Chapter 22
TALKING ABOUT ME
Rowan checked the guest room on the lower level one more time, then popped his head into the bathroom close by.
Saylor said her grandmother wouldn’t feel comfortable being upstairs next to them. Or maybe Saylor didn’t. Since he wasn’t so sure he would either and even his mother stayed downstairs, it worked for him.
Everything was set as Saylor had what her grandmother needed and liked downstairs to watch TV, relax, have a snack, a drink, or even make coffee. There wasn’t a full kitchen in the suite, but a fridge and microwave behind the bar with a coffeemaker.
He took the stairs two at a time and walked around the first level looking for dust.
Stupid since Saylor was cleaner than the maid service he had come in once a month.
Yep, that was another damn disagreement between them. She’d told him to save his money, and she’d clean.
He laughed at her. She frowned, then put her hands on her hips.
Rather than argue, he kissed her on the lips and said, “No, you’re not my maid and don’t even think about turning this into needing to do more because you’re not paying as much.”
They had a stare down. Something he’d perfected as a kid with his siblings, and she threw her hands up and walked away.
Rowan lifting his arms in the air and chanting “Victor” might have been overkill, but he got a laugh out of her.
He pulled his phone out and looked to see how close Saylor was. Twenty minutes out, so he got some fruit and cheese out of the fridge and tried to make a pretty arrangement on a board.
After five minutes, he gave up. He might have been creative and enjoyed drawing and art, but it was graphic modern design, not neatly placing food into masterpieces.
Dinner would be easy. He was grilling steaks and lobster tails. Both were ready to hit the heat when they wanted to eat.
He picked up sides and dessert on his way home. Loaded sweet potato wedges, an arugula salad, roasted vegetables and the lemon pound cake Saylor couldn’t get enough of when he brought one home weeks ago.
Did he want to impress the woman who raised his girlfriend more than her parents?
Fuck yes, he did.
Which could be why he was pacing the house worse than when he waited for her to arrive after her long drive from Iowa.
He pulled his phone out again, saw that she just turned down the street, and went to the front of the house so he could watch her park.
The minute Saylor pulled into the garage, he had the door to the mudroom open.
“Wow,” she said. “Did you miss me already from this morning?”
“Always,” he said. “But I was going to get your grandmother’s bag.”
The older woman got out of the passenger side. He knew she was in her late sixties, but she didn’t look it. Not that it was old. Hell, some of his early morning surfing buddies were that age and put him to shame.
He hadn’t once gotten up to surf in the morning since Saylor lived with him though.
He missed starting his day that way. Now that they were in a decent routine, he might sneak out. She wouldn’t care and he wasn’t sure why he changed what he did a few days a week.
Because he liked their time together in the morning to talk and didn’t want to give that up.
She popped the trunk and he grabbed it. Saylor was already walking in the house.
Once he set the bag aside, Saylor turned with her grandmother. “Grandma, this is Rowan Carlisle. In person. I know you’ve been looking at him online.”
He kept his smile in place. He hadn’t realized that but shouldn’t be surprised. He just wasn’t positive what Leslie was looking for. “It’s nice to meet you, Leslie.”
They shook hands. “You are much nicer looking in person. You were right, Saylor.”
He felt the color seep up his neck. Saylor always laughed at him when he flushed. Just like his siblings did too.
He’d thought he’d gotten past blushing in life, but since he met Saylor, he’d lost that control.
“Are you talking about me?”
Saylor shrugged. “My grandmother has been reading more about your business. I tell her about it and she’s interested. She’s always loved the water. I hope to get her on the paddleboard.”
He wished he’d known that. “That’s great. Saylor is a natural now.”
“She’s always worried about doing things in front of others. She takes time to warm up.”
He’d noticed that too, which was why he wasn’t pushing.
“She’s doing a great job.”
“I told my grandmother that we are going to try surfing next. Maybe next weekend. I need it to be light waves.”
“I’ve got you when it’s time,” he said. “Logan taught me. If you don’t mind, he said he’d do it. Honestly, he might do a better job at that. I don’t know that I can always instruct that clearly.”
She laughed. “You don’t give that clear of instructions, but I managed just fine on the paddleboard by watching you.”
“Why don’t you show your grandmother around? I’ve got some snacks but can start dinner any time you want.”
“Snacks are good,” Leslie said. “This house is beautiful. Have to admit, I’ve never been in something this nice before. Let alone on the water.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet, Grandma. Your room is downstairs. It’s your space while you’re here and you won’t bother us any. We are upstairs.”
“Please, make yourself at home. Whatever you want or need, just take or use or ask.”
“Thank you,” Leslie said.
He grabbed Leslie’s bag before Saylor could and brought it down after they descended the stairs and put it in the bedroom, then came back up to put the board of snacks on the deck.
The weather was beautiful and they had shade.
He turned his head ten minutes later when the glass doors opened and Leslie came out alone.
“Where’s Saylor?”
