Chapter Seventeen #2
I slipped off my shoes and listened. The house was mostly quiet, save for the faint sound of someone speaking in the kitchen. As I approached, I could hear it more clearly. “It was wrong, and you know it,” Mom said, her tone completely unfamiliar.
“Wrong to give someone the push they need to better themself?” Grandma laughed.
“She doesn’t need to better herself, Mom.”
“Yes, Diane, we all know how you feel about your perfect angel, but at some point, you need to take the training wheels off and—”
“Jessa,” Dad interrupted Grandma the moment he saw me. “How was work? How is Lily doing?”
I smiled. Dad did keep his promise. Last weekend, he came into The Prologue and spent the entire day there. While he was there, Lily wound up putting him to work and talking his ear off. Apparently, she could befriend anyone. Even my father.
“Work was good. A little slow for a Friday, but I think it’ll really pick up next week. The local schools will be on spring break, so we’re having a huge sale on kids’ books.” I plucked a candy from the bowl on the island. Something I normally wouldn’t dare to do in the presence of Grandma.
Tonight, I couldn’t find it in me to care about anything she may have to say in regard to my weight or me spoiling my appetite. “And Lily’s doing well. She’s already asking when you’ll be back to deep clean the espresso machine again.”
“I can come by next weekend,” Dad said with a proud smile.
I popped the candy into my mouth. The taste of peppermint bloomed on my tongue as I turned toward Mom. “What are you cooking?”
She smiled at me as if I had thrown her a lifeline. “I was thinking we could throw some steaks on the grill outside. It’s finally getting warm enough to pull it out again. Why don’t you help me cut up ingredients for a salad while Dad sets it up?”
A telltale sign that Mom definitely needed saving from the conversation. I could count on one hand the number of times she ever asked me to help her cook. “Sure,” I replied.
The tension in the room seemed to fizzle away after that. Dad went to busy himself with pulling the grill out of the shed, and Grandpa followed after him. Grandma disappeared shortly after, vaguely saying she had to take a phone call.
“What was all that about?” I asked as I carefully sliced through a mushroom.
Mom shrugged halfheartedly beside me. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay,” I agreed. Further pestering wasn’t the way to get her to tell me more. If she wanted to, she would. If she didn’t, her lips were as good as sealed.
“Have you and Liam talked much this week?”
It seemed, sometimes, like Mom’s favorite part of me coming over was that she would get to gossip. “I’ve… been avoiding him.”
“Jessa,” Mom said with a sigh, shaking her head.
“I have an idea,” I confessed. “To fix everything. I just—I need to get through this dinner first.”
Mom bumped her hip lightly against mine. “Follow your heart, kiddo.” She was busy slicing through a head of lettuce, but she still smiled. “How have things been going with those friends of yours?”
The words felt almost alien. I couldn’t remember a single time in my whole life when I had an entire group of friends. A real group of friends that I actually felt like I was a part of, rather than an outsider who had stumbled their way inside.
In the course of not even a year, it seemed that every part of my life had changed so monumentally.
“Good, actually,” I replied excitedly. “Lily was finally able to convince Clara and me to go out last weekend. It was honestly a lot of fun.”
Fun was one way to put it. It had been my first time going to a bar. It wasn’t exactly my scene, but Lily claimed she had the perfect dress to wear, and Clara lit up at the idea. Once both of them were on the same page, I didn’t exactly have much of a choice.
“We ran into that girl who runs the bakery when we were out, too. Val. She was there with her friend, Lottie. I guess they have these girls’ nights once a month, and I think we’re officially stuck going with them now?”
I grinned at the memory. The little bar across town, dancing on a far too crowded dance floor, and each of us drinking one too many overpriced drinks.
I could only vaguely remember when we first bumped into Val and Lottie, but by the end of the night, we were all crammed into the same tiny cab, all of our throats sore from singing and laughing.
It was easily the most fun I had in years—or maybe ever. Even with the wicked hangover I had the next morning.
“I’m happy to hear that, honey. It’s about time you start acting like a normal girl in her twenties,” Mom said, playfully bumping an elbow into my side.
While Dad may be the only one in our family who had any idea how to operate the grill, Mom was always insistent on doing everything herself. When we finally stepped outside, and she saw that Dad was already manning the grill, she immediately pushed him aside and took over.
Dad hovered a foot behind her, meticulously watching to make sure she didn’t accidentally light herself on fire.
I poured myself a cup of lemonade before settling into the chair across from Grandpa at the patio table.
Grandpa and I never seemed to have too much to say to one another. His thoughts and feelings seemed to be synced with Grandma, almost as if he couldn’t think for himself when she wasn’t around.
We sat across from one another, silently sipping our lemonade until our cups were nearly empty and dinner was finally done.
Mom came toward us with the steaming tray of steaks. “Dear, can you go grab us some forks and knives?” she asked, resulting in a nod from Dad. As he made his way toward the back door, Mom shifted her attention to me. “Jess, set out some plates for me?”
When Dad came back out moments later, Grandma was trailing behind. The door hadn’t even shut behind her before her complaints had begun. “Are you sure you want to eat outside? It’s too chilly. And what about the bugs?”
Mom took it in stride, as she always did. “If it’s really so chilly, then bugs won’t be much of an issue, I’m sure. And don’t worry, the steak will warm you up.”
My eyes widened as she spoke. Mom always had an unwavering sense of composure when Grandma was involved, but it seemed that even she was beginning to grow fed up.
“Did you cook mine well-done?”
“Yes, Mother,” Mom said dryly, setting a plate of steak down in front of Grandma. “Just how you like it.”
I had only taken one bite of my food before it began. The incessant judgment I had prepared myself for.
“You said business has been slow, Jessa?”
I shook my head as I finished my bite of salad. “No, I said it was slower than usual today, but overall, we’ve only gotten more business each month that The Prologue has been open.”
Grandma frowned. “Sure, dear. Now, Diane—” She turned to Mom, but before she could say whatever it was that she was planning to say, I interrupted her.
“Grandma, I want to talk about New Year’s Eve.”
I hadn’t planned on starting the conversation so bluntly, but I couldn’t wait any longer. The words were bubbling up inside me, desperate to be let out.
“Are you all truly still hung up on that? I don’t see what there is to talk—” Grandma began to say, but when Grandpa rested a hand on top of hers, she fell silent.