Chasing Abby(53)

“Oh, goodness,” she whispers, raising her hands to cover her mouth. “Oh, my goodness. Look at you.”
My stomach is wound into a tight ball of nerves as she watches me in silence, tears spilling over her ample cheeks, streaking her makeup. I don’t know if I should say something or go to her. This isn’t quite as awkward as when I first met Chris and Claire one week ago. Chris and Claire have been sharing some stories about Grandma Jackie with Caleb and me this week, prepping us for this reunion. But it’s still pretty strange. She looks nothing like my mom’s mom, Nana Bea. Grandma Jackie has style for a woman in her mid-sixties.
The man with the beard comes up behind her and looks at me as he gently grasps her shoulders. “I take it you’re the famous Abigail everyone’s been talking about?”
“Yes, sir. That’s me.”
“Oh, that voice!” She throws up her hands as if she simply can’t take it anymore, then she comes to me. “Aren’t you just the prettiest thing this side of heaven?”
She holds out her arms and I step forward to give her a hug. The way she hugs me almost makes me want to cry: her arms coiled tightly around my shoulders, her hand clasped around the back of my skull as I slowly lower my head onto her shoulder. She smells so good, like lavender and cake icing.
“Oh, honey. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t wondered about you. I’m so happy you came to us. I hope you don’t mind if I just hold on to you the whole night. Do you mind?” We all laugh and she squeezes me tighter. “Oh, all right. I guess we can let your Grandpa Joel have a crack at you.” She lets go slowly, planting a kiss on my forehead as she grips my shoulders in her soft hands. “You look just like your daddy.”
I smile and glance at Claire, who’s shaking her head in dismay as tears roll down her cheeks. “Hey, Grandma. How about giving Grandpa his turn?”
“Yes, let me greet this young lady properly.”
Jackie steps aside and Joel steps forward. He gives me a quick hug, but it’s enough to make my neck itch from his scratchy beard. Jackie and Joel help Claire and me take all the food out to the beach, where Chris and the boys have a roaring fire burning. Surrounding the fire pit are an eclectic assortment of beach chairs and a couple of drink coolers.
Jimi and Sydney return about twenty minutes later with the sodas and a guy who introduces himself as Sydney’s boyfriend, Jace. He and Sydney actually look alike. They both have the same shade of dark-brown hair with golden caramel highlights. They’re both about six feet tall with golden tanned skin. Next to five-foot-nine Jimi with her barely sun-kissed skin and bouncing light-brown hair, they all look practically perfect.
Over here on this side of the fire pit, Caleb is leaning back in his beach chair with his baseball cap on backward and his tattoos illuminated by the flickering firelight. I glance a few chairs to my left at Chris, and his tattoos. Glancing to my right, I catch Jackie gazing at me adoringly. And I realize that Caleb and I fit in here just as much as Jimi and her friends do, maybe even more. Maybe that’s why she feels so threatened by me?
As I watch Jimi and her friends head toward the water, I breathe a sigh of relief. Feeling like I may have this situation just a little more figured out.
A few minutes later, Claire’s friend Senia arrives with her husband, Tristan, and their two girls, Sia and Izzy. Senia is as tall as her husband and she looks like she fits in with Jimi and her friends. But she doesn’t act anything like Jimi. She greets me with a bone-crushing hug and a drawing from Izzy to me.
Senia holds my arms as she looks me in the eye. “You may not remember this, but I watched you being born.” I laugh at this and she hugs me again. “You’re so pretty.”