Chapter 3 #2
He laughed, a warm sound that filled the small living room. “You're something else, Sarah Garrison.”
“I know.” She held out her hand. “Now help me off this sofa. I need to call my other granddaughter before she makes plans that don't include me.”
Walter set aside his crossword and came to pull her up. His hands were warm and steady, and she let herself lean on him for just a moment, feeling the solid comfort of his presence.
Then she straightened, smoothed her blouse, and reached for her phone again.
She found Sarah's number and pressed call. It rang twice before her granddaughter answered, sounding slightly out of breath.
“Grandma! Hold on, I'm just getting Maggie down from the climbing structure at the park. Give me one second.”
Sarah waited, listening to the background noise of children playing, seagulls crying, the distant rhythm of waves. Sanibel Island in March. She could picture it perfectly, the brightness of the sun on the water, the way the beach grass bent in the breeze.
“Okay, I'm back,” Sarah said. “Sorry about that. She's in a climbing phase. Everything must be climbed. Trevor says she gets it from me.”
“You always were adventurous,” Grandma Sarah agreed. “It's one of your best qualities.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine. I just have a proposition for you.”
She launched into her pitch again, this time tailoring it to her audience.
Where Lauren needed logistics and plans, Sarah needed emotional appeal.
She was the one who worked at the Outreach Center, who spent her days helping families in crisis find stability and hope.
She understood, better than most, the importance of showing up.
“Your mother is flying up for the birth,” Grandma Sarah said.
“Chelsea is going too. And after the babies arrive, the whole family is going to the Andover house to say goodbye before it sells. This is the end of an era. I want to be there, not as an afterthought on a video call, but in person. Standing in that house with all of you, one last time.”
Sarah was quiet for a long moment. Grandma Sarah could hear Little Maggie babbling in the background, the high-pitched chatter of a toddler discovering the world.
“I want to be there too,” Sarah finally said. “I've been thinking about it ever since Mom told me the plan. But with the kids, and Trevor's work, and my shifts at the Center...”
“Devon has already expressed interest in spending more time with his grandchildren. And Trevor is perfectly capable of managing for a few days. Men these days are much better at parenting than they used to be. They've had to be.”
Sarah laughed, a sound so like her mother's that it made Grandma Sarah's heart ache with love. “You're scheming.”
“I prefer to think of it as strategic planning.”
“Lauren would never go for this. She's got Olivia's tennis and Lily's recital and a thousand other things on her calendar.”
“I've already spoken to Lauren. She's considering it.”
“She is?”
“I can be very persuasive when I put my mind to it.”
Another pause. Grandma Sarah could almost hear the calculations happening, the mental reshuffling of schedules and responsibilities.
“What about Walter?” Sarah asked. “Is he coming too?”
“Walter is staying here. This is a girls' trip. Three women, on the open road, going to welcome the newest members of our family into the world.”
“That actually sounds...”
“Wonderful? Inspiring? The perfect combination of adventure and family bonding?”
“I was going to say chaotic. But also, yes, wonderful.”
Grandma Sarah smiled. She had her. She could feel it in the shift of Sarah's voice, the way hesitation was giving way to excitement.
“I need to talk to Trevor,” Sarah said. “And call Devon. And I’ll need to talk to Ciara to figure out coverage at the Center.”
“Of course.”
“And Lauren has to actually agree. Not just consider it.”
“Leave Lauren to me.”
“Grandma.” Sarah's voice was warm now, affectionate. “You really want to do this? It's a long drive. And you're...”
“Old? I'm aware. But I'm not dead yet, and I'm not going to sit in Florida while my family gathers in Massachusetts without me.
I was there when that house was full of children.
I watched your mother raise all five of you in that house, through good times and bad.
I'm not saying goodbye through a phone screen.”
The words hung in the air, heavy with the truth of them. Sarah was quiet for a long moment.
“Okay,” she finally said. “Let me make some calls. I'll talk to Trevor tonight and reach out to Devon. If I can make it work on my end, I'm in.”
“That's my girl.”
“But Grandma? If we do this, I'm helping with the driving. You're not doing the whole thing yourself.”
“I wouldn't dream of it. These eyes aren't what they used to be after dark.”
“And we're stopping at actual hotels. Not sleeping in the RV.”
“If you insist.”
“I do.”
“Fine. Hotels. Soft beds. Running water that doesn't come from a tank. You young people are so spoiled.”
Sarah laughed. “I love you, Grandma.”
“I love you too, sweetheart. Call me tomorrow.”
She ended the call and set the phone down with a satisfied sigh. Two conversations, two potential yeses. By this time tomorrow, she would know for certain, but already she could feel it coming together, the plan taking shape like a road stretching north toward spring.
Walter appeared at her elbow with a cup of tea, steam curling from the rim.
“You look pleased with yourself,” he said.
“I am.” She took the tea and wrapped her hands around its warmth. “I'm going to Massachusetts, Walter. I'm going to see my great-grandchildren born, and I'm going to walk through that house one more time, and I'm going to do it all surrounded by the women I love most in this world.”
He put his arm around her. “I'll miss you.”
“I know.” She leaned her head against his arm. “But some things are worth missing someone for.”
Outside, the Florida sun was beginning its slow descent toward the water.
Sarah Garrison watched it through the window and thought about the house in Andover, about the rooms she had visited so many times over the years, about the family that had grown and scattered and somehow kept finding its way back to each other.
She had a few more phone calls to make, details to arrange, logistics to hammer out. But for now, she’d sip her tea and enjoy the satisfaction of a plan set in motion.
The road called. And Sarah Garrison had never been one to ignore a call.