Lauren blinked. “Oh. Now I feel like a complete sloth for not being able to get out of bed at six.”
“You’re up early most days for work. Wanting to sleep in occasionally is not a crime. At least, not last I checked.”
She fingered the corner of the quilt. “There are a lot of things about you that have always been none of my business, and therefore a mystery to me. Because you were Parker’s best friend, and I was just his irritating sister hanging around.”
As if she sensed the apology about to come out of my mouth, she held her hand up. “I’m not trying to call you out on it, I’m just… I don’t know what I’m doing exactly.”
“What about me is a mystery to you?”
She shook her head, backing away from the walls I already knew I was ready to let down.
I smiled and took her hand. “There’s obviously something you’re wondering about. Just say it.”
“I’ve never seen the inside of the house you grew up in. Parker could go over there to get you, but not me.”
“I think that was more about Parker being territorial than anything else, and maybe he was worried you’d ask something uncomfortable. It’s not unheard of to live with your grandparents, but I did get asked about it a lot by other kids.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Would you like to?” I asked. It felt like the right thing to say, but my face started to heat at the thought.
“Would I like to what?” Lauren turned our clasped hands over and studied them, like the curious specimen they were. Holding her hand felt completely natural and yet very, very new.
“Go over there. To my grandparent’s house.”
“If you’d like me to, yes. And if not, that’s okay, too.”
“I don’t really go visit them without a reason.” I forced my jaw to relax so I wasn’t gritting my teeth while trying to keep my hold on casual. This opening up thing had felt nice in theory. But pulling back the curtain and letting Lauren dig around and take a look made me feel a lot more exposed than I’d thought.
“Like needing to mow their lawn?”
“Yeah.”
“What do they do for fun?”
I stared her down. My grandparents didn’t believe in fun. It was my immediate reaction, and one I would have said aloud if Parker had asked, but Lauren watched me carefully, like she expected a real answer, so I gave it real thought.
“My grandmother reads the Reader’s Digest magazine cover to cover. But nothing else. I tried buying her books for Christmas, but I don’t think she read any of them. Grandpa likes to bird watch. Silently. I have a lot of memories of sitting next to him in a lawn chair for what felt like hours for one glimpse of a robin.”
Lauren nodded. “That’s right. Mom likes to bird watch, too. I think she and your grandpa talked about it once at a neighborhood watch meeting.”
It was probably the one and only time the two of them had talked, but I didn’t mention that.
“Do your grandparents have any hobbies they do together?” Lauren asked.
“They play Scrabble at night while they watch the news.”
“Well, there you go. Have you ever played with them?”
I shook my head. Never. No way. They were ruthless scorekeepers, and would never have stopped to teach me the rules. I was a horrible speller anyway. Autocorrect and I were tight.
She got to her feet and tugged on my hand, probably sensing my discomfort. “We’ll talk more while we play bocce.”
I picked up the set and carried it over to a flat spot before tossing out the golf ball I used as a target about thirty feet in front of us.
Lauren tested the weight of one of the red balls from the set. “You’ll be happy to know I’m horrible at this.”
“Really? When was the last time you played?” I got out the green balls and dropped them at my feet.
