Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Eva
The next day, Kain had meetings to attend and contractors to meet for his renovations. Grandpa invited me to meet his bingo friends before I headed to the gym to work out.
With a fruit dish in hand, I walked down to the first floor and knocked on Emilio’s door. Though he lived in my building, I hadn’t met him. I heard he shared a three-bedroom apartment with his friends.
A woman with short silver hair opened the door with a friendly smile. “Hi, Eva. Come in. Your grandfather is winning again. I’m Camila.”
“Nice to meet you, Camila.” I transferred the fruit platter to her. “This is for everyone to enjoy.”
“Thank you. That’s so nice of you.” She placed the platter on the coffee table.
“I’m up by seventy dollars now. I can take you out to dinner soon!” Grandpa exclaimed from the round table beside the living room. “Hold on a second, everyone. Meet my beautiful granddaughter, Eva.”
“I’m Emilio.” A man with light brown hair and green eyes, wearing a red T-shirt and dark pants, walked up and took my hand in his. “I’ve heard so much about you. Does he cheat when he plays bingo with you? Because he’s the Bingo King again today.”
“Haven’t played yet.” I laughed. “Nice to meet you, Emilio.”
I met Arthur, who had wild hair, reminding me of Einstein, and Wilbur, who had patches of silver hair on either side of his head, with the bald center gleaming against the light.
Both men offered me warm handshakes. Wilbur’s wife, Betsy, gave me a hug.
She wore a floral top with a matching headband in her chin-length brown hair.
“Thank you for keeping my grandfather out of trouble.”
They all laughed.
“Thanks for the fruit,” Betsy said, then resumed her bingo game.
“They’ll be at it for days if I don’t interrupt them,” Camila said.
Arthur, Wilbur, and Betsy also lived in the same building, but their apartments were a few doors down.
Camila looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I’d seen her. “Have we met?”
“My grandson, Milo, accidentally knocked over some plants in your shop. So sorry about that.”
I remembered now. “How’s he doing?”
“Playing video games in his room.” She waved for me to follow her. “Let’s go say hi.”
I followed her to his room, where the door was left ajar. His fingers flew across the keyboard as he concentrated on a battle between a warrior and a monster. The focused expression didn’t resemble the terrified boy I remembered.
“Milo, say hello to Eva.”
He stopped, looked at his grandmother, and then at me. Smiling, he said, “Hello.” Then he returned to the screen.
“He looks so calm and happy,” I said.
“He’s an intelligent boy who needs love and safety. He’s nineteen.”
“Nineteen in September.” He looked at me.
“Then you’ll need a party to celebrate,” I replied.
“Will you come?” he asked.
“Sure will. Just let me know when and where.”
Though nineteen, his demeanor still seemed like a young kid’s. What happened to him? It wasn’t my place to ask.
After telling my grandfather to have fun and wishing everyone luck, I made my way to Kessler’s Studio to practice. I knew Kain wasn’t around, but he had reserved that same room for me and left some self-defense videos on the TV screen for me to follow.