Chapter 14 Grady
GRADY
Ilanded at the small regional airport just after five. The fog was rolling in off the ocean, thick and cold, turning the October evening gray. I’d left seventy-five-degree sunshine in Los Angeles, which felt nice. Now I was home, and it felt right.
The drive to Esme’s took fifteen minutes.
I parked in the alley behind the shop and sat there for a moment, engine ticking as it cooled, trying to steady my nerves.
I’d been psyching myself up all afternoon, telling myself just to tell her how I felt and then about the inheritance.
I had no idea how she would react to any of it, but I’d decided in L.A.
that I was done with keeping everything to myself.
If she loved me, she would tell me. But I had to confess first.
I grabbed the bottle of wine I’d bought on the way and used my key to let myself into the stairway that led to the apartment. The door opened at the top of the stairs before I could knock.
“Grady, you’re back.” Madison launched herself at me, careful of her cast but no less enthusiastic. Trevor bounded out behind her, tail wagging so hard his whole back end wiggled.
“Hey, Sweet Pea.” I scooped her up with my free arm, resting her on my hip. “How’s the injury?”
“Much better. Look how many people signed it.” She thrust the blue cast toward my face. The entire thing was covered in signatures and drawings—hearts, stars, doodles, names in different colored markers.
“You have a lot of friends,” I said.
“I know. Everyone likes me,” Madison said.
“How could they not?” I asked, kissing the top of her head before setting her down.
Esme appeared, wearing jeans and an oversized sweater, her hair in a messy bun. She had no makeup on and her eyes were red and puffy. She looked exhausted but beautiful nonetheless.
“Hey there,” I said, handing her the wine. “I stopped and got us a treat.”
“That’s so sweet of you, and I’m glad you did. Welcome home.” She gave me a sad smile. “We missed you.”
“You okay?” I asked, pulling Esme into a hug. She felt so tiny in my arms and too thin. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
Madison skipped ahead into the living room to sit on the floor to play with her dollies. Trevor stayed glued to my side, looking up at me with his sweet brown eyes. I knelt to give him some good pets. “Hey, boy. Did you hold down the fort while I was gone?”
A tail wag and a lick of my hand was all the answer I needed. Trevor sauntered off, lying down next to Madison on the rug with his chin in his paws.
Robbie appeared from his room. “Hello, Grady.”
“Hey, buddy. How’s it going?”
“Adequately.” But there was a careful blankness that told me things were not, in fact, adequate. What on earth was going on here?
“Robbie, will you set the table?” Esme asked. “And Madison, you need to wash your hands before dinner. Be careful not to get water inside your cast.”
Madison headed to the bathroom, Trevor on her heels.
“He’s been following Madison around like she’s in danger ever since she got home,” Esme said.
“Good dog,” I said.
“Dinner’s almost ready. Lila brought one of her homemade lasagnas over,” Esme said.
“Sounds great. Can I do anything?” I asked.
“Open that wine,” Esme said. “Pronto.”
Dinner was quiet, other than the little one.
Madison chattered about school, telling us that Holly had let her be line leader even though it wasn’t her turn because of her broken arm.
“And all the kids clapped when I got to class, like I was a famous singer. It was kind of fun to have a cast and everyone paying attention to me.”
“I’m glad you can see the silver lining,” I said.
“Silver lining? What’s that?” Madison asked.
“It’s when something bad happens but it’s not all bad,” Robbie said. “There’s something positive that comes from whatever it is that happened.”
Madison’s face lit up. “That’s totally what my cast is.”
Robbie ate methodically, saying little. Esme pushed food around her plate without eating much. I tried to keep things light, asking the kids questions about school.
After dinner, Robbie excused himself, going to his room with his book, closing the door behind him.
Madison needed help with her bath, so Esme disappeared into the bathroom with her.
I cleared the table, loaded the dishwasher, wiped down the counters.
Trevor watched from his bed in the corner, clearly ready for his dinner.
I scooped a cup of kibble into his bowl and gave him fresh water.
Twenty minutes later, Esme came out of the bathroom looking even more worn out than before. Madison was in her pajamas, cast-arm wrapped in a plastic bag, hair damp from the bath.
“Can Grady tuck me in?” Madison asked.
Esme glanced at me. “If he doesn’t mind.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Yay.” Madison launched herself at me, wrapping her one free arm around my legs, hanging on as we headed toward the little alcove off Esme’s bedroom. Once there, I held back the quilt, and she slipped between the sheets, staring up at me with big eyes.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t come back,” Madison said.
“Why would you think that?”
“My dad left and never came back. That’s what Robbie tells me anyway. I was a baby then.”
“Well, I will always come back as long as you’re here to welcome me.”
She grinned. “I’m not going anyplace except to school. Not tomorrow, though. It’s Saturday.”
“That’s a relief.” I grinned back at her.
She looked up at me, big blue eyes earnest as she lowered her voice. “Grady, Mommy’s really sad.”
“I noticed that.”
“Robbie too.”
“Do you know why?” I asked gently.
“Robbie wants to go to college this summer and Mommy doesn’t have the money. And then she found out about my toe. She was crying all night. I could hear her when she thought I was asleep.”
Robbie had gotten into the program at USC. I knew he would. No wonder he was so down at dinner. “What’s wrong with your toe?”
She pushed her bare foot out of the covers to show me that her big toe was bandaged. “My shoes are too small, and they made my toe bleed. Mommy got really upset.” Madison’s chin quivered. “That’s why I didn’t want to tell her. She just got me shoes when school started.”
“You’re having a growth spurt.”
“A spurt?” She giggled despite the tears that gathered in her lashes. “That sounds weird.”
“It just means you grew a lot in a short amount of time, which explains why your shoes are too small.”
“I told her I could wear my flip-flops but she said it was too cold.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to work. I’ll help your mom figure out what to do about getting you a new pair. Maybe I can take you shoe shopping tomorrow.”
“Okay.” She reached up to cup my cheek, so tenderly that I almost burst into tears. “We need you. Thank you for coming back to us.”
“Always will, Sweet Pea. Now, get some sleep. We have a bid day of shopping tomorrow.”
“I can’t wait,” she said, yawning. “Good night, Grady.”
I kissed her forehead and shut off the lamp, which prompted a nightlight to switch on, casting shadows in the small room. “Night, Sweat Pea.”
Shaken, I walked back to the living room. Madison’s toe had been bleeding because of her shoes. Robbie thought he couldn’t go to the summer program. This was all wrong. But I could fix it. If I’d had any doubt about accepting my inheritance, it had faded into nothing.
Esme was sitting on the couch, with Trevor’s head in her lap. She looked small and fragile and without her usual effervescent spirit, as if the world had finally broken her. The shoes must have been the last straw.
I sat down next to her. “Let’s talk. ”
She kept stroking Trevor’s ears, staring at nothing. “Sure. What’s up?”
“You tell me. What’s wrong?”
“A letter came yesterday. Addressed to Robbie.”
I waited, knowing what was coming.
“Robbie got into a STEM program. At USC. I didn’t even know he’d applied.”
“His teacher encouraged him to,” I said. “But he didn’t think he’d get in.”
She lifted her gaze. “He told you?”
“Yeah, he did.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her voice had shifted from sad to angry in a heartbeat.
“Because he didn’t think he’d get in and he didn’t want to worry you about the cost. And you’ve had a lot on your mind the last few days.”
She closed her eyes, letting out a long sigh. “That’s what he said too.”
“I knew they’d want him.”
She opened her eyes, turning her gaze to me. “They’re only taking eight kids. Out of four hundred applicants.”
“That’s incredible.”
“It is, yeah. Guess what the price tag is? Fifty-eight-hundred bucks. The deposit is due in two weeks. Two thousand just to hold his spot. Which obviously I don’t have.
His heart’s broken. He won’t say it, but I can see it in his eyes.
” She stopped, pressing her fingers into her forehead.
“Unless I ask Gillian or Seraphina. Which I don’t want to do. They’ve helped me so much already.”
“They like to help,” I said gently. “Especially if it’s for the kids.”
“I just can’t keep asking.” She dropped her hands, one resting on Trevor’s head and the other on her lap. She looked at me from red-rimmed eyes. “I’m tired, Grady. It’s time to make some changes. Big ones.”
“What do you mean?”
“And it’s not just the USC program,” she said, ignoring my question. “Madison’s been walking around in shoes that are too small. Her toenail—it’s cracked and bleeding, and she didn’t tell me because she knew I was worried about money.”
A tear slid down her cheek. I wanted so badly to brush it away and bring her into my arms.
“She’s six years old and protecting me from knowing she’s in pain. What kind of mother am I?”
“A good one. You know that.”
She shook her head. “Robbie tried to act like it didn’t matter, like he understood, but I could see in his face that it’s another thing I’ve failed to give him.” She dipped her chin. “I called my parents today.”