“No.” I paused. “Can you give us a few minutes? Then we can wrap it up?”
The funeral attendant, a man in his late fifties, smiled. “Everything is already taken care of. Since you have no body to transport, if it’s sufficient, we’ll leave you to your own devices?”
I nodded. “Actually, that sounds wonderful.”
After he left, I stared up at the spray of flowers that dominated the front of the room.
“Your grandmother will never be underdone, will she?” I mused.
Mavis snorted. “My grandmother had to have put a small fortune into that. You’re lucky your entire damn living room isn’t filled.”
I flashed a quick grin, then got up from my position between the two of them.
“I think the worst part now is going to have to be going through all of this,” I mused.
“We’ll help,” Fran promised.
I knew they would.
It was like the two musketeers. They were each other’s best friends. If one needed help, the other would always be there.
I looked to the table of food that had been delivered from the gym members.
“What the hell am I going to do with all of that?” I wondered.
“You’re going to eat everything that you can in two days.” Fran got up and walked to the table, pulling back a few pieces of tinfoil. “Then we’re going to throw it all out and never think of how many calories we just consumed.”
We all had a chuckle at that.
Then a sparkle caught my eye.
I moved toward the shimmer and found myself staring at a shelf with photos of me.
My grandmother had a single shelf that was exclusive to only me.
On the shelf over were the rest of our family.
But something brand new caught my eye.
It was a photo of just the other day. Of Fran, my Grans, and me.
We had full plates of spaghetti in front of us, and it was a Polaroid photo sitting on her shelf between photos of me when I was twelve and fifteen. It was taken using my Grans’ new camera that she’d gotten for her girls’ trip.
Next to that photo was a Post-it Note that said, “Give this to Tay.”
And next to that Post-it Note, there was a black box.
I reached for it and felt my breath catch.
It was my grandmother’s diamond ring.
The one that she wore. The one that my mom wore.
And she wanted to give it to me so that Fran could wear it.
She hadn’t offered that to me when I’d asked Maria to marry me, and now I knew why.
Because what I felt for Maria, and what I felt for Fran, were two entirely different things.
Feeling my heart contract, I pulled the ring out of the box and fisted it in my hand.
Turning, I saw Mavis and Fran talking close, gesturing to a pile of boxes that we were going to use a little later to get started on packing up my Gran’s things.
And I knew what I wanted to do.
Walking up to them both, I said, “Fran?”
She turned to me, and I dropped down onto one knee.
“I know that this isn’t the place or the way that you would want a proposal to go,” I said as I got down on the white-tiled floor. “But I wanted to include her.”
Tears started to stream down her face as she quickly nodded her head. “It’s okay. I promise.”
I took her word for it and continued.
“A couple of years ago, when I broke things off with my ex-wife,” I said, “I didn’t realize that there would be anything out there for me. I thought…” I took a deep breath. “I resigned myself to being alone. And my grandmother always said that there was someone out there for me, but until I met you, I never believed her.” I pressed my hand to my broken heart at the thought of my grandmother. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? Will you prove my Grans right?”
She looked at the ring, then looked at my face, before nodding hard.
“I will.”
EPILOGUE
I love you because you’re exactly like me, and I’m the best.
-overheard conversation between Taos and their children
FRAN
Eight years later
“Mommy, when are we leaving?”
I grinned down at my son, Taos Dean Brady Junior, and shrugged. “I have no idea. I’m thinking it’ll probably be in a couple of hours.”
Dean sighed and threw himself down on the couch. “That’s like, forever.”
I looked at my seven-year-old son and rolled my eyes. “It’s closer than it was a couple of hours ago.”
My son, so much like his father, rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Mom.”
“When did you get this attitude?” I asked. “You got it from Vlad, didn’t you?”
Dean snorted. “Whatever.”
I whatevered him right back, then went in search of my husband.
I found him in his office in his recliner. I also found our daughter in his lap.
She had her hand covering her nose, and she was flapping the blankets.
I frowned, wondering what would’ve caused her to do that, and then laughed when Taos leaned to the side and let one rip, the flatulence leaving his rancid ass so loud that it interrupted the movie that they were watching.
Hotel Transylvania 3, I thought.
But honestly, they all rolled together at this point since we had to watch them so many damn times.
Our daughter, Italya, flapped the blankets again, causing me to snicker.
So that was the reason for the nose covering.
I was just about to open my mouth and call out when a buzz sounded from my pocket.
I pulled out my phone and glanced at it.
My grandmother’s name flashed on the screen of my phone, and the buzzing finally caused Taos to look away from the television.
He winked at me when I pressed the phone to my ear and backed away.
“Grandmother,” I said.
“You know how you asked me to do that favor for you?” she asked.
I frowned. “Which one?”
I asked her to do a lot of favors. Like leave me alone. Yet, she never did any of them.
“To find Taos’ brother. Greer.”
My breath hitched at her words. “Yes.”
“I found him,” she said. “It’ll cost you.”
I smiled as I eagerly hurried to a piece of paper. “Anything.”
She snorted. “It’ll cost you a weekend with my grandchildren.”
I looked over at Dean and knew that he’d hate that. But he’d also do just about anything for his father.
Like going to a CrossFit Kids competition representing Madd CrossFit, even though CrossFit wasn’t his favorite sport in the world.
Now, our daughter, Italya, adored everything CrossFit. She was Taos’ mini-me to the extreme.
She could snatch better than eighty percent of the gym.
“I can let you have them for the day,” I said. “But I can’t promise you the weekend. You know how they are.”
“You allow them to be like that,” she snipped. “I’ll take it.”
“Tell me everything you know,” I urged.
• • •
Three hours later, we were at a CrossFit competition that was being held with our kids, and our daughter was up.
She was the cutest one out there in her customized Madd CrossFit t-shirt and short shorts.