Eleanor & Grey(76)

That was when I knew it was happening. Eleanor was doing that thing she was so good at doing, slowly sliding into a life and making it better without the person even knowing it was happening.





43





Eleanor





Greyson did his best trying to show up for his daughters. For the most part, it was easy with Lorelai. She welcomed him back with arms wide open. He stopped working as late each night, and made time to attend her karate practices every now and again. I swore every time he walked into the class, Lorelai’s eyes lit up as if her biggest dream had come true. She’d perform better, too, and always looked back toward Greyson to make sure he was watching.

Then when dinner came around, he’d sit down with us and talk. Lorelai, of course, led most of the conversations, but Greyson was there. He was engaging. He was becoming a part of his family again.

Karla wasn’t having it at all, though. Whenever I invited her to dinner, she didn’t even reply anymore. She simply walked off and never looked back. There came a point when it was too much for me, and I finally followed her into her bedroom one evening. She was sitting on her bed, eating her dinner with her headphones on.

“You have to stop doing this, Karla,” I told her.

“Doing what?”

“This. Shutting everyone out. Your father is trying.”

“I don’t care that he’s trying. He had a million days to try. I waited so long for him to try, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I just don’t care.”

I walked over to her and inhaled deeply. “Come to dinner tonight, Karla.”

“Are you deaf? I said no already. I’m pretty sure I made that really clear every single night for the past four months.”

“Yes, I know, but I’m asking you right now to change your mind.”

“I’m not changing my mind for him,” she scolded, rolling her eyes.

“I’m not talking about for your father. I’m talking about for Lorelai.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Lorelai really misses you, Karla.”

“We live in the same house—I see her enough.”

“She needs you,” I told her.

“She’s fine,” she replied.

“Okay, I get it. You’re mad at your father, and I understand. You feel like he abandoned you, and you’re fully allowed to take as much time as you need to work through those feelings. But you have to understand that if there is one person who understands what you are going through, it’s Lorelai. She lost her mother, just like you. Please don’t make her lose her sister, too. She needs her sister, Karla. She needs you.”

Karla’s stare shifted, and she looked down to her shoes as she fiddled with her hands. Then, she got to her feet, picked up her plate, and grumbled. “Whatever. As long as it gets you to stop bringing this up.”

I smiled, pleased, and walked back to the dining room with her.

She put her plate down at the table, pulled out her chair, and plopped down. Greyson seemed beyond puzzled, and Lorelai’s eyes lit up when she saw her sister.

“You’re eating with us, Karla?” Lorelai inquired, clearly stunned.

“Looks like it,” she mumbled with her cell phone in one hand and her fork in the other.

“That’s good. I missed eating with you,” Lorelai said slurping up her spaghetti. “Mom missed you, too,” she said, nodding toward the untouched plate of pasta left out for Nicole.

Karla rolled her eyes. “Mom’s not here, Lorelai,” she said. “There’s no such thing as angels.”

“Karla,” I snapped, but Lorelai shrugged her shoulders and leaned in toward me.

She whispered, “It’s okay, Ellie. Mom knows Karla doesn’t mean it.”

Karla rolled her eyes again then she looked toward Greyson. “Just to be clear, I’m not here because of you,” she stated sternly. “This has nothing to do with you.”

“Duly noted,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender.

Greyson looked my way and mouthed, Thank you.

I nodded once and went back to eating.

As we ate, a big part of me wanted to tell Karla to get off her phone, but at least she was sitting down at the table. At least she had showed up, even though I was sure it was hard for her to do. I was almost certain it was hard for every single person to show up to that table that night.

One step at a time, Eleanor.

One step at a time.





“I can’t believe that after all this time, I finally get to see him,” Shay remarked as we drove over to Greyson’s house for the baseball game. “I mean, I know you’ve told me about him, and I’ve been tuning in the best I can to your reality show, but actually seeing Greyson after all this time is going to be surreal. It’s as if I’m an extra on your show,” she exclaimed.

I laughed. “You’re so ridiculous.”

“Does he look the same?” she asked.

“Um, yeah, but like, in a grown-up way. You’ll see.”

“So this is gonna be your new home when you marry Greyson, huh?” Shay said as we pulled onto the property. “Not too shabby.”

“For the love of God, I just hope you avoid saying all these things in front of him.”