Chapter 32
32
Kieran
“Told you I would bounce back,” Granddad said, settling on the couch in our apartment. “Doc said I’m basically back to one hundred percent.”
I handed him a glass of water I’d filled in the sink. “That’s not what he said.” What he’d said was that, with time and continued physical therapy, Granddad would likely make close to a full recovery.
He waved me off. “Close enough. I’m just ready to not need a babysitter on the stairs. How am I supposed to date like that?”
“I don’t know,” I said, thumbing through the mail on the counter. “Wouldn’t that give you an excuse to hold on to your date?”
He scratched his jaw and then snapped his fingers. “Hot damn! You’re right. You really did get the brains in the family.” He laughed at his own joke, and I smiled to myself. It was great to hear him laughing and joking again. I wondered if he’d been laughing all along. I’d been so caught up in everything, I was figuring out now that there was a lot I wasn’t paying attention to. It all seemed clearer now that I was spending so much of my time with Sybil.
“You know,” Granddad said, “I do plan to take the shop back over. I’m not ready to retire.”
He’d told me the plan over and over again, and sometimes I wasn’t sure if he was reminding me or himself. I understood more than anyone how comforting it was to turn to a plan, a prescribed path, so I let him walk me through it again. “You’ll go back to school. Lila will take one of the jobs she’s been offered, and I’ll run things for another five or six years.”
I nodded. “And then sell it?”
That was the part he never landed on, and as usual, he tipped his head side to side and did his best to dodge the question. “Time will tell, my boy. Those real estate developers have been sniffing around for ages.” He sipped his water, and I looked out of the corner of my eye to see if his hand shook, but it was steady. “I’ll figure it out once you kids get back to your lives, though. I know it’s been hard for you to hit pause on it all. Is everything taken care of for you to go back?”
I’d kept the details from him, sharing only the basics so he didn’t worry. “Just about,” I said. “A few loose ends to tie up.” I owed Miles a call about the apartment, and the paperwork was on my desk with the phone number to call and commit to the next semester. I wasn’t someone who put things off, but I hadn’t called yet, and the deadline was approaching so soon; it was right after Sybil’s sister’s wedding.
“When you go back to Texas, will Sybil go with you?”
“Um, I don’t know,” I said, stacking the envelopes so that I could avoid eye contact. I hated lying to him, but there was no choice—he’d never accept the truth, but without the money, I couldn’t save the shop. “It’s still pretty new, and she’s been busy getting ready for her sister’s bachelorette weekend, which she’s just returned from, so we haven’t talked about it.” I’d barely seen her over the previous week, but I’d get texts and photos of the projects she was working on. My favorite was of the group all in T-shirts with “Smile, This Dentist Is Getting Married!” printed across the front. She’d sent a follow-up message including all the options she’d suggested referencing fillings, cavities, and opening wide that had been vetoed. I’d even started to miss her horrible dirty jokes. “It’s probably too soon to make big decisions like that for each other,” I added.
“Ah, yes, but when you know, you know.” He glanced at the photo of my grandma on the side table. “And I can spot a man in love with my eyes closed.”
I was saved from responding by the knock on the door. I was expecting Tom when I swung it open, but Sybil was on our welcome mat, bouncing on her heels. “Lila said you were up here,” she said, leaning in to kiss my cheek, the brush of her lips soft against my stubble and her hand pressed against my chest.
“We were just talking about you,” Granddad said from the couch, opening his arms for a hug.
She dropped a peck on his cheek as well, and he winked at me over her shoulder. “I told you, Joe, I won’t leave him for you. You’d be too much for me sexually.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t kept up with advancements. I imagine some things have changed.”
“Oh, there are great websites,” she said, a grin across her face. “You can learn everything that’s new before you get back out there.”
Granddad laughed, but I covered my ears dramatically. “No, thank you. Change in subject, please.” This time they both laughed, and Sybil settled on the couch next to Granddad.
“He’s so sensitive,” she joked, resting a friendly forearm on Granddad’s shoulder. “I did a thing,” she said, locking eyes with me. “A big thing!” She bounced in her seat like the secret she was teasing was working its way out of her in the form of energy. “And I wanted to celebrate with you.”
“Can you share what this big thing is?” I opened the fridge—the closest we had to champagne was orange juice, but I pulled it out. Giving in to Sybil’s energy was easier than fighting it, and more importantly, I liked her like this.
“Not yet,” she said. “But I put some of my money toward a good cause, and I want to celebrate.” She looked from me to take in the room, her eyes landing on a photo on the side table, her announcement forgotten. “Joe, is this her? You said she was pretty, but she’s beautiful!” She held up the framed photo of my grandmother.
“That’s my Rosie,” he said, a softness appearing on his face. “Great love of my life.”
I pulled glasses from the cupboard, watching the two of them as Sybil handed the photo to Granddad. “Tell me about her,” she said, looking over his shoulder at the photo.
