Chapter 21
GO WITH THAT
“Ican’t wait to see my grandmother. Are you sure you’re okay with her staying here?” Saylor asked a month later.
Life was going more perfectly than she could have ever expected.
“I’m positive. I want to meet her. There is more than enough room here. I’m at work most of the time anyway.”
“You said you were taking Friday off,” she said. It was Wednesday, her half day at work. She’d get out and go right to the airport to grab her grandmother and bring her to Rowan’s.
“I am,” he said, tugging her hair. “But if you want to spend it with your grandmother alone, you can.”
“No, she’s going to want to spend time with you more than dinner or sightseeing.”
“I can’t wait. Give me a kiss so I can hit the road. I’ve got an early meeting with Logan and a few others. Have a great day at work.”
He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, then grabbed his bag with his laptop and was out the door.
She took the last swig of her coffee, put her cup in the dishwasher, made a quick lunch to eat on her fast break, then was running out the door also.
Hours later, she was standing in the airport waiting for her grandmother.
She was almost bouncing on her toes. She must have been burning more energy than normal because she felt her phone go off and knew it was an alert for her blood sugar dropping.
She sighed, pulled it out of her purse, saw it was slowly going down but was at 100 right now. She fished around for a package of fruit snacks, ripped it open and poured them all in her mouth, then found a garbage can.
If she were home, she would have most likely let it ride out, but since she’d be walking and moving in the airport, pulling her grandmother’s luggage, and then showing her around the house, it was best to treat.
A hand went up in the air, her smile widened and she rushed in to give her grandmother a hug. It’d been over a year since she’d seen her last.
“That’s my girl,” her grandmother said. “Look at you with that tan.”
She grinned. “I’m not trying for one and wear sunscreen, but it’s hard to avoid.”
Her grandmother ran her hands down Saylor’s arms. “You look so happy. I’m not sure I’ve seen this big of a smile on your face in years. Maybe never.”
“Awwww, I’m so excited to see you.”
“It has more to do with the man in your life. I can’t wait to meet him.”
“He’s looking forward to it also,” she said. She reached for the luggage and pulled it toward her car. “How was your flight?”
“Easy. I don’t mind flying when it’s just a straight shot like that. Fast too. I really hate that you paid for it.”
“Grandma,” she said. “I’ve got the money. We know that. And I’m barely paying for anything here. I’m making more than I have at my other jobs.”
“Because everything in California costs so much more.”
“But I’m not spending much here.”
“Don’t sound so grouchy over that. I thought you two had an agreement.”
She snorted. “So did I. I buy groceries and anything I want for the house.”
“Which we know isn’t much because you’ve never been keen on possessions.”
“That’s right. We go out to eat once a week and I get to pay once in a while.”
It depended on where they went and if Rowan knew people around. Frustrating, but not worth the fight.
Even on Valentine’s Day last week. He wanted to go out and she said no. She made him a nice romantic dinner in, gave him a custom stained glass picture of him surfing. Of a photo she’d found in a frame on the fireplace.
He’d loved her gift, which was more than she’d paid for anything for a man before.
He gave her her own paddleboard and accessories with it. She’d been using his, as she loved doing that on calm days. That cost a lot more than her stained glass gift.
She didn’t know why she was trying to keep up. It’d never happen.
“Don’t make a big deal over it,” her grandmother said. “Men have their pride and it’s not as if he’s short on cash.”
“I don’t want him to think I’m taking advantage of anything.”
“Get the pout off your face. I doubt he’s thinking that. You’re not your sister.”
“Never,” she said. “Why would you say that and put me in a horrible mood?”
Her grandmother laughed. “I didn’t mean to and it’s not my intention. Sandy found out I was coming here for a few days and she’s pissed.”
“When isn’t she pissed? But why now?” She wouldn’t tell her grandmother she got a snotty text from Sandy asking when she could come. She’d ignored it like she normally did.
“Because she whined that she wouldn’t mind coming for a visit and staying in your apartment and then going to the beach with the kids.”
She turned her head as they left the airport and walked to her car. “Apartment?”
“You don’t think I’ve told anyone you’re dating Rowan, have you? You wanted that a secret. If she thought you were living with a man, she’d be all over it too.”
“Calling me a hypocrite on top of it.”
Saylor had always told her sister she rushed to live with men. Within weeks of dating, she’d move in, even with her kids if she could. Otherwise the kids stayed at her parents and Sandy would just spend more nights with the new guy, coming home days when she wasn’t working to see the kids.
Her father was fed up with moving her sister and told her he wasn’t doing it anymore, so she spent more time with men than her kids anyway.
Not her problem because she was positive it wouldn’t change.
“Your sister has issues.”
“Don’t we all know it?”
