Chapter 14
TJ
Lucy leaps from her seat and yelps as my grandparents come bustling into my kitchen with all the grace of a pack of baby hippos through a grocery store.
“Pa, Gram. What are you doing here?” I push my chair back and stand up to greet them, but it’s like I’m nonexistent. They are focused on Lucy.
“Is this her? This is Cinderella? You’ve found her!” Gram claps her hands together and shuffles forward. “Oh, are you ever a looker!”
“Gram! Please.” I shoot Lucy an apologetic look. Her eyes are wide as she flicks her gaze between my grandparents and me. “Sorry,” I tell her with a wince.
She puts a hand over her heart, like she’s trying to calm her pulse. “No, it’s fine. I thought it was the paparazzi or something.” She makes a face. “That’s stupid, I guess.”
“Not stupid. Understandable.” I frown at the way she tears herself down. I wish she wouldn’t do that. She said she was in hiding, so it makes sense that she’d be worried about unexpected visitors.
Lucy offers me a whiff of a smile, and I’ll take it. I round on my grandparents. “You two ever heard of knocking? Or calling before you barge in?”
My grandpa arches his brows. “Sorry, son. We were anxious to come over and see if you had any luck with your little Cinderella hunt. From the looks of it, you did.”
“I’m Loretta, dear.” My grandma steps toward Lucy, her wrinkly hand outstretched. “Since my grandson has lost all his manners, I’ll introduce myself. This is my husband, Martin.” My grandpa doffs an invisible hat in Lucy’s direction. “And who might you be?”
Lucy opens her mouth, eyes still the size of saucers, as she shakes my grandma’s outstretched palm. “I, um, I’m Lucy Dupree.”
“What a lovely name! A lovely name for a lovely lady.” Gram clasps her hands together.
“You, uh”—Lucy looks up at me—“you don’t know who I am?”
“Well, now I do!” Gram beams. “You’re the lucky lady who caught my TJ’s eye.”
Oh boy. I need to do something about this before the dreamy evening I’ve been having with Lucy turns into a nightmare, courtesy of the two septuagenarians currently eyeing her like a pair of hyenas when faced with the prospect of fresh meat.
“Gram,” I say with a hint of warning in my tone.
She wags a finger at me. “You stop it, TJ. You can’t fault me for being excited to see you actually dating.”
“I date all the time!” I remind her.
“Not really something I’d be broadcasting in present company,” my grandpa says, giving Lucy a significant look.
I press a hand to my forehead. I’ve lost complete control. I drag my palm down my face and glance at Lucy to gauge how bad the damage is. I don’t expect to see her fighting a smile. She twists her lips to the side and raises her eyebrows at me, as if saying, What are you going to do about this?
Heck if I know, Lucy. Heck if I know.
“Can we clear some things up real quick—?” I try again with Gram and Pa, but my grandma cuts me off.
“Are you two officially an item, then?” she asks, directing her question at Lucy. “I’ve raised my TJ well, dear, so you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. I know he’s dated around, but when he’s serious about something, it gets his entire focus.”
“Oh.” Lucy’s lips form a perfect circle until she presses them together and swallows a couple times.
“That’s … nice. But we’re not … I mean, he’s not my …
” She looks at me helplessly. I get it. There’s something about my grandparents, my gram especially, that makes you feel like you don’t want to let them down.
I credit them for why I turned into a halfway decent human.
I spent the majority of my life trying to make them proud.
“Lucy and I are not together like that, Gram,” I say gently. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
Gram fists her hands on her hips and frowns. “Well, why not?”
I shoot Pa a look, begging him to help me, but he just shrugs. “She likes this one.”
So do I.
The thought springs unbidden into my mind, and it startles me. I was telling the truth when I said I date a lot. It’s all surface-level stuff. I haven’t gone deep with anyone since college, and when Tess passed away, I closed off the depths of my heart so that I wouldn’t ever feel that way again.
I’m not saying I feel for Lucy like I did for Tess, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit she’s the first woman to give me pause and make me feel discombobulated since Tess.
It doesn’t matter, though. I’ve made the decision not to attach my life to anyone else’s. I’m happy with the way things are, and besides, Lucy doesn’t want to date me, so there’s that.
I sigh, trying to find the words to placate my grandparents. “She isn’t … She doesn’t … We’re not …”
“We’re friends,” Lucy interrupts me, drawing Gram and Pa’s attention.
“Friends?” Gram repeats, like she’s trying out the word for the first time.
Lucy nods hurriedly. “I was telling TJ that I don’t have many people, especially not around here, and he was kind enough to make me dinner and … we’re friends.” She glances at me as she says the final word, like she wants to make sure I’m on the same page. I nod.
Friends sounds good to me. I can do friends.
It takes only a second for a broad grin to spread across Gram’s face.
