It was our love. Now, did we have deeper talks? Of course we did.” Charles pointed to his couch. “We sat right there so many times to talk about life together. Debating what to do. We pictured big holidays, with you and Hannah…”

“She talked about Hannah?”

Charles nodded. “She called Hannah her adopted granddaughter. Your best friend, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Your grandmother was a special person, Hazel,” Charles said. “I didn’t blow up my life for her… but I kind of did. And it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“You have to know how crazy this is for me.”

“I can’t even imagine it.”

“So you knew she was sick and…”

Charles nodded. “She told me in person. We were walking on the beach right behind this house. She stopped, faced me and told me she was sick. Her eyes filled with tears and I knew it was serious. She told me the truth. I told her I would do anything she needed. I actually had a fantasy of her moving here. Letting me care for her. Letting her have this place to see the ocean and all that. She wanted to be home. I respected that. Then you came to take care of her. I told her we could tell you everything, so you didn’t have to uproot your life. She said you would be too stubborn to listen.”

“True,” I said. “But when she was stuck in bed though…”

Charles swallowed hard and nodded. “That was hard for me. Not seeing her. She did call me a lot. After you went to bed.”

“You two sneaking around like teenagers,” I said.

“That’s exactly what it was. It kept us alive, Hazel.”

“That’s why she hung around for so long. Because of you.”

“I don’t know about that. Your grandmother was very stubborn. If a doctor told her she would die in six months, you knew she was going to live at least six months and one day just to rub it in that doctor’s face.”

I laughed.

“The last time we spoke she told me it was getting bad,” Charles said. “She told me she wanted me to close my eyes and picture us on the beach. I won’t go into details from there.”

“You had phone sex with my dying grandmother?”

“Correction. Your dying grandmother had phone sex with me.”

“And then what?” I whispered.

“I think you know,” Charles said. “I didn’t hear from her again. I just knew. The entire day just felt weird. I didn’t hear from her that night. It really started to sink into me. Then I saw the obituary and I just sat on the couch for hours. She was gone. My dearest Evelyn was gone.”

“You went through that alone,” I said.

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