“She was the one for me. Mouth like a sailor, and she had the best laugh,” he said, a wistful expression taking over his face. “You remind me a little of her.” He patted her knee, and my heart clenched at the affection in his touch. He was a toucher, a hugger, and our neighbors and customers all got a piece of that affection, but the way he was with Sybil was how he was with Lila and me. He was treating her like family and falling for her. “Of course,” he said, “she wasn’t as lucky as you!”
“I don’t know,” Sybil said, tracing a finger along the edge of the photo. “She had you. I think she was pretty lucky.” She continued admiring the photo.
“Best I could do,” I said, handing over two glasses of orange juice. “What are we toasting?”
“To your big thing?” Granddad held up his glass and raised an eyebrow at Sybil.
“You know,” she said, setting the photo gingerly on the table, “that can wait. To Rosie! Sounds like she was an awesome fucking lady.” She clinked her glass with Granddad’s, and he beamed, his eyes a little wet.
“That’s the kind of toast she’d approve of,” he said, tapping his glass to mine. “To finding women who bring us joy,” he said to me, his expression turning more pointed before he drank from his glass. “Now, you two leave an old man to nap,” he said, shooing us from the living room with an exaggerated wink. “There must be something you can get up to in Kieran’s room. Maybe some of those new advancements?”
I rolled my eyes and finished my orange juice.
“I actually did want to talk to you about something,” Sybil said, sipping from her glass as if it were a crystal flute and not a scratched water glass that used to be a jelly jar. “But if that door’s a rockin’…” she said with a sly grin to Granddad.
“If only he were so lucky,” the old man said with a chuckle. “But do send me those websites!”
“Glad you and my granddad can make me so uncomfortable together,” I said, sitting on the edge of the old desk once I closed the door behind me.
“You love it,” she said, tapping her palm against my cheek. She had to stand close to me to do that, and I inhaled her familiar scent and pressed my hand to the desk to stop from sliding it along her hip. “And it’s good he’s interested in getting out and dating.”
Sybil stepped back and fell to the end of my bed, crossing one leg over the other. “You made your bed?” She looked over her shoulder, as if to be sure.
“Yeah…”
“Did you know someone would be in here?”
“No, I just make it when I wake up.”
She shook her head as if in disbelief. “We are such different people.” She was right, but watching her on my bed, settling her body over the blankets, made me imagine messing it up with her. How she’d look panting and breathless against my pillows, how much I wanted to let myself lose control with her. It had seemed like a bad idea before, but now, with her stretched out before me after a week apart, I just wanted to be close to her, and I lowered myself to join her on the bed.
I stretched out next to her and rested on one elbow. “Vegas was good?”
“Amazing.” She toyed with the hem of her shirt as she told me about the weekend, lifting it and dropping it repeatedly, giving flashes of her stomach every time. She finished her story and let the shirt fall with an inch of her soft skin showing, tipping her head to the side to look at me.
“I’m glad you had fun.” I stroked my finger along that exposed skin and traced circles. “I missed seeing you,” I admitted. “I’ve gotten pretty used to being around you every day.”
Sybil’s gaze softened at my touch, and she sank her teeth into her lower lip. “Me, too.” She lowered her gaze. “Bet you never saw that coming.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I guess I didn’t.” I drew circles with my fingertip on her skin. “You know, Granddad asked about me going back to school.” I’d wanted to talk to her about it, but she stiffened and then rolled away from me.
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” She stood and then reached into her back pocket and handed me a folded piece of paper. “It was too much to Venmo, so…” She held it out. “Here’s the money.”
“Oh,” I said, taking the check from her. “I thought we were waiting until the end…”
She paced between the door and the bed. “I know,” she said, tucking hair behind her ears, “but I figured you shouldn’t have to wait until the end, and you can pay down bills to take care of Joe so you’re ready to go back to school. And I’m trying to spend the money in good ways, so…”
I studied the check, unfolding it and looking at her loopy handwriting, missing the feel of her next to me. I’d never held that much money in my hand, but it felt different than I thought it would. “So weird to imagine paying things off all at once,” I said, tallying the medical bills and outstanding debt in my head. “Thanks.” I stood and tucked it into my back pocket. “I guess you’re almost done with me, huh?”
“The wedding is a month away,” she said. “And you’ll probably forget about me when you’re around all those smart doctors again. What will I do without you when you go back to your real life at school?” She flashed me a grin and fell back onto the bed like we were switching places.
“Probably go back to driving like a madwoman,” I said, trying not to stare at the endless curves of her figure. “And you’ll be free to date someone for love instead of…for PR reasons.”
“I’ve spent too much time thinking about the future today. I don’t want to think about it for another minute,” she said, looking toward the ceiling. And I didn’t, either, because I liked seeing her on my bed, and the money in my pocket made me uncomfortable, and nothing was the way it was supposed to be. I felt calmer about that than I expected. Sybil Sweet wasn’t just in my bed. She was in my head, and I had no idea how to reconcile that with what I needed to do moving forward. My mind was always swimming with what came next and how to get back on track, but somehow, with her here with me, the only thing I was overwhelmed with was her and how much every minute I spent with Sybil made me consider scrapping all my old plans in favor of new ones that included her.