Chapter 43
Eleanor
Greyson did his best trying to show up for both of his daughters.
For the most part, it was easy with Lorelai.
She welcomed him back with arms wide open.
He stopped working as late each night and made time to attend her karate practices every now and again.
I swore every time he walked into the class, Lorelai’s eyes lit up as if her biggest dream had come true.
When he was there, she’d perform better, too, and always looked back toward Greyson to make sure he was watching. And he always was.
Then when dinner came around, he’d sit down with us and talk. Lorelai, of course, led most of the conversations. She never stopped talking as soon as he sat down for dinner. But Greyson was there. He was engaging. He was becoming a part of his family again.
Karla wasn’t having it at all, though. Whenever I invited her to dinner, she didn’t even reply anymore.
She simply walked off and never looked back.
There came a point when it was too much for me, and I finally followed her into her bedroom one evening.
She was sitting on her bed, eating her dinner with her headphones on.
“You have to stop doing this, Karla,” I told her.
“Doing what?”
“This. Shutting everyone out. Your father is trying.”
“I don’t care that he’s trying. He had a million days to try. I waited so long for him to try, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I just don’t care.”
I walked over to her and inhaled deeply. “Come to dinner tonight, Karla.”
“Are you deaf? I said no already. I’m pretty sure I made that really clear every single night for the past four months.”
“Yes, I know, but I’m asking you right now to change your mind.”
“I’m not changing my mind for him,” she scolded, rolling her eyes.
“I’m not talking about for your father. I’m talking about for Lorelai.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Lorelai really misses you, Karla.”
“We live in the same house—I see her enough.”
“She needs you,” I told her.
“She’s fine,” she replied.
“OK, I get it. You’re mad at your father, and I understand.
You feel like he abandoned you, and you’re fully allowed to take as much time as you need to work through those feelings.
But you have to understand that if there is one person who understands what you are going through, it’s Lorelai.
She lost her mother, just like you. Please don’t make her lose her sister too.
She needs her sister, Karla. She needs you. ”
Karla’s stare shifted, and she looked down to her shoes as she fiddled with her hands. Then she got to her feet, picked up her plate, and grumbled. “Whatever. As long as it gets you to stop bringing this up.”
I smiled, pleased, and walked back to the dining room with her.
She put her plate down at the table, pulled out her chair, and plopped down. Greyson seemed beyond puzzled, and Lorelai’s eyes lit up when she saw her sister.
“You’re eating with us, Karla?” Lorelai inquired, clearly stunned.
“Looks like it,” she mumbled with her cell phone in one hand and her fork in the other.
“That’s good. I missed eating with you,” Lorelai said, slurping up her spaghetti. “Mom missed you too,” she said, nodding toward the untouched plate of pasta left out for Nicole.
Karla rolled her eyes. “Mom’s not here, Lorelai,” she said. “There’s no such thing as angels.”
“Karla,” I snapped, but Lorelai shrugged her shoulders and leaned in toward me.
She whispered, “It’s OK, Ellie. Mom knows Karla doesn’t mean it.”
Karla rolled her eyes again, then she looked toward Greyson. “Just to be clear, I’m not here because of you,” she stated sternly. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“Duly noted,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender.
Greyson looked my way and mouthed, Thank you.
I nodded once and went back to eating.
As we ate, a big part of me wanted to tell Karla to get off her phone, but at least she was sitting down at the table. At least she had shown up, even though I was sure it was hard for her to do. I was almost certain it was hard for every single person to show up to that table that night.
One step at a time, Eleanor.
One step at a time.
* * *
“I can’t believe that after all this time, I finally get to see him,” Shay remarked as we drove over to Greyson’s house for the baseball game.
“I mean, I know you’ve told me about him, and I’ve been tuning in the best I can to your reality show, but actually seeing Greyson after all this time is going to be surreal.
It’s as if I’m an extra on your show!” she exclaimed.
I laughed. “You’re so ridiculous.”
“Does he look the same?” she asked.
“Um, yeah, but like, in a grown-up way. You’ll see.”
“So this is gonna be your new home when you marry Greyson, huh?” Shay said as we pulled onto the property. “Not too shabby.”
“For the love of God, I just hope you avoid saying all these things in front of him.”
“No promises. You know me—I’m a talker.”
We parked the car, and as we began walking toward Greyson’s front porch, he came out wearing a backward baseball hat and a White Sox jersey.
“Hey ladies!” He smiled and hurried down the stairs to greet us.
