Page 7 of You, with a View

We’re in the Bay too. My granddad wants to meet with you in person. Are you willing/available to meet in the city? Send times that work for you if so.

“Oh my god.”

I don’t realize I’ve shouted it until everyone at neighboring tables looks over at us.

“What?” Sadie shouts back.

“They live here. I mean, Paul does, who cares about his grandson.” I set my phone facedown on the table, overwhelmed. “He wants to meet with me.”

“You have to do it.” Sadie leans forward. Next to Thomas’s swimmer’s shoulders, she looks bite-size, but her excitement adds a good three inches to her five feet.

“This is a murder plot,” Thomas says with equal parts assertion and disinterest.

“Counterpoint.” Sadie holds a finger up in his face. “She could meet the love of her life.”

“Paul?”

“His grandson.” Exasperated, she leans back. “Dude, come on. Have you not paid attention to any of the rom-coms we’ve ever watched?”

Thomas gives her a meaningful look, flicking his eyes to me and back again. “Are you seriously asking me that?”

Sadie flushes, and I throw a balled-up napkin at my brother’s head. “Gross. Come on.”

They start bickering lovingly, so I pivot my attention.

My stomach pulls tight as I reread the exchange. Paul wants to meet me. This is exactly the outcome I wanted, though I never anticipated it would happen. It’s like playing the lottery once and hitting the jackpot; it feels impossible, and yet you play because you know there’s a chance, right?

“I’m going to say yes. I’m going to meet up with Paul.”

When no one responds, I look up from my phone. Sadie has aring-laden hand over her mouth, her ecstatic smile peeking out from behind it. Thomas is watching me dubiously.

My thumbs fly over my phone screen as I reply:

What a small world! I’d love to meet with Paul. I’m available—

I pause, chewing on my lip. I’m available all the time, but that sounds pathetic, so I pull three times out of thin air.

—This Friday at 10am, Sunday at 2pm, or Monday at 10am. Please let me know the best place to meet.

I keep one eye on my phone for the next twenty minutes. Sadie and Thomas carry the conversation but go silent when I get another alert.

Friday at 10. We’ll meet you at Reveille Coffee on Columbus at one of the tables outside.

“Friday’s the day.” I let out a deep breath, my heart racing. “And looks like Teddy will be there, too.”

Sadie collapses against her seat. “God, I wish I could come with you.”

“I’d go if I didn’t have to work.” Thomas, clearly disappointed, rubs a hand along his scruffy jaw. “Make sure you stay around people the whole time, okay?”

I give him a crisp salute before my eyes wander back to Teddy’s message.

Tell me a secret, I hear Gram whisper to me, and my heart stretches in memory.

I blink up at the sky, wondering where she is.

Someone’s going to tell me one of yours.

The week moves at a glacial pace. Mom talks me into trying the Peloton, and I last an entire thirty-minute class, then spend the next three hours determining whether I need to go to the hospital.

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