Chapter 30 Josie #2
I was at the door before she could ring the bell, not wanting a lecture from her about how I knew she was coming and should have been waiting. With a bright smile, I swung the door open and threw myself into her waiting arms.
“Grandma! Oh, I’ve missed you so much!”
“Then you should have come to see me sooner,” she chuckled. “Oh, it’s been too long, and Sawyer didn’t stay nearly long enough.”
Stepping back, I ran a careful eye over her, nodding in approval. “Well, you look fantastic! This winter has been good to you.”
Chuckling, she pulled off her gloves and handed them over before unbuttoning her coat. “Well, I would be better if I lived in Florida during the winter, but I couldn’t stand to be that far from my babies.”
“We would miss you, too, but the weather really is getting frigid up here. I swear, every winter is worse than the one before.”
Stepping back, I allowed her inside as I hung up her coat in the closet. Standing behind her, I wrung my hands together as she studied every inch of the living room. I was surprised she hadn’t pulled out the white glove to test how dirty it was, but thankfully, she left that in her purse.
Sawyer entered the living room with a slightly frantic expression, but winked at me to let me know it was taken care of. Walking straight into Grandma’s arms, he hugged her and told her how much he missed her, but I was too distracted to hear the conversation.
There was a nightie on the couch, sticking out of the cushions. Red and lacy, if Grandma found that, there would be a whole host of questions to follow.
“Uh, Grandma!” I cut in, earning a glare from her. “Why don’t you sit at the kitchen table and I’ll make you some tea to warm you up after such a long drive?”
“Josie, it’s rude to interrupt.”
“Yes, I’m sorry. I was just—” My eyes flicked to the lingerie, and for a second, I thought I would fold. “You’re right. It was very rude.”
“But a cup of tea does sound lovely,” she smiled as my apology softened her up.
I guided her into the kitchen and stabbed my eyes toward the lingerie. Thankfully, Sawyer followed my line of sight and snagged it, shoving the lingerie further into the cushions out of sight.
“So, tell me about Grandpa. How’s he doing?”
“Oh, just as surly as ever. He’s ready for golf season, and you know how cranky he can get when he doesn’t get to golf.”
Bustling about the kitchen, I nearly dropped the tea twice as I felt the weight of her stare on me. She was warming us up, making us feel at home, until she was ready to come running full blast out of the gate.
“All the more reason to move to Florida,” I laughed. “He would get to play golf year-round!”
When she didn’t laugh, I glanced over my shoulder and saw her quirked eyebrow. “So quick to get rid of us?”
“What?”
“I’ve been told I needed to come home immediately.”
“I—”
“Something about my grandchildren misbehaving?”
My eyes widened in panic.
“I didn’t want to believe it, but then again, you both have been on your own for so long, I decided I just had to come see for myself.”
I didn’t know what to do or what to say. She had me cornered, and the noose was tightening around my neck.
I looked at Sawyer, and even though I knew it was the most horrible thing to do, I unleashed.
“Sawyer brought a cougar home!”
My grandmother’s eyes widened in horror.
“Josie!”
“What? You did,” I snapped. “And she sold my car without telling me!”
“You got your car back.”
“It shouldn’t have been sold at all,” I argued.
“Yeah? Well…you let a guy fuck you against the side of a car!”
Gasping, I pressed my hand to my chest, horrified by what he had just said. “I did not!”
“Your ass prints are on file at the police station!”
My eyes darted to my grandmother’s shocked face. “You have sex every night so loud that I can’t sleep!”
“You sleep at another man’s house every night!”
“Only because I can’t sleep with the animal noises coming from your bedroom!”
Grandmother cleared her throat, but Sawyer wasn’t done.
“At least I didn’t go to a hotel in the middle of the day where everyone could see me.”
“At least I’m not with a woman old enough to be my mother!”
“You got arrested. Twice!”
“Josie!” my grandmother gasped.
I leaned hard on the counter, desperate for her to know the truth. “It was only once. The first time, I was only taken down to the station.”
“You attacked my girlfriend in broad daylight!” Sawyer shouted.
“She sold my car!”
“She was trying to do you a favor!”
“You had to drug her to keep her in the other room so she didn’t embarrass you!” I finished.
Breathing hard, we both glared at each other. Well, so much for sticking together. In one fell swoop, we had essentially decimated each other. And all my grandmother had said was that she had been told to come home.
“Well, my, my, my,” Grandmother sighed. “When I got the call, I assumed the two of you were fighting or something. I had no idea my granddaughter was committing lewd acts in public or that my grandson was about to give away the family fortune.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I glowered at the floor. The last thing I wanted was a reprimand from my grandmother. Worse, I had turned on my brother, and even though I hated Cuddlebug, I had no desire to see my grandmother chastise him.
“It’s about time,” she laughed.
My head snapped up to her grinning face. “What?”
“Well, I’ve been waiting for one of you to snap. After your mother died, I was sure you were both going to live the most depressing lives ever. It’s nice to know you’re finally learning to live a little.”
“But…” I frowned in confusion, trying to piece the puzzle together. “But you always come home and…and…”
“And what, dear?”
“Well, judge us.”
“I can be hard on you, my dear, but that’s only because I want what’s best for you. And sometimes, what’s best for you is to misbehave just a little,” she winked. “Though I wouldn’t make a habit of doing…what you were doing in public with that man.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” I mumbled. “There will be no more ass prints of mine floating around the system.”
Sighing, she got to her feet. “Well, I hate to cut and run, but since I now know that both of you are perfectly capable of getting into trouble on your own, I think it’s time your grandfather and I finally sold the house and flew the coup!”
“Wait, you’re leaving?”
“I know,” she smiled. “Just when you were getting interesting, but I’m getting up there in years, and I can’t wait around forever to see what you’ll do next. Send me a postcard.”
Then she moved to Sawyer.
“And honey, there is nothing wrong with bringing home a cougar. Just make sure she doesn’t have access to the bank account.”
“Uh…sure, Grandma.”
“Now, your grandfather and I will have to tie up a few loose ends before we leave. Expect a call from our lawyer soon.”
“You’re really leaving?” I asked, a little bummed that the visit was cut short now that she finally knew the truth.
“It’s too cold here and the sunshine is waiting for me.”
After giving me a kiss on the cheek, she did the same to Sawyer and grabbed her coat. Her visit had lasted only twenty minutes, but it took twenty years off my life.