“She’s taking a shower and changing. I told her I wanted some time to talk to you alone.”
He expected this but didn’t think it’d happen right away.
“I’m an open book.”
“I’m not so sure of that, but Saylor doesn’t have any complaints right yet. That’s all I care about.”
“I’m trying to make her happy.”
“I understand that, but don’t make yourself unhappy in the process,” Leslie said.
His smile dropped. “I’m not. Did she say I was?”
“I think she is worried you’re not fully yourself because you don’t want her to be upset. Life is about being upset. Trust me when I tell you, she’s lived through a lot of it in her household.”
Things he wanted to know but was afraid to ask Saylor. “Will you tell me what that was? She won’t talk about it much or brushes it off. I know she spent more time with you than her parents. She briefly mentions her sister.”
Leslie snorted. “First, Sandy is a drama queen and needs to be the center of attention.”
“I got that much. Then with her kids living at home too.”
“That’s another thing. But when my granddaughter was younger, Sandy sucked up all the attention in the room like the funnel of a tornado leaving destruction in its wake. And if she wasn’t getting it, there was mass chaos until she did.”
“So Saylor felt left behind?”
“I’m not sure that is an appropriate description. Saylor wasn’t a needy child, but I think she just got accustomed to always being put second. When she got sick, it was worse. She needed someone to watch her, guide her, make sure she wouldn’t kill herself. I’m not trying to be dramatic.”
“I get it. I had a friend in college with diabetes. I saw what he did and went through.”
“Saylor has expressed that. I always told her that whoever she’s with in life has to understand her disease the same as she does. Then she’ll know.”
He smiled. “I don’t know that I’ll ever understand it like her, but I’m trying.”
“That goes a long way with me. My son was on the road so much that Saylor’s care fell to my daughter-in-law, who was overwhelmed.
I won’t say she didn’t try, because she did, but she didn’t get it.
Not fully. And she worked a lot in her job.
Saylor was eating processed junk food and not giving herself insulin when she was home alone.
Her mother, Jen, felt after a few years Saylor should have figured it out on her own.
After the third hospital stay for ketoacidosis, I just had enough.
She came to stay with me the summer before her senior year of high school and we got her on a good path.
She improved herself from that point on. ”
“Good for her,” he said.
“Sandy didn’t like all the attention that Saylor got when she was first sick,” Leslie said. “Nor after.” Leslie turned her head to look inside. “Can she hear me upstairs or anything?”
“No,” he said. “I didn’t hear the doors open up there. Tell me.”
“Sandy didn’t just make Saylor’s life hell like a younger sister might. She used the diabetes as a weapon, telling Saylor no one wanted to be around a freak wearing robot gear.”
“What the hell?” The heat was in his face for another reason now.
“Yeah. She was already self-conscious being different. Saylor’s personality has always been to blend in.”
“And now she stood out?”
“She did. With her sister giving her a hard time at home. Anything negative that could be said, anything mean and rotten, it came from her sister.”
“Her parents did nothing? My mother would have kicked our butts.”
Leslie rolled her eyes. “Jen tried but gave up since she wasn’t around much to witness it.
Sandy is just impossible to deal with. I’ve never seen such a spoiled brat in my life.
Vic, my son, he’s on the road and when he isn’t, he finds a reason to escape the house and not be around Sandy.
When he puts his foot down, everyone falls in line, but it’s always messy.
Loves his grandkids, and tries to help, but his daughter, he’d rather avoid. ”
“What about Saylor? Didn’t he care about her?”
Saylor rarely talked about her father. Most times it was regarding her mother when it came to her parents.
“They were as close as they could be with him gone, but once Sandy got older, the house was just a tangled mess of emotions. Even when I visited, I left with my nerves screaming at me to stop going over. I took Saylor home with me as much as I could.”
“Sandy didn’t get upset over that?” he asked. He couldn’t see Saylor’s younger sister not throwing a fit over someone else giving Saylor attention.
“She did at first, but at my house there are rules and Sandy learned she couldn’t get her way with me.” Leslie was laughing.
“Good for you.”
“I don’t make a habit of saying everything that I just did.”
“Why did you?” he asked.
“Because I’ve never seen my granddaughter this happy before. I know a good thing when I see it and I don’t want her to have doubts. Or more doubts than she’s had in her life. I’ve got to imagine with your background you might be used to a woman worrying they might not measure up?”
He shook his head. “No. Most times it’s a woman wanting everything I can give them. Saylor’s different. That’s why it’s so important for me to understand her. You shared something with me, I’m going to with you. She’s the one. She’s not ready to hear it though. I hope you won’t tell her.”
“My lips are sealed,” Leslie said, smirking. “Unless you hurt my granddaughter. Then I won’t be so nice.”
He laughed. “I never want to hurt her.”
Leslie shook her head. “Life isn’t that easy. You’re going to hurt her. She’s going to hurt you. It’s how well you mend the other that matters.”