The Chemistry of Love(101)

That made me smile, and we said goodbye.

My grandpa finally arrived, and I climbed into the passenger seat gratefully. Chick Norris and Feather Locklear were in the back seat, and I heard again that the Yankees sucked.

“Thank you so much,” I told him. We drove about twenty feet, and his car started making a clunking noise, and the engine went silent. He directed the car over to the curb and then came to a stop.

“Uh-oh,” my grandpa said.

I braced my hands against the dashboard. This could not be happening. That was it! I was taking that consultant money and I was going to buy everyone in my house a new car.

“I’m out of gas,” he said apologetically. “I’m sorry. I should have checked it.”

“It’s fine,” I said. I couldn’t be mad. That was just the sort of thing my grandfather did.

“I’ll call your grandma. She has today free.”

Which meant another half hour. I felt time slipping away from me, and it was so frustrating that there was nothing I could do. Marco could be making his way to the airport at this very moment.

The problem was that sitting here, I had nothing but time to consider how badly this could all go. Marco wouldn’t laugh in my face. I knew him well enough to know he’d never be so cruel. He would be kind if he had to let me down, but the idea that I would bare my soul to him and he would say no thanks? As Catalina had pointed out, I had suffered a lot of loss. I didn’t want to lose him, too.

When my grandmother got there, I was tempted to tell her to take me home and forget the whole thing. It would hurt, but I’d get over it, right?

“What’s wrong?” my grandfather asked.

“I’m in love with Marco, and I’m terrified. What if he doesn’t love me back?”

There was so much kindness in his eyes that it actually made me feel worse. “My sweet girl, what if he does? Be brave.”

“I don’t want my heart to be shattered.”

“Nobody does. But life isn’t worth living if you hide away in your grandparents’ house and never chase after your dreams. Chase after this one.”

It was the most profound thing he’d ever said to me. It also made me feel resolved again. I was going to tell Marco. I wanted a life with him. A company that we’d start together, to adopt some birds and have some babies and wake up every morning with him.

If that scared him away, well, then he wasn’t the man I thought he was.

My grandpa added, “You don’t want to have any regrets. Or egrets. Egrets are terrible to take care of.”

That didn’t quite distract me in the way that he’d probably hoped. “This is all happening really quickly, though.” One last protest from my scarred psyche.

“Do you know how fast it happened for me?” Grandpa asked. “The second hour in the hospital after I’d broken my leg. I knew your grandmother was the one for me and that I’d never love anyone the way I already loved her. It was the first night for your parents, too.”

Maybe it hadn’t been the first day, but it had happened quickly and without me even noticing. I’d been falling for Marco every day and had been so distracted by shiny, fake Craig that I hadn’t realized it.

My grandmother arrived, and my grandpa patted me on the hand and said, “Let’s make like flamingos and get the flock out of here.”

That made me smile, and I got out of his car and went over to my grandma’s. I slid into the back seat with the two birdcages. I strapped both cages into the modified dog harness and announced to my grandmother, “I’m in love with Marco.”

My thinking was the more people I told, the easier it would be to tell Marco. I probably should have told him first, but apparently I was a stupid person.

“Polo?” she asked, confused as she pulled into the street.

“No, the Marco who you didn’t want me to spend time with.”

“The one trying to make you change yourself?”

“That’s not what he was doing,” I said. “Marco always liked me for me. He didn’t want me to change. But I love him so much that if he wanted me to wear a purple wig every day for the rest of my life, I would do it.”

“I knew this was going to happen,” she said. “I saw him give you gum.”

“What?” That seemed like such an oddly specific thing to say.

“I hate getting up in the mornings. Always have. Your grandpa always gets up early to start the coffee for me because he knows I forget half the time, and I should not be walking around in the world uncaffeinated.”

Boy, was that true. And how had I not known that my grandfather did that every morning for my grandmother?

“He thinks of me, of what I need. Your Marco does the same thing. You just make sure that he treats you right,” Grandma said, wagging her finger at me in the rearview mirror.

We finally made it to Marco’s building, and my grandparents offered to stay and wait. I think my grandpa in particular was very interested in seeing how things turned out.

“No. It’s okay. Go. I’ll be home later.”

I watched as they drove off. Knowing they were outside waiting for me would just be another safety net, and I had to do this without one.

It was the only way I’d be honest.





CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE