“Are you hungry?” Mom brings Great-Grandma a plate and a fork.
“I could eat.” She assesses all the chopsticks in the containers, no plates to be found.
I’m not sure why my family eats Chinese food like this, but it’s always been the way. Dad says it saves on dishes. It’s one of those weird things you wouldn’t think my mom would go along with, but she does. Sometimes my family makes comments about how my dad changed Mom, but he always says he didn’t change her, he found her hidden deep down under who she thought she was supposed to be.
“I’ll use chopsticks,” Great-Grandma says.
“Are you sure? Do you know how?” my mom asks.
“Savannah, pass me a pair,” Great-Grandma says with no patience.
Mom hands her a set that came with the food and she pulls them apart like a pro, positions them in her fingers, and brings a piece of orange chicken to her mouth. We all watch as if she’s an animal at the zoo, amazed she knows how to use chopsticks.
After she chews, she looks at each of us. “What? You all think I’m so ancient. Let me tell you about the time your grandfather took me to Hong Kong.”
My mom cuddles into Dad’s arms, and Asher and I focus our attention on her. For the next forty-five minutes, Great-Grandma tells us about their trip. Though I never met our great-grandfather, Great-Grandma has a way of making him so vivid that it feels as if we knew him. I wonder who will do that for her one day? Which one of my aunts or uncles will tell stories to the kids about Grandma Dori?
I quickly shake my head because just like Asher, I’d rather think she’ll live forever.
“I can’t believe I’ve never heard that story,” Mom says, swiping tears after she hears how when they came home, she was pregnant with my grandfather.
Great-Grandma shrugs. “He always had this way of knowing what I needed before I did.” Her jaw clenches as though she’s holding back tears. “Anyway, I should go.” She stands.
I get the feeling she would rather pop up off the couch, but I give her a hand to get up on her feet.
“I’ll drive you back.” My dad rises from the sofa and kisses my mom on the temple.
I bite my lip and stare at my dad until his attention shifts to me.
He laughs and shakes his head. “Ask your great-grandma. She might not feel safe.”
“Great-Grandma, can I drive you back to Northern Lights?” I fish out my shoes because one thing about Great-Grandma is she never denies us great-grandkids.
“Of course you can. I didn’t live to be almost ninety without taking any chances.” She winks as I slip into my shoes.
In Mom’s SUV, I drive with Great-Grandma in the front and my dad in the back. We walk her to the door of her apartment and say goodbye with hugs and kisses on the cheek.
On the way home, Dad tells me how much it feels as if she’s his own grandma and how great it is to feel close to Mom’s side of the family. And then he drops a bomb I’m not prepared for.
“So if Kenzie likes Easton or Lance and she’s upfront with telling you, speaking as someone who was in her position once upon a time, don’t tell her she can’t pursue something. Because you might be lucky enough to have your best friend be like your sister-in-law someday.”
His words shock me because hello, we’re fifteen, and Kenzie and I promised one another we’d go to college together.
“Okaaay.” But I know I won’t allow her to come between them. I park the SUV in the garage, and we exit the vehicle.
My dad puts his arm around my shoulders. “You’ve gotten too old, too fast.”
I roll my eyes though I like it when he says that. We walk in to find Asher and Mom tucked under a blanket with awe-stricken expressions.
“What did we miss?” Dad asks.
Mom points at the television. “She left a jump drive with the pictures from their Hong Kong trip.”
Dad and I sit and watch the slide show of pictures of a much younger Great-Grandma Dori and our great-grandfather. It’s weird to think of the life she lived before me. Great-Grandma was my age once.
I hope one day I’m in her position, having been blessed to watch my entire family grow around me. She’s been through some of the worst heartbreak anyone could imagine, but she never let it make her crumble. For that alone, I want to be like Great-Grandma Dori one day.
6
Maverick Thorne
(Twenty-five years old)
Griffin’s Son and Phoenix’s Stepson
“We’re going to begin our descent into Anchorage. Please find your seats and fasten your seat belts,” the pilot says over the intercom.
I move from the couch to one of the chairs in my dad’s private plane. Calista was supposed to be here with us. She was going to help me announce this to my family. Make sure Phoenix and dad are okay when they hear the news. All my family knows is that I’m bringing a plus-one to Great-Grandma Dori’s birthday party. They don’t know who that plus-one is. But Calista flew out early because she needed to get out of Los Angeles, which I get. It’s so different down there from Lake Starlight.
I’m not sure how Dad and Phoenix are able to go back and forth so easily. Of course, they spend the majority of their time in Lake Starlight since Jack reached school age and they decided they wanted to give him a “normal” childhood.
I enjoy it up here too, but the pressure to move to Silicon Valley is weighing on me. The game I’m developing is finally ready to pitch. But if I move, that means I leave Calista to stay in the LA house by herself, which I’m sure she’d manage, but I’d also have to leave Raelynn.
I smile at her sitting across from me. She’s nervous and probably wishes I would’ve dealt with this already instead of leaving her to walk into the lion’s den that will be my great-grandma’s birthday party.
Raelynn is Tyler Vaughn’s niece, and Tyler Vaughn is Phoenix’s arch-nemesis. He screwed over my dad years ago, but Dad doesn’t let that get under his skin. But Tyler and Phoenix have been at odds and pitted against each other since Phoenix came into the industry.
If I’d known who Raelynn was before I met her, maybe I wouldn’t have approached her at that party. No, I definitely still would have. Something about her just drew me to her.
It took until date five before she told me her connection to Tyler. She admitted that she knew who I was from pictures. Having a dad who’s a well-known music producer, a mom who’s a famous Hollywood actress, and a stepmom who’s a pop star, puts you in magazine pictures more often than I’d like. But I grew up in the spotlight, so I’m immune to it by now.
I squeeze Raelynn’s knee. She tears her eyes from looking out the window and offers me a soft smile. But we both know it’s bullshit. Right now, I just want to rip off the Band-Aid and let the words fall from my mouth, like, as soon as we meet Phoenix and Dad at the car.
The plane lands on the runway and the dusting of snow reminds me of how cold it probably is.
“So they’re going to meet us right now?” Raelynn unbuckles her seat belt and watches the flight attendant prepare for the stairway to lower.
I deny the urge to look out the window for fear that Phoenix will be there. A woman I love like a mother. A woman I might crush with this announcement.