Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“Jaymes, this is my grandma, Edith. She lives just a few blocks from here. Grandma, this is my friend Jaymes.”
Grandma? Fitz has living family? What is happening?
“Nice to meet you.” I hold out my shaky hand, trying to control my nerves.
She reaches out her left hand for an awkward shake. “Sorry, I suffered a stroke years ago. And my right hand still doesn’t work properly.”
I use both hands to hold her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “What a lovely surprise.” I sit next to Fitz. “Did he tell you I had no idea he was coming? And did he tell you I didn’t know he has a grandma who lives here?” I playfully narrow my eyes at Fitz.
“He said he wanted to surprise his roommate who recently moved here.” She eyes him with an expression similar to mine. “But he didn’t mention you were a beautiful young lady.”
Edith manages to make me blush, just like her grandson.
“Calvin is full of surprises.” I reach beneath the table and rest my hand on his leg for a brief second.
“I hope you don’t mind; I already ordered for all of us,” he says. “My grandma goes to bed early.”
My nose wrinkles. “Sorry. I work long shifts. Had I known—”
“Please don’t apologize, dear. How were you to know?” Edith comforts me with a smile.
“Well, thanks for ordering. Now tell me how it is that you’re here when it’s still fire season.”
He rests his napkin on his leg. “After twenty-one days straight, they forced me to take two days off. I asked for four so I could visit my grandma and this nurse I met in January.”
“I should thank you,” Edith says. “Calvin only visits me over the holidays. He never takes breaks during the summer. So I know he’s here for you more than me.”
Fitz presses a flat hand to his heart. “Grandma! Your words wound me.”
Her body gently bounces with a chuckle. “No, they don’t.”
My whole face aches from grinning. She’s delightful and so unexpected. And Fitz? There are no words to describe him or his grand gesture.
“So you’re a nurse?”
“Yes. I work in the psych ward.”
“That must be interesting.”
“It can be.”
“How’s your apartment?” Fitz asks.
“Dinky, but not quite as small as the shed. Has Will rented it out?”
“Not yet.”
The waiter delivers our food, and we spend the next half hour eating and discussing Edith’s boyfriend, who happens to be turning ninety next month. He’s in a wheelchair and still lives on his own. They met when she was having physical therapy after her stroke.
I fade into the distance as much as possible and let Fitz and his grandma chat. He’s here. That still blows my mind. His grandma lives here. How can he not see the ways the stars have aligned for us? This is bigger than coincidence.
“Would you like to meet for breakfast in the morning?” Fitz asks me as we exit the restaurant.
“Stop it,” Edith says, holding on to Fitz’s arm. “Just because I’m old and going to bed doesn’t mean you must do the same. Drive me home, and then take Jaymes out on the town. Go dancing or to the movies or whatever you young people do.”
We look at each other and grin. She’s endearing.
I follow them to her apartment in an assisted living community and wait in the living room while he makes sure she gets into bed despite her repeatedly saying, “What do you think I do when you’re not here?”
Calvin Fitzgerald is full of surprises. He thinks I’m all soft and gooey on the inside because I’m a “normal” woman who dreams of love and other ordinary things.
He’s the soft and gooey one.
“So what’s it going to be? Dancing or ‘the movies’?” Fitz asks softly after he shuts her bedroom door while I inspect a few pictures on her sofa table.
I assume it’s Fitz’s family, but I’m afraid to ask. He’s here. And I don’t want to scare him away. If he wants to share his life with me, I need to let him do it in his own time, like inviting me to dinner with his grandma.
“Do you dance?” I turn toward him.
“No.”
I grin. “Do Maren and Will know you’re here?”
“Yes.”
“Did you get the salve?”
“It’s in my bag.” He nods to the black bag on the floor by the sofa.
My heart’s lodged so tightly in my throat I can barely breathe. “Is six weeks too soon to miss my person?”
“I’m pretty missable.”
“Is missable a word?”
“Missable is absolutely a word. It’s fuckable’s cousin.”
I cover my mouth to muffle my laugh.
His smile wanes. “Maren spotted my tattoo. And I’m guessing from her reaction, she found yours first because I watched her put two and two together in real time.”
I nod, lips corkscrewed. I’ve talked to her nearly every week since I’ve been here, and she never mentioned seeing his tattoo. “Are you homeless?”