Wrong About the Guy(45)

Both Heather and George had already spent time with my grandmother, so no introductions were needed. Heather hugged her warmly, loving her because she was my grandmother and Heather was the kind of person who loved other people’s grandmothers. George was going to shake her hand, but she threw her arms around him, which seemed to surprise him but not in an unpleasant way. He nodded over her shoulder at Aaron with a curt, unenthusiastic “Hey.”

Aaron was more focused on Heather, anyway, dropping the suitcase on the floor so he could go in for his own hug after Grandma got hers. Leaving his arm slung possessively over Heather’s shoulder, he said, “I want you to know that I only came over because Ellie said you were here. You’re my favorite.”

“Favorite what?” she asked.

“Human being.”

“What about Ellie?”

“Her? Ugh.” He made a disgusted face, then pretended to realize I was watching and flashed me a big fake smile and a double thumbs-up. “I mean, she’s great!” I rolled my eyes at him, and Heather laughed. “So, what are we all up to here?” he asked.

“Just finishing up some college application work,” I said. “Heather had a few more questions for George, then we can go. What movie should we see?”

“I’ve narrowed it down to four possibilities,” Aaron said, and removed his arm from Heather’s shoulder so he could tick them off on his fingers. “A superhero movie, a movie about a gang of superheroes, a dark thriller featuring a superhero, and a romantic comedy starring someone who usually plays superheroes. But I should warn you that I only threw in that last one to make you girls think I’m sensitive. I don’t really want to see it.”

“That’s okay—neither do I,” I said.

“I do,” Heather said.

“Me too,” said Grandma. “I vote for that one.”

There was an awkward moment of silence after that. Aaron coughed. I couldn’t tell if it was real or fake.

“Don’t feel you have to chaperone us or anything,” I said to Grandma. “You’ve got to be pretty tired after getting up early and flying.”

“I feel fine. I just need to visit the restroom and I’m good to go. So what movie shall we see?” She gazed around happily.

Aaron caught my eye and opened both of his wide for a moment in telegraphed panic before collapsing into a chair like his legs couldn’t support him any longer.

“You can come if you want to,” I said, “but it might be weird for you.”

“Why would watching a movie be weird?” Grandma asked, her smile fading a little.

“The movie wouldn’t be, I guess—not that much—but we were going to walk around the mall and just sort of hang out for a while afterward. I don’t think it would be that much fun for you.”

“You mean,” she said, “that it wouldn’t be that much fun for you if I came.” She blinked a few times, patted her hair as if she were making sure it was still there, and said, “That’s fine. Really. I understand. Who wants a grandmother cramping their style?”

“It’s not that,” I said. “It’s just . . . we all made this plan a long time ago, and you and I will be spending a lot of time together over the next couple of weeks, so . . .” I trailed off.

“More than you probably want.”

“No, no.” I’m not sure how convincing I sounded. “It’s great. We’ll have a lot of fun. I was just . . .” What? “Just expecting you to show up later, so I made these other plans for today. But if you really want to go . . .” I stopped because Aaron was slowly shaking his head at me, telling me not to finish that sentence.

“I’m sorry,” Grandma said into the silence. “I didn’t mean to get in the way of your fun.” She picked up her suitcase with a slight grimace of effort. “I’ll just take this up to my room. I assume I’m staying in the same one as usual?”

“Wherever you want is fine,” I said. “Seriously. Take your pick. You could sleep in the master or Jacob’s room or either of the guest rooms—even my room if you prefer that.” Guilt was making me chatter idiotically.

“I wouldn’t want to get in your way,” she said. “My usual room is fine.”

“Let me carry that.” George took the suitcase from her.

“I was just about to offer,” Aaron said, leaping to his feet.

“I’ve got it.” George gestured to Grandma to go ahead and followed her out of the kitchen, listing to one side to balance the weight of the suitcase.





twenty-one


“Phew,” Aaron said before they were even out of earshot.

Heather shushed him and whispered to me, “She could come with us, you know. I don’t mind.”

“But I do,” I said. “You don’t know how annoying she can be.”

“Really?” Aaron said. “Because I only just met her and I get it.”

“Yeah, it’s better this way. We couldn’t have relaxed with her around. And I’m sure she’s fine with it.” I was trying to reassure myself as much as Heather. I felt bad: Grandma had traveled a long way to be with me, and now I was blowing her off. But she really would ruin our fun. Not deliberately. Just by being there and by being herself. Anyway, she and I would have plenty of time together—she was staying for a small eternity.