“Shay, it’s been a long time. It’s great to see you.
” He pulled her into a hug, and Shay stood still as day.
When he let go of her, she gave him a tight smile and then turned back to me and whisper-shouted, “What the hell, Ellie?!”
“What? What’s wrong?”
She pulled me in closer and turned her back even more to Greyson.
“Um, how in the ever-loving shit did you forget to inform me that Greyson, oh, I don’t know, grew up to become a Greek god?
Seriously, are those real biceps? Those can’t be real.
People don’t look like that. People don’t look like that! ”
“Shhh, he’s going to hear you. Stop being weird.”
We turned back to Greyson and smiled. “Are you guys ready to head out? I figured we could all fit into your SUV,” I said.
“Yeah, let me go get the girls. We’ll meet you out here.”
He turned around and started walking away with his hands in his pockets, and Shay moaned.
She moaned.
“Do you see it, Ellie?”
“See what?”
“Those cheeks of steel. Left cheek, right cheek, cheeks cheeks cheeks, oh how cheeky Grey’s cheeks can be,” she said, mocking Greyson’s butt.
“Oh my gosh, Shay, shut up, will you?”
I rolled my eyes at my cousin’s comments, but heck, I did notice Greyson’s behind.
A man couldn’t wear perfectly fitted jeans like that and not have his bum looked at, and Greyson wasn’t lacking in that department.
Not at all.
“Listen, I know there are rules against this, but if you don’t sleep with him, I will,” she joked.
I shoved her lightly. “You’re ridiculous, but hey, I just wanted to warn you before you meet Karla. She can be a bit hard on people when they first meet her.”
“Oh yeah! The growler, right?”
“Yeah. Karla is going to try to freak you out with her scars. Don’t react to it, because that will just make it worse. Just try to be cool about it. Pretend you don’t even notice.”
Shay went to the car, grabbed her black bowler hat, and placed it on her head. “I’m pretty sure you’re overthinking it. Don’t worry, it will be fine.”
Yeah, that was what I had thought too.
Greyson and the girls came out of the house, and Lorelai was bouncing up and down with excitement about the baseball game. I didn’t have a clue if she was into sports, but the moment I mentioned cotton candy, she was fully on board.
My stomach knotted as I witnessed Karla’s stare move to Shay.
Karla locked eyes with her.
Shay stared back.
I swore it felt like minutes before Shay nodded. “I like your style,” she said, speaking about Karla’s all-black attire. “Very European vibes.”
“Thanks.” Karla nodded back. “I like your hat.”
“Do you want it?”
“Sure.”
Shay took off the bowler, walked over to Karla, and placed it on her head.
Karla nodded once more. “Thanks.” She turned and walked to the SUV and climbed inside after Lorelai.
My jaw was on the floor.
What in the world had just happened?
Shay frowned. “That was a very underwhelming growl, Ellie.”
She then walked off and climbed into the SUV too.
I turned to Greyson, who was standing there just as stunned as I was. “Is your cousin a wizard?”
“That’s the only logical explanation for what just happened. Nothing else would make sense.”
We all drove to the game, and the whole drive there, Shay and Karla spoke like they were the best of friends, talking about music and makeup, and oh my gosh, Karla was talking more than Lorelai.
How did we just enter the twilight zone?
The baseball game turned out to be a lot more fun than I could’ve even imagined. Lorelai was on a sugar high, Greyson was locked in on the game, and every now and then I swore it looked like Karla was chanting, “Let’s go White Sox.”
“Hey, Dad. Can I get some cash to get a hot dog?” Karla said, standing up from her seat.
Greyson sat up a bit, seeming thrown off by Karla’s request. “Yeah, of course, here you go.”
“Thanks. Want anything?” she muttered.
Greyson’s eyes widened. He shook his head. “I’m good, thanks.”
“All right.”
Karla headed off to get her snack.
“Did you see that?” Greyson asked. “She asked me for money and then asked if I wanted anything.”
I smiled. “Yeah, I saw.”
“That’s one of those good small steps, right?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It was.” That was the thing about small steps—they had the power to lead to big changes.
When we hit the seventh inning, Lorelai was reaching her breaking point. She was coming down from that sugar high really quick.
“Just a little more,” Greyson said, his catching glove on his hand. We’d watched four balls fly in our direction the whole game, and he was more determined than ever to catch one too.
“But Daddy,” Lorelai yawned, climbing into Shay’s lap.
