He got in the car and drove away.
Chapter Sixteen
He’d missed his last Sunday visit with his grandmother, as Shelly had gotten tickets to a ball game, so it wasn’t until Monday night after work that Drew made it for a visit. It had been the source of his and Shelly’s first argument.
“I told you not to make plans for me, Shel, especially on a Sunday.” He’d never raised his voice to her before, but she had to understand his priorities. “Sundays I visit my grandmother. She always comes first.”
First all he heard was sniffling, then, when he glanced over at her, tears were rolling down her face. “I’m sorry, Drew. I know how much you wanted to see the game.” She hung her head. “I wanted to do something nice for you.”
Guilt sliced through him like a hot knife through butter. Shit. Once again, he was the bad one. “C’mere.” He held out his arms, and she threw herself into his chest. “I’ll tell her I’m coming over tomorrow night instead, but please don’t do it again.”
All this ran through his mind as he parked his car in front of his grandmother’s house, noting that her grass had been freshly cut. That was nice of Mike. He knew his friend and Rachel had been over yesterday.
After he rang the bell, he heard her steps tapping on the hardwood floor and the rattle of the inner door being unlocked. A wonderful smell of baked cookies greeted him as she opened the front door.
“Come in, sweetheart.” She gave him a kiss, and he hugged her. “I made your favorite. Chocolate chip.” She looked behind him. “The girlfriend isn’t with you?”
“She had to work late. I’m happy it’s the two of us.” He reached the kitchen and lowered himself onto one of the wooden chairs, covered in a flowered cushion. A platter of cookies sat on the table, as well as coffee mugs, milk, and sugar. The cookies were the way he liked them, soft in the center and a little crisp on the edge with lots of big chunks of chocolate.
Biting into one, he moaned his pleasure. “Nana, no one makes these better than you.”
She didn’t answer him, and he opened his eyes. “What’s wrong? You’re looking at me strangely.”
“What’s really the story of you and this girl?” She stirred her coffee and took a sip, then put the cup down as if she wasn’t really interested in it. “Tell me the truth.”
The coffee was strong and bracing. Leave it to his grandmother to cut straight to the chase. “There’s no story. We’re dating. We have fun together.”
After studying his face for a moment, she shook her head. “You don’t love her.” Not a question, merely a statement of fact.
Horrified, he choked on his cookie. It took two large swallows of coffee before he could speak again. “Love? Of course not. We’ve only been dating a month or so.”
With a fond smile, his grandmother shook her head. “How long you know the person doesn’t matter when you’re in love. It could happen the first time you see them. But when you’re apart, the time stands still until the person you want to be with is with you again.” She took his hand. “You don’t feel that way about her, do you?”
With a heavy sigh, he shook his head. “I’m not going to either. I shouldn’t lead her on like this.”
Nana patted his hand. “She was in love with you from the first. I could tell the moment I laid eyes on her. She didn’t know you, but she loved you.”
Reflecting on what she said, Drew knew it was true. Shelly was so much more into the relationship than him. She was the one forever planning and setting up their dates. With a start, he realized what his grandmother had said before was true. He didn’t miss her when she wasn’t there. In fact, he could go a whole day without hearing from her, and he wouldn’t think twice about it. He sipped his coffee, savoring its heat.
“What does Asher think of her? I couldn’t get a straight answer from him yesterday.”
He choked again, this time sputtering coffee on the table. “Sorry, Nana.” He wiped up the drops with his napkin. “Ash? Was here yesterday?” The thought made him dizzy, as did all his thoughts about that infuriating man.
“Yes. He comes by at least once a week. We have lovely visits.” Her eyes glimmered. “That boy is very special to me.”
“Was he the one who mowed your lawn?”
“No. Some boys came by and offered to mow the lawn and trim the hedges. Why not? Usually one of you boys do it, but you shouldn’t waste your visits doing yard work.”
His mind still couldn’t wrap around the fact that Ash came by to see his grandmother even though they weren’t really friends anymore.
Still, curiosity gnawed at him. “What did he say about Shelly?”
She gazed out of the window for a moment. “What really happened between you and him that you don’t talk anymore?”
Drew swallowed. Leave it to his grandmother to answer a question with one of her own. How could he tell her the truth? Her bright blue eyes stared back at him, unwavering and full of love. “We became too close too fast, and it got a little overwhelming. Ash can’t trust anyone, and I can’t have a friend who doesn’t trust me.”
“Sometimes you need to give people a little time to learn how to trust. Especially when they have been hurt so badly.” Nana took his cup to the sink to rinse out the cold dregs, then brought him a fresh hot cup. “Asher does care about you; he’s not sure how to show it.”
