Chapter 14
TJ
Lucy leaps from her seat and yelps as my grandparents come bustling into my kitchen with all the grace of a pack of baby hippos through a grocery store.
“Pa, Gram. What are you doing here?” I push my chair back and stand up to greet them, but it’s like I’m nonexistent. They are focused on Lucy.
“Is this her? This is Cinderella? You’ve found her!” Gram claps her hands together and shuffles forward. “Oh, are you ever a looker!”
“Gram! Please.” I shoot Lucy an apologetic look. Her eyes are wide as she flicks her gaze between my grandparents and me. “Sorry,” I tell her with a wince.
She puts a hand over her heart, like she’s trying to calm her pulse. “No, it’s fine. I thought it was the paparazzi or something.” She makes a face. “That’s stupid, I guess.”
“Not stupid. Understandable.” I frown at the way she tears herself down. I wish she wouldn’t do that. She said she was in hiding, so it makes sense that she’d be worried about unexpected visitors.
Lucy offers me a whiff of a smile, and I’ll take it. I round on my grandparents. “You two ever heard of knocking? Or calling before you barge in?”
My grandpa arches his brows. “Sorry, son. We were anxious to come over and see if you had any luck with your little Cinderella hunt. From the looks of it, you did.”
“I’m Loretta, dear.” My grandma steps toward Lucy, her wrinkly hand outstretched. “Since my grandson has lost all his manners, I’ll introduce myself. This is my husband, Martin.” My grandpa doffs an invisible hat in Lucy’s direction. “And who might you be?”
Lucy opens her mouth, eyes still the size of saucers, as she shakes my grandma’s outstretched palm. “I, um, I’m Lucy Dupree.”
“What a lovely name! A lovely name for a lovely lady.” Gram clasps her hands together.
“You, uh”—Lucy looks up at me—“you don’t know who I am?”
“Well, now I do!” Gram beams. “You’re the lucky lady who caught my TJ’s eye.”
Oh boy. I need to do something about this before the dreamy evening I’ve been having with Lucy turns into a nightmare, courtesy of the two septuagenarians currently eyeing her like a pair of hyenas when faced with the prospect of fresh meat.
“Gram,” I say with a hint of warning in my tone.
She wags a finger at me. “You stop it, TJ. You can’t fault me for being excited to see you actually dating.”
“I date all the time!” I remind her.
“Not really something I’d be broadcasting in present company,” my grandpa says, giving Lucy a significant look.
I press a hand to my forehead. I’ve lost complete control. I drag my palm down my face and glance at Lucy to gauge how bad the damage is. I don’t expect to see her fighting a smile. She twists her lips to the side and raises her eyebrows at me, as if saying,What are you going to do about this?
Heck if I know, Lucy. Heck if I know.
“Can we clear some things up real quick—?” I try again with Gram and Pa, but my grandma cuts me off.
“Are you two officially an item, then?” she asks, directing her question at Lucy. “I’ve raised my TJ well, dear, so you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. I know he’s dated around, but when he’s serious about something, it gets his entire focus.”
“Oh.” Lucy’s lips form a perfect circle until she presses them together and swallows a couple times. “That’s … nice. But we’re not … I mean, he’s not my …” She looks at me helplessly. I get it. There’s something about my grandparents, my gram especially, that makes you feel like you don’t want to let them down. I credit them for why I turned into a halfway decent human. I spent the majority of my life trying to make them proud.
“Lucy and I are not together like that, Gram,” I say gently. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
Gram fists her hands on her hips and frowns. “Well, why not?”
I shoot Pa a look, begging him to help me, but he just shrugs. “She likes this one.”
So do I.
The thought springs unbidden into my mind, and it startles me. I was telling the truth when I said I date a lot. It’s all surface-level stuff. I haven’t gone deep with anyone since college, and when Tess passed away, I closed off the depths of my heart so that I wouldn’t ever feel that way again.