“Really, honey, we’re almost there. The next batter is the one who’s been hitting all those balls our way. And I have a good feeling.”
Lorelai groaned but didn’t put up much more of a fuss.
Then, like magic, Greyson’s player delivered a ball in our direction.
Greyson stood up from his seat, and it all felt oddly like destiny.
Greyson’s eye was on the ball, and as it started to come down, Lorelai tugged on Greyson’s jeans, forcing him to break his concentration for a split second.
That was all it took, though. In the amount of time it took for Greyson to glance toward his daughter then back to the sky, his focus was shot.
The ball was too close, and it hit him square in the face.
“Ugggh!” he groaned, tumbling backward and dropping the ball.
Everyone gasped.
“Are you OK, Dad?” Karla asked, seeming very concerned.
“Daddy, you missed the ball,” Lorelai mentioned.
“Oh, look! We’re on the jumbo screen! Dance, girls!” Shay instructed, and the three of them began wiggling their bodies as I helped Greyson sit up straight.
“I’m sure it looks better than it feels,” he whined.
“Which is scary, because it looks awful. We should get you home.”
We all headed to the car, and the ride was pretty quiet. I couldn’t stop from glancing over toward Greyson’s reddened face. It looked like it really hurt.
During the quietest moment in the car, Karla started snickering to herself. “Hey, you guys . . . remember when Dad caught the baseball with his face?”
Everyone started giggling, even Greyson.
“Who needs a glove when you have a nose?” he joked.
I swore that was the first time I’d ever heard Karla laugh.
Another small step.
When we got back to their house, Lorelai requested that Shay put her to bed—after she finished showing off all her artwork on the walls, of course.
Karla yawned as we walked into the house. “Night, everyone.”
“Good night,” Greyson and I told her.
When everyone was out of the living room, Greyson gave me a sheepish grin. “She said good night to me, can you believe it? And she made a joke in the car, and she asked me if I was OK when the ball slammed into my face. Small steps.”
“It’s a big deal. This is really good. But you know what’s not good? Your face. Sit down on the couch. I’ll get some ice.”
When I came back with the ice pack, I had instant flashbacks of younger Greyson as I sat down in front of him. “You know, maybe it’s best if you stay away from baseballs,” I mentioned, placing the cloth against his skin.
His arm brushed against mine, and chills raced down my spine.
“It’s going to be a bit bruised, but I think you’ll live to see another day.”
“Thanks, Ellie.”
I pulled the cloth back a little and gently touched his skin as he took a deep breath.
“I remember it all,” he said. “Everything that happened between us when we were kids. Your favorite coffee, the stuffed panda I won you, the way you nervously rubbed your arm up and down.”
My eyes locked with his, and I swore somehow, we were closer. Somehow, his hand was on my thigh. Somehow, my hand was on his chest.
“Do you remember anything about me, Ellie?” he whispered.
I felt his heart racing as my hand laid against him. “Only everything.”
He bit his bottom lip and looked down for a split second before putting those gray eyes back on me. I’d wished he’d stop looking at me.
I couldn’t think straight whenever those eyes found mine.
“You ever think about kissing me, Ellie?” he asked, brushing his finger gently against my neck.
My body was betraying my mind as it reacted to every touch he delivered my way. I shut my eyes. “Only always.”
“Ellie . . .” he breathed out, and I knew he was closer. I felt his breath dancing against my skin, but I couldn’t open my eyes.
If he was going to lean in, though, I’d let him. If he’d moved in closer, I’d allow it. If our lips fell against one another . . .
“All right, I think she’s down for bed,” Shay said, coming into the room. The minute we heard her voice, we both jumped back. I grew flustered as I leaped to my feet. Shay looked my way with a look of confusion mixed with pleasure.
“OK, good, we should get going,” I muttered. “Uh, Greyson, I’ll see you, um, yeah, OK, bye.”
I hurried out of the house with Shay following closely behind.
When we got into the car, Shay turned my way. “What was that about?” she asked, curious as ever.
“Nothing. Just a little bit of nostalgia,” I mumbled, closing my eyes and hoping my wild heart would slow down at some point.
“He was about to kiss you, Ellie,” she said, as if I hadn’t known what was about to happen.
“Yes, I know.”
She whistled low. “I swear . . . this reality show is getting better and better each night.”
I ignored her comment, because currently my mind was too jumbled to tell her to shut her mouth.
Greyson almost kissed me.
And without much thought, I almost kissed him back.