Everett
“Daphne?"I walked up and down the hall of Grandpa’s apartment for the third time, shaking the box of cat treats and making kissy noises. "Daph, come out and eat!”The sound of fresh treats was usually a siren song to the little beast, but of course nottoday, because today I was in ahurry.
“Daphne, you are such a shithead,” I muttered under my breath as I crossed back into the kitchen and set the box on thecounter.
“Language, Everett,” Grandpa Hen called from the living room and I rolled my eyes. His hearing was more acute than most men half his age, unless his doctor was delivering some warning about taking it easy on his recently un-casted leg, in which case Henry was convenientlydeaf.
“You ready to go?” I asked, dusting off my khaki pants and rolling up the sleeves of my jacket as I entered the living room. “I told Silas we’d grab a table if we got to the diner before…Seriously?”
Grandpa was rocking in his favorite recliner with Daphne sprawled on his lap like a giant blanket, the white of her fur a perfect match to the hair on his face and his head. They both looked up when I walked in, and it was a tossup as to who looked moresmug.
I folded my arms over my chest and gave them both a dirtylook.
Daphne gave me the feline equivalent of an eye-roll, then lay back down like she couldn’tevenwith my drama, as the kids at school said. Grandpa shrugged and stroked a hand along herback.
“I thought she was a demon cat,” I challenged. “A tripping hazard? Amenace?”
“Hush, Everett,” Grandpa admonished, holding Daphne protectively. “You’ll hurt herfeelings.”
I gave him a slow blink. "Is this…reality?"
He hmphed. “Daphne and I have come to an understanding,” he said. “She has discerning taste just like I do, and neither of us likes our routines to be upset. Isn’t that right, sweet girl?” hecooed.
Daphne purred, right oncue.
“And just how did this unholy alliance form?” Idemanded.
“Well, you haven’t been around very much the past few weeks,” he said. “Someone’s abandoned us, haven’t they Daphne? Someone got cozy with Silas and left us to our own devices,hmm?”
“Oh, please,” I sighed. “I’m still here working at the store almost every afternoon. I still sleep in my bed everynight.”
“And why isthat?”
“Why iswhat?”
“Why is it,” he repeated with ill-concealed impatience, scratching at Daphne’s ears, “that you spend part of almost every evening with Silas, but you come back here and sleep in your ownbed?”
I stared at him as a thousand thoughts flew across my head, but what I said was, “Because you need me. Daphne needs me. I livehere.”
Grandpa Hen eyed me skeptically. “I got my cast off last week. I’m lighter on my feet than you are these days. Daphne only needs someone to feed her and listen to her troubles, which she’s got.” He pointed to himself. “And even when you’rehere, you ain’t really all the wayhere.”
I huffed and planted my hands on my hips. That wasludicrous.
“So I’m gonna ask you again, Ev. What are you doing with thatboy?”
If he’d asked it in a judgmental way, or a teasing way, or even in a gossipy way, I would have been enraged. But instead, he asked it kindly, gently, with that tenderness that was still so new, coming from him, I didn’t know how to defend againstit.
“I don’t know,” I said instead. It sounded bleak because itwas.
“He in love withyou?”
“It’s been amonth, Grandpa.” I ran a hand through my hair and paced the narrowroom.
“That s’posed to answer myquestion?”
“No. I… I don’t think he loves me.” But that wasn’t quite true, and my heart picked up speed at the question. There were times when Si looked at me and I thought I saw something in his eyes, or when he asked me a question that sounded like he was asking something else. I’d ignored it. Or triedto.
“You love him?” Grandpa asked, just like I’d known he would, and at this my heart skittered in my chest like a pebble thrown across a lake, shallow anduneven.
