“Isn’t that nice,” Dolly said in a kindly way and squeezed my hand. She looked like she might blow away if you breathed on her too hard and her skin was soft, like wrinkled velvet, but there was strength in her grip. She wore cornflower blue slacks and a sweater with a sparkly music note on it, bejeweled with blue rhinestones. Her hair was white and set in waves close to her head, the same way she’d probably worn it for decades.
She was adorable.
“You’re Jesse’s grandma?” I asked her.
“Ah, my Jesse. He’s a special one,” she said, her pale blue eyes soft. “He’s not really mine though, dear. Zane is my grandson. I met Jesse when he was eight, when the boys were in school together.”
Just then Jesse came over to greet her, and Dolly held up her glass in toast. I tipped the rim of my beer glass against hers. “To Jesse and his wonderful new album,” she said in her scratchy little voice. Everyone else around our table—Zane, Dylan and Ash, Maggie, and now Brody and Jude, who’d come over with Jesse—fell silent to listen and raised their glasses and bottles, following Dolly’s lead. “It’s lovely, dear. Zane played it for me this afternoon.”
“Thanks, Dolly,” Jesse said.
“I knew you had more love songs in you,” I heard her say as he bent close to kiss her forehead.
Once Jesse had turned away to talk to Jude, I leaned closer and told her, “He seems very fond of you.”
She nodded and patted my hand. “He and his sister spent a lot of time at my home when they were young, and once their mother died, I took Jessa in.”
“I didn’t know that.” Jesse had mentioned his father leaving, but I didn’t know his mom had died. “When did that happen?”
“Oh, Jesse was about twenty or so. Jessa was only sixteen. But they spent so much time at my house even before their mother got sick that I felt like they were my own flesh and blood. Still do.” She glanced over at Jesse fondly. “Such a shame that Jessa won’t be here tonight.”
“They must’ve been cute kids.”
“Oh, yes. You wouldn’t believe the condition they showed up in some days, though. Dirty. Hadn’t eaten all day. I used to make extra food in case they showed up for dinner, and more often than not, as the years went by, they did. Jesse did what he could to care for Jessa, but he was just a child, too. He had a job from the time he was thirteen, to help out, but I didn’t like Jessa being left alone at home, so I told him, you bring her on over anytime you need. You go to work, you bring her. And so he did.”
Wow.
I glanced over at Jesse. He was deep in conversation with Jude and Brody and if I pictured him as a boy with no dad and a sick mom, taking his little sister over to Zane’s grandma’s house so she could be fed, I definitely saw him differently.
Maybe I was an idiot, but I swore it was the first time I really saw him as a human being.
“That’s incredible, Dolly.” I smiled at her, kinda wishing I’d known my own grandma. Both of mine were long gone when I was born. “They were so lucky to have you.”
“Well, I did what I could. Mind you, we didn’t have a whole lot more, but my grandkids always lived better than that.” Her kindly gaze lifted to Zane, who was standing over us, just in time to see him squeezing the ass of a hot blond chick in a tight metallic dress.
Dolly shook her head a little. “What a handful they were.”
Maggie nudged me as she leaned over, picking up on the conversation. “Imagine these guys as horny teenagers and you get the idea.”
“You wouldn’t believe the half of it, young lady,” Dolly said. “The songs they came up with in my garage. Oh, the racket they made. This one with his screechy little voice.”
“My ears are twitching.” Zane dropped into the love seat across from us, the blond glued to his side.
“Oh, you’ve always been this band’s dirty mouth,” Dolly said to him, her tone teasing but proud.
“That’s a fact,” Brody put in, joining the conversation.
“And its pretty face,” Zane said with a giant grin.
“And I’ve always said, Elle is the heart of you all,” Dolly said matter-of-factly. “Isn’t it strange to all be together without her.”
“That it is,” Zane agreed.
I met Jesse’s gaze. I wasn’t sure how to take Dolly’s assessment, though I was privately relieved that Elle wasn’t here. He sipped his beer, his eyes on mine.
“But my Jesse,” Dolly said. “You’ve always been the soul of Dirty.”
“Thanks, Dolly,” Jesse said.
