“Hush. I’m talking to your girlfriend.”
Girlfriend.
That word knocks the breath out of me.
“Oh, well . . .” I start.
“Don’t bother. I know how you kids are about labeling relationships. You won’t call it what is, but I’m too old for that hooey.”
“I think you’re my hero,” I say, unashamed.
“Stop,” Emmett mutters, but the corner of his mouth betrays him.
“She’s right, you really are a terrible actor.”
“Always has been. Likes to pretend he’s invincible—that nothing and no one can hurt him.” She pats my hand gently. “But that’s just the pain talking. He lets it convince him he doesn’t deserve good things.”
Emmett’s lips press into a thin line.
“Don’t give me that look.”
“There’s no look.”
“You’re making that face like you got to poop.”
“Jesus, Gran.”
“You do kind of look like . . .” His glare shuts me right up.
“This is what I get for letting you two meet. I’m not sure what I was thinking. The only two women brave enough to bust my balls in the same room.”
A nurse with her dark hair braided neatly down her back joins us. She’s wearing dark green scrubs that look incredible with her olive skin tone.
“Make that three.”
“Wonderful. It’s a party now. Did I miss the invite for my own roast?”
“I’ve had my speech ready for a decade,” the nurse says flatly.
“Aspen, this is Connie.”
“So, she’s the one.”
If it’s possible, Emmett looks even more sheepish than just a minute ago when his grandmother was harassing him.
“The one . . . Well, that’s a lot of pressure,” I joke, trying to diffuse some of the pressure suddenly pressing against my ribs.
“You can handle it, ” Emmett says, shocking the shit out of me.
“Of course she can,” Monica declares.
“She made it two hours in a car with a pain in the ass like you. The girl can do anything.”
“Alright. I’m ready to go. It was nice seeing you both.” Emmett makes a show of standing up.
“Sit down and don’t be a baby.”
“Ouch,” he says, dutifully lowering himself to the chair.
