Dom's hand shot into the air without a moment's hesitation.
The Brothers Karamazov.
I shot daggers at him, but he grinned broadly and strutted around the table to where I sat. My lips fought a grin at the sight, intent on being displeased. Dom, with lips that tasted like vodka and lime, reached for me, arms wrapping around my waist. "To the victor go the spoils," he murmured, his voice a rumble gliding over me. I tipped my face up, letting him kiss me in front of my family in a way that was partially indecent. Finally, Duke tapped Dom on the shoulder and said, "Dude, that's my sister."
The brotherly objection made me smile. I can't remember a time in my life when Duke took exception with anything having to do with me that wasn't born of my own behavior.
Dom had raised his hands in the air, either in a show of innocence or surrender, and when Duke's attention was stolen by something my grandma said, Dom reached around and pinched my butt.
We're in front of the Hotel Monte Vista now, checking the bike to make sure none of us have left our belongings behind. The group files in ahead of me and Dom, but Grandma hangs back and places her hand on my forearm.
"Little girl, I'd like to have a word with you."
"Ooh, sounds like I'm in trouble," I tease.
Her fingers move, lightly scratching my arm. "That remains to be seen."
I press a kiss to Dom's cheek. "I'll see you up there. Try not to get choked again."
Rainbow chooses a seat in the guest area near the check-in desk, settling in with one of the local magazines fanned over the side table.
Grandma leads me to the opposite side of the room, where a burgundy leather couch is unoccupied. She sits, arranging her caftan around her legs. My gaze strays to her ankles. I've been holding out hope the swelling was from travel or altitude as we climbed from valley to mountains. No such luck. The lining of her shoes digs into her swollen feet, giving way to puffy ankles.
"Grandma." I take her hands in mine as urgency washes over me. "Are you ok?"
Silly question. Of course she's not ok, and I know that. What I mean to ask isare you ok in this exact moment, and will you not be ok in the next?
"Well, I'm dying," she answers, sassy as ever. "But one could argue that we all are."
She pauses, waiting for me to have my customary reaction. A smirk, a laugh, something unserious. I can't find it in me. I knew what this road trip signaled, but I didn't have to face it with such clarity because we were on the starting line. Now we're halfway through. How much closer are we to the end of my grandma's life?
Maybe it's my expression, or my eyes that fill with pain like a boat taking on water, but Grandma's face falls. She loves our nickname for her, deriving a great deal of pleasure out of being sassy and savage, but she's more attuned to other's emotions than she appears.
"I asked you to hang back because I wanted to ask you how you felt about everything Duke said to you when we were stuck."
"Oh." I wasn't expecting that. "I felt bad. He's always been this soldier for Dad. I never questioned it, because it seemed like he wanted to be in that position. The good son. I didn't know he felt differently. And I really didn't know he felt that way toward me." Even now, picturing the frustration in the stern set of Duke's eyebrows, a pang of guilt hits me.
Grandma's nodding serenely as she listens, but there's something in her eyes I interpret as knowing.
"Has Duke talked to you about this before?"
"He has not. But you can learn a lot when you observe carefully. Because I'm the grandma, I had a different viewpoint than you and your siblings."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"It wasn't my place. And I wasn't sure if you were ready to hear it."
"You think I'm ready now?"
"Time is not on my side. Whether you have the internal fortitude for it no longer matters." She studies me. "But from what I've seen on this trip, I'd say you do. Dom is good for you."
"You don't care that I was drunk when I married him?"
"I'm not sure why anybody thought you weren't." She rolls her eyes. "It's Vegas."
"We didn't mean to. Get married, I mean. We were quite drunk. It was like...like a sitcom script." I laugh softly to myself, almost unable to believe how differently I feel toward Dom today. "We planned to get it annulled right away, but then you called the family meeting, and he got high with you."
She punctuates my sentence with a boisterous bark of a laugh.
