A tear rolled down his cheek as he slammed the drawer door shut and threw his toothpaste into his backpack. “It’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair?”
“That nobody else—not you or my dad or my mom—wants to spend time with Paw-Paw, but I’m the one who has to go stay with him.”
His tone and his words were borderline disrespectful, something I don’t allow from children to grown-ups. My momma would have popped me in my mouth for saying something like that aboutan elder. Even if it was 100 percent true, as I suspected in this case. It sounded like Elijah was speaking words he’d overheard from his parents. I’d always suspected my son-in-law wasn’t too keen on Eric. And now that Terri had all but admitted her father was getting on her nerves, I could see Elijah’s point. Why should he have to put up with a cantankerous old man who had so little patience for children?
“Let’s go, EJ!” Eric called.
A whimper escaped from my grandson’s throat. I hugged him tight. If Eric could have seen us, he would have said I was “babying” the boy. Making him too touchy-feely. Often, Eric had said he was hard on the kids because I was too soft on them. “Gotta balance it out,” he’d said. Like it was some kind of mathematical equation.
All I knew was that Elijah’s face wasn’t so stressed after we finished hugging. “EJ, you’re a wonderful young man. You are kind, you are helpful—Gabriella can tell you that! And you know how to get along with people. I saw that with the way you made friends with the LEGO group. Your grandfather is a person, too. And he does care about you…in his own way. I need you to remember that. Okay?”
He nodded dutifully.
“And as soon as you get another break in school, I’m gonna see about coming to get you,” I promised him.
He brightened a bit. “When’s the first holiday?”
“Labor Day? Columbus Day?” I guessed. “Definitely the week of Thanksgiving.”
He sniffed and dried his face. “Okay. I love you, Grandma.”
“Love you, too, EJ.”
The walk down our short hallway to the kitchen felt like that movieThe Green Mile. Okay, I’m being dramatic. But anybodywho’s ever dropped their child off with a reluctant babysitter knows, it feels kinda wrong the whole way there. I know from my years as a public-school teacher that kids sense when a person doesn’t want to be bothered with them, no matter if they’re being paid to do it or not. Sad when it’s someone in the family bringing all that sadness to a child.
Eric wasted no time with goodbyes. He put a firm hand on Elijah’s shoulder and guided him out of the house and to the car.
“Thanks for the tea,” Eric said.
Should have poisoned it. “Mm-hmm.”
I wondered, in that split second, if Eric had removed me as the beneficiary on his life insurance policies. All of them, which I’d managed while we were married. Funny what you think about after the man you once loved turns into a crotchety old grouch.
Just as we were walking down the steps of the front porch, Gabriella pulled up next to my car. Elijah tore away from Eric and ran to hug her as she got out of the driver’s side.
“What’s going on?” she asked him, returning the hug.
“I’m leaving,” he muttered into her hair.
“Wait—what?” she asked.
It was then that I saw the red around her eyes, the slight swell of her nose and cheeks. She’d been crying even before Elijah clobbered her.
“I’m going with my Paw-Paw.”
Gabriella protested, looking at me first, Eric second. “Why?”
Eric didn’t bother to answer her. “Come on, Elijah. We’ve got a long trip ahead.”
Elijah peeled away from Gabriella and trudged to the passenger’s side of Eric’s car.
The question marks crossing Gabriella’s face landed squarely on my shoulders. She approached me, shaking her head.
“We can talk about it later,” I whispered. My composure was just a millimeter from slipping completely, so I didn’t even look at Elijah when I said goodbye. I trained my eyes on Eric because the anger was easier to manage than the pain from how he’d so callously ripped Elijah from my home.
Gabriella stood next to me, draping one arm across my shoulder for support. Together, we stood as a united front, waving at the car while Elijah’s little hand slowly waved back.
