Chapter Twenty-Nine
Grant held on to Ivy as long as he could, but the Wisconsin winter reminded them of certain biological realities, like how uncomfortable it was to attempt sleep with few blankets and no heat.
If he’d known how successful his apology was going to be, he would have brought a portable, battery-operated heater into the tree house.
He had no idea how he would have gotten it up the ladder, but where there was a horny will, there was a creative way.
It was well past midnight as he snuck back into the house with the pillows and blankets he’d borrowed from his mother’s stash.
His childhood home was quiet, except for the epic echo of his dad’s snoring.
For Christmas, he’d bought his mother a sleep mask with integrated Bluetooth headphones for an extra layer of noise over her earplugs.
He folded the final blanket and tucked it in its basket. All that was left to do was turn the dancing Santa by the door back on and he’d be home free. Secret romantic gesture achieved.
Still congratulating himself internally, Grant rounded the corner into the kitchen on his way to the front door. He was so happy, he wanted to do a jolly jump and click his heels together. Then the harsh white light of the refrigerator filled the kitchen and his heart almost exploded.
“What the fuck?” he panted, clutching his chest with one hand while the other gripped the cool granite countertop.
“Me what the fuck? You what the fuck!” Lorelai whispered harshly from the floor. She’d tripped over her own feet during her equal moment of sheer shock and terror. “What are you doing here? I thought you went home.”
“No. I was doing something…important.” Still shaky from the adrenaline, he offered her his hand and pulled her up from the floor. “Why are you awake?”
“Gemma kicks like a mule.” Lorelai picked her plastic cup off the floor. “Then once she woke me, I had to pee. Then I realized I was thirsty.”
“A real If You Give a Mouse a Cookie situation.”
“Reading that book really prepared me for parenthood. There’s always something else they want, especially at bedtime.” She filled her glass from the dispenser inside the fridge. “What was so important that you’re playing burglar? Snooping for unwrapped Christmas presents?”
“I was doing something with Ivy,” he mumbled toward the ground. He should’ve known his sister, a teacher and mother, would have the hearing of a bat.
She shut the fridge and leaned against the door. “I’m going to need more details, since the last time you told me you ‘talked to Ivy,’ you were crying and holding a broken hand.”
“Did you have to include the crying part?”
“Always. It adds to the richness of the story.” She smirked, and Grant rolled his eyes.
“I owed her a pretty big apology, so…” He searched for a way to say it without being crass.
“Did you give it to her with your dick?” Lorelai joked, but when he didn’t immediately refute it, her eyes got huge. “No. Way. Did you seriously have sex with Ivy Weaver?”
He nodded.
Lorelai released a torrent of rapid-fire questions without any room for him to answer. “Where? How was it? Do you still have super-big feelings for her? Did you tell her you still have super-big feelings for her? Does she know you had super-big feelings for her that summer?”
“Can you slow down for five seconds? Jesus.” He drew out a pause long enough to make her antsy, then he tried to answer as many of her questions as he could remember.
“Yes, I still have super-big feelings for her and yes, she knows I did and I do. It was ah-mazing. And it was in the tree house because it seemed romantic and I didn’t think I could convince her to go to a second location she couldn’t already see. ”
“Whatever you got me for Christmas, return it. This is the best gift ever. Though once you turn over the keys to the tree house to Gemma, it’s officially a no-sex zone.”
“Duh. Don’t be gross. And who said I got you a present?”
She dipped the tips of her fingers in her glass and flicked water at him. Grant grinned as the specks hit his cheeks.
Lorelai’s tone shifted to serious. “So what does this mean?”
“You ask a lot of questions.” He boosted himself onto the counter. Besides Tony, Lorelai was the person he’d always told everything to. She was his twin, his womb-mate, and she understood him in a way no one else ever would. If he couldn’t unburden himself to her, he’d have to wait for a priest.
“I don’t know what it means. She lives in Boston. I obviously live here. I don’t know if she’s looking for anything serious or if she’s expecting this to be a casual thing.”
“You know you don’t have to have the five-year plan tonight, right?”
“I know, but it would be nice to have the next-week plan.”
“Do you want to be in a long-distance relationship?” Lorelai asked.
“No,” he said without thinking, and had to amend the statement. “Of course I don’t want a long-distance relationship. I don’t think anyone wants to be far away from their person. But if the choice is long-distance or nothing, I’ll find a way to deal.”
“Do you remember when Jodie and I first started dating, how she went to that wellness retreat in Thailand and couldn’t call me for three weeks? At least it won’t be like that.”
Grant stared at his sister. “She proposed when she got home.”
“Okay, so it’s not a great example. But if you both want to be in a relationship, it’s not impossible. Her parents live next door. She’s going to come back again eventually.”
“I don’t think Mom knows yet, but Ivy told me that Paul and Sophie are moving.”
“Are they downsizing to a smaller house across town? Moving closer to the university?”
Grant shook his head. “They’re leaving the state. They want to be closer to Ivy. She explained to me what a pain in the ass it is to get from Boston to Coeur-de-Lac, and even if she hadn’t been avoiding me all these years, I don’t blame her for not wanting to make the trip.”
Lorelai frowned, confused. “But she has free flights.”
Grant repeated a version of Ivy’s explanation from the bowling alley, and even in the dark kitchen, he could see Lorelai’s eyes glaze over as her understanding flagged and her attention faded. He concluded with, “At least Tony is in the same boat.”
That got her full and undivided attention.
“Please explain.”
“Ivy’s best friend, Brad, came for a few days and he started hooking up with Tony.
Brad had to go back to work on Tuesday, so Tony is going through dick withdrawal.
But if they want to try and figure things out after a few days, that has to bode well for me, right?
We’ve known each other our whole lives.”
“You’re asking the wrong person about the appropriate speed for a relationship to progress,” Lorelai said. “I’m a lesbian. My relationship should have been sponsored by a moving van company. But I think the only thing you can do is talk to Ivy and see what feels right for the two of you.”
The sound of quick, small feet in the upstairs hall made them both look at the ceiling. Lorelai sighed.
“That’s Gemma going to the bathroom.” She put her water glass in the sink and then wrapped her arms around Grant.
They hugged each other tightly, two halves of the same whole.
“I hope this works out because I need at least one sister-in-law I like. God knows what kind of woman Austin will bring home someday.”
“She’s going to be terrifying.”