Page 21 of Heart to Heart

Gram approached the counter with her mug and by the look on her face to also drop some of her signature demented wisdom. “If he’s upset with you, honey, text him a picture of your boobs and he’ll forget all about your meddling. I need a refill, sugar pie, please.”

I took her cup with a sideways grin. “You got it.”

“Gram!” Lily’s expression was a combination of horrified and trying not to laugh. “The last thing I need is for my boobs to end up on the cloud for Dylan or whoever else gets on our WiFi to find.”

I laughed, noticing how she wasn’t opposed to sending tit pics to Luke, just getting busted for it.

“They’re just tits, Lily,” Gram scoffed. “Get over yourself.”

“Oh my god, Gram!” Rose burst out laughing.

“I don’t get what you’re all worked up about.” She rolled her eyes. “You girls are such prudes. Isn’t this supposed to be a new millennium? Why did I even bother burning my bras?” she scoffed. “Think of it as a memento of your sexy years. In my day we didn’t have the cellular telephones and the internet. If I flashed my boobs at a concert, or Mardi Gras, or what have you, I would be lucky to get a polaroid out of it. And those were too easy to lose, especially if you were drunk.” She shrugged. “I do have guitar picks and beads at home in my hope chest, but it’s not the same. I had a nice rack, girls, and nothing left to remember it by. Learn from my mistakes and get photographic documentation.”

She’d finally done it. We were all shocked silent.

“Okay, that’s definitely a perspective,” Violet finally said. “Uh, so back to the subject at hand. We’re all going to back off and let Holly be, right?” They all mumbled their agreement, probably still too shocked by Gram to argue.

“What just happened? You’re all agreeing with me?” I huffed a laugh. “It’s okay. It’s not that I want to avoid him. It’s just, I can’t even explain how I feel when I don’t completely understand it myself.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Violet pulled me in for a hug and whispered in my ear. “Don’t let them get to you. You know how they can be. They’re easily excitable, like little yippity little chihuahuas. I, for one, think you’re making good choices and I’m proud of you. I’m here if you want to talk for real. They are too, you know that, right? You just have to push past the wackiness.”

“Thank you and yes. I know they are. They just want me to be happy.”

The front doordinged.Liam walked in.

Meow

Was that a cat?

My sisters and I exchanged a glance before the three of them burst out laughing.

It wasn’t going to end now. I would just have to accept it. He had just entered with what had to be anooh-able andahh-able critter and judging by the bulge, it was stuffed into the pocket of his flannel shirt. Lily and her fate and her Hallmark movie matchmaking had just scored a point.

“Is that a cat I hear?” Gram spun to look.

“I was out at Jed’s volunteering. I found this little guy in a wood pile up near the road when I was leaving. Cute, right?” He pulled a sleepy orange kitty from his shirt pocket, then tucked him against his neck where it proceeded to curl up against his beard and purr its fluffy little brains out. Kind of like what I’d probably done in my sleep. “Whoever dumped him there better hope I don’t find them.”

Did I just become jealous of a cat?

Why, yes. Yes, I did.

“Maybe it really is just a matter of time,” Lily mused as a smug smile slid across her face. “Sorry, Holly. I don’t make the rules. Hey, Liam.”

“Hey, you needed me to meet you here, Lily?”

“Oh, yeah. Um, I’m sorry. It was a false alarm.”

“You’re okay? The babies are okay?” he asked, eyes full of concern. God, he really was so sweet responding to her random texts like this.

She nodded, clearly struggling to come up with an excuse to why she’d brought him out here.

“Come on, forget the coffee, Lil. Let’s go dress shopping.” Rose grabbed Lily’s hand and off they went out the front door.

“What’s that about?” Liam’s bemused gaze followed them as they left before turning to me and Violet behind the counter.

“You never can tell when it comes to those two,” Violet answered, covering for the weirdness that would ensue if she told him what we had been talking about.

“Are you keeping him?” I asked.

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