“Well!” She crosses the room to where Lucy is now standing up behind her chair and draws her into a hug.
“Any friend of our TJ’s is a friend of mine.
” She pulls away, keeping hold of Lucy’s arms as she studies her.
I’m ready to swoop in if I get the sense Lucy is uncomfortable, but she looks at ease, if a little shocked and amused.
My gram is always good for that. People swarm to her because she has a way of making them feel comfortable in their own skin.
It’s a gift. She often jokes that she must have a sign stamped on her forehead that reads, Tell me all your problems. I remind her that that particular sign is stamped on her heart, and people know they can count on her. They know she’ll be there for them.
I get the sense Lucy doesn’t have a ton of people who are there for her, so if my grandma wants to dote on her, I’m cool with that.
I’ll gladly share all the grandmotherly love, as long as Gram doesn’t push her luck and try to force Lucy and me together.
Now that she knows the truth about where our relationship stands, I’m hoping she’ll respect it.
I’m about sixty percent sure she will, but you never know with Gram.
When she gets an idea in her head about what’s best for people she loves, she has a one-track mind.
“What are you doing on Thursday, Lucy?” Gram asks.
Lucy glances up like she’s flipping through a mental calendar. “I don’t think anything. Why?”
“You simply must come to our chili cook-off and square dance. I insist.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“Nonsense.” My grandma flicks her wrist dismissively. “As my friend, I’d like you there. I’ve got a whole bunch of people who’d love to meet you.”
I feel my hackles rise, and I’m about to step in, but Lucy catches my eye and gives me a subtle shake of her head.
“That’s so nice of you,” she says to my grandma. “Do, uh, you know who I am?”
My grandma blinks. “Yes,” she says slowly. “You told me who you are.” She shoots a look at my grandpa, silently asking him, Do these two think we’re senile?
“No, right. Of course. I just mean, I’m kind of famous, or, rather, notorious.” Lucy winces. “I keep a low profile, so I don’t like a lot of people knowing where I’m living or anything like that.”
“Our friends and neighbors are our age,” Gram says. “They don’t care too much about famous people and their business.”
Lucy’s cheeks turn pink at this, and I want to put an arm around her shoulder and tell her that it’s okay … that she’s okay.
“I don’t think anyone would give you a hard time at all,” Gram concludes.
Lucy looks up at me. “Are you going to be there?”
“We have a walk-through that day before we leave for our away game on Friday, but I hope to stop by. I’ll be a little late.
” My heart flips to think that my presence would be a comfort to her.
Something about Lucy Dupree has my protective nature kicking in.
It’s a weird feeling to have a desire to be there for someone else after living by myself for so long.
I don’t hate it. It’s unexpected—like a dormant part of my chest is being tickled by a feather and starting to twitch back to life.
“I—” Lucy presses her lips together. “I’m honored to be invited. Truly. But I’m not sure it’s for the best. Is it alright if I think about it? I can let you know.”
“No need to even do that. Just show up if you can! TJ can text you directions. Does he have your number?” Gram flips her gaze to me.
“I’ll get it, and I’ll send you the address.
” I nod at Lucy and say a silent prayer of thanks that Gram somehow managed to give me an excuse to get Lucy’s number and not make it weird.
I could have asked for it, I guess. With any other woman, I wouldn’t have thought twice about doing that, but something about Lucy is different.
Gram claps her hands together once and then pulls Lucy into a hug. “I really hope you can make it.”
When Lucy leans away, she’s smiling. “You’re being too kind, Loretta. If I do make it out, can I bring anything?”
“If you’ve got a chili recipe you’d like to enter, by all means!”
Lucy’s smile turns wistful. “I do.” Her voice catches and she drops her gaze.
Instinctually I take a step forward, before reining in my desire to comfort a woman I hardly know.
My grandma catches Lucy’s change in demeanor as well and somehow knows exactly what to do.
She pats her hand. “Bring it along if you want. No pressure to, or to come at all. Just know it’ll be a night of fun and flavor.
Dress comfy to dance. They’re bringing in an instructor for us. ” Gram shimmies her shoulders.
“Easy, dear. Don’t throw out your back,” Pa deadpans.
Gram clicks her tongue. “You watch that mouth, Martin, or there’ll be no kisses for you.”
Lucy’s lips tick up, and I’m grateful to my grandparents for diffusing the moment. I’m not sure what it was about, but I’m glad Lucy is smiling now.
“Alright, then.” Pa claps me on the shoulder. “We’ll leave you two be. Come on, Loretta.”
My grandma says goodbye to Lucy before she scuttles back across the room toward me, pulling me down into a hug. “Your pa is right. I do like her,” she whispers into my ear. “I can tell you do too.”
Without giving me a chance to confirm or deny it, she sweeps out the door.