She popped the back of her SUV and put her grandmother’s bag in there. “Are you hungry? Do you want something now? Rowan texted he was home and would start dinner.”
Her grandmother smiled. “That sounds like a nice young man you’ve got there.”
“He’s great,” she said, her voice carrying longer than normal.
“You deserve to be happy, but I’m wondering what is going on. You seem a little troubled.”
She climbed in and buckled up, then started her SUV and pulled out.
“Nothing gets by you.”
“Tell me what is on your mind. Is it just the fact he pays for everything? Your father pays most of the bills. It’s not really old-fashioned, but some men like doing that. Your mother pays for everything else.”
“Like whatever Sandy needs,” she said, laughing.
She wasn’t jealous of that. Not now. Maybe when she was younger she was.
“My point is, it’s not unheard of. Especially when one has much more money than the other. It’s his house, he should pay for it. Do you really think you could afford half the bills?”
“Never.”
“Then let it go. My guess is, he wanted you here and was making it as easy as possible for it to happen. Just go with that. You’ve known him now just shy of two months.”
“Yep, another six days will be two months. We had two weeks apart in that time, but we talked a lot and video chatted.”
“How is it living together?”
“Good. No complaints. We don’t get in the other’s way.
When I’m working, we have our morning routine and leave about the same time.
I get home and he’s already there. He knows I eat little that late and has fended for himself.
We talk for an hour or two while I unwind and are in bed no later than ten. ”
“Sounds like you’re a boring couple.”
She laughed. “I don’t have a problem with it.
He doesn’t either. My days off, I do things around the house, but he’s pretty clean and doesn’t leave it for me.
I get groceries and have dinner for him.
He’s normally home by seven. He taught me how to body surf.
That was fun. I really like to paddleboard, so I’ve been doing a lot of that. ”
He got her a dry suit, which was hard to move around in. The waterproof tape for her pod and CGM worked the best and she wasn’t having too many issues with her devices not staying on in the water.
“It’s good for you to get out there and exercise. I’m sure you’ve got your number under control while you’re doing it.”
“I do. At least with paddleboarding. He wants to teach me to surf soon. I’m a little nervous about it.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t have that great of balance as a kid. I’m gaining it now on the paddleboard, but that is different when I’m not trying to keep it stable with moving water.”
She knew that was part of Rowan’s plan. Get her on that, which was slow, have her feel confident with it and the next would be easier.
Sometimes she sat on the board and paddled if the waves were rougher, but tried to go when it was calmer.
Which defeated the purpose if she and Rowan wanted to be out together because he was surfing. But they were making it work and enjoying a hobby together.
That was more important in her mind.
She was learning to love what he did and understand it more.
“If anyone knows how stubborn you are, it’s me. If you want to master something, you’ll keep at it until you’ve got it.”
She turned her head. “I doubt I’ll master this. I feel inadequate around his friends when they are out there surfing.”
It went back to her always being the outcast in her mind as a teen.
Rowan was way out and riding waves in, laughing with his friends, her sitting on the beach and watching. Those times, the waves were too hard for her to paddleboard. She’d walk along the beach, or go sit in his yard and watch with his binoculars.
She wasn’t lying when she told him that was her new hobby.
Seeing her hot boyfriend all wet, his body tense, his hips moving with a smile on his face while he did it.
Yep, major turn-on.
Not that she’d admit that to her grandmother!
“You need to get over that. Not everyone is perfect or the best and they won’t be. You can’t tell me Rowan is better than his friends. All of them?”
“No. Logan, that’s his best friend. He taught Rowan how to surf and he comes over a lot since he doesn’t live on the beach, but only about a mile away. Logan is really good.”
She liked Rowan’s best friend. He was funny and nice. Considerate. A lot like Rowan and he told stories about Rowan’s past, giving some insight into what her boyfriend was really like.
He was almost too perfect for the two months they’d been together, and it was annoying.
They had to fight at some point.
Or at least over more than money.
But nothing had come up. It was almost as if he gave in all the time and she didn’t want that either.
“Then he’s not comparing,” her grandmother said.
If there was anyone she could talk to about her feelings, it was the woman in this car.
“Grandma, sometimes I think he’s too accommodating because he doesn’t want me to get mad and leave.
It drives me nuts, but if I bring it up, he laughs at me.
He says that he’s just laid back. He’s the most relaxed of his family.
Even his mother has said it.” She’d talked to Aileen a few times when Rowan’s mother called to check in.
“Maybe he is. Do you think he’s laid back?”
“He is. It’s not as if I’ve talked to his family much, but Logan has joked about Rowan going where the wind blows without blinking. Rowan has even said he just says or does what pops into his mind.”
“Then there you go. Don’t look for problems that might not exist.”
“You’re right. It just seems too good to be true.”
“Only because you don’t think you deserve it,” her grandmother said. “So get over that too.”