Heading toward Wyatt’s parents, I suck in a deep breath wondering if I’m doing the right thing. I hope that Wyatt doesn’t get upset, but MawMaw needs to be in her own place, or at least with her family. There’s no way that I’m taking her back home, not with what my father did, but I can’t let her stay with Wyatt’s family any longer. They’re sweet to take her in, to help, but it’s my turn now.
Parking in front of their house, I take it in again, my eyes glancing around the nicely decorated yard. What I would have given to live in a house like this when I was younger. I honestly can’t believe that I actually know people who do live here now. It all seems so unrealistic.
My feet move as I walk up the front porch, raising my hand, I knock on the door. I expect Wyatt’s mom to answer, but instead, MawMaw does. Her face lights up as soon as she sees that it’s me. She wraps me up in her arms like she hasn’t seen me in weeks, instead of days. I don’t mind, I soak up her love.
“How are you doing with your man gone?” she asks on a hushed tone.
It surprises me that she knows, but it shouldn’t. I’m sure Wyatt’s parents know that he left. I just didn’t really think about that. Releasing her, she takes a step back and allows me to enter the home. It’s just as warm and cozy as it was when I walked in the very first time.
“I’m okay. Been keeping busy unpacking,” I admit.
MawMaw’s eyes flash, then her face relaxes. “I’d rather y’all get married, but I know the kids don’t do that these days,” she sighs.
I want to tell her that we will, but I can’t, because I don’t know that for sure. I know that I would love nothing more than to become Mrs. Wyatt Johnson. Shaking the thought from my head, I give my grandmother a smile and tip my head over to the sofa.
We both take a seat and that’s when I ask her if she wants to go see Emily today, take her things to her.
“Oh, I’d love nothing more,” she beams.
I love how she adores Emily. How she cares for her as if she were her granddaughter, too.
“What would you think about moving in with me and Wyatt for a while? He won’t be back for several weeks, and maybe by the time he gets home you’ll be able to go back to your place?” I ask.
MawMaw gets this faraway look in her eyes, then she brings her gaze back to me. “I’m not going back to my home, child,” she announces.
“What? Why?” I practically demand.
“I’ve been looking at senior living. I think I may try that,” she hesitantly explains.
I blink. Once, twice, three times. MawMaw isn’t feeble. She’s more active than me. She doesn’t drive much, but that doesn’t mean that she isn’t one of the most active and spry people that I know. There is no way she needs to live in a senior home.
“It’s not a convalescent home, more like a community. I can come and go as I please, have my own little two bedroom place. I went and looked yesterday. I really like it,” she explains.
“Will you stay with me until you make the decision for sure?” I chance asking.
MawMaw lifts her hand, cupping my cheek. Her eyes search mine and she slowly shakes her head. “I’m on the list, should be able to get in, in just a few weeks. Got a realtor meeting me at the house tomorrow morning to put it up for sale. This new home you’re movin’ to, you need to make it your own, child. You don’t need an old woman in there tellin’ you what to do.”
Tears fill my eyes. It doesn’t change anything, not really. MawMaw isn’t going far, she’ll still be in town and I’ll still visit her several times a week, even take her to run her errands if that’s what she wants. But it feels different. Everything feels different. I’m not sure if I like that.
“Life is supposed to change, Exeter. We are supposed to evolve, grow, and move. I’m doing that just as you are. I’m proud of the woman that you have become and even prouder of the decisions that you’ve made in your adult life. This man, he’s a good one, with a good family. I can’t thank them or him enough.”
“Why?” I chance asking.
“You were just going through the motions. I’ve been so worried, yet here he comes in his big shiny truck, a downright hero. Maybe not a common one, an unlikely one for certain. But a hero all the same. He’s saved you, child, but not just from your deadbeat father, from yourself.”
I’m unable to speak, tears instead falling from my eyes and down my cheeks. Leaning into my grandmother, I wrap my arms around her and hold her to me. This feels so final, so different, the change is coming, and it is unstoppable.
“I couldn’t be half of the woman I have become without you,” I rasp against her ear.
Her hands pat my back, and slowly I gather myself and release her. Wiping my tears, I give her a shaky smile as I stand to my feet. She follows suit, a soft smile playing on her own lips.
“Let’s get to Emily, maybe we can all end up a crying mess by the end of today.”
Together we walk out of Wyatt’s parents’ home and toward my car. I freeze when a blue pickup drives by, narrowing my gaze I try to make out the driver, but I can’t. My heart races in my chest, wondering if it’s possible, if he has found us, then I shake myself out of it. He couldn’t, he’d have no way to know we were in this area, at this home.
We both climb into my car, the blue pickup forgotten quickly as MawMaw begins grilling me on my new home with Wyatt. With a huge smile on my face, I answer every single one of her questions.
WYATT
With a groan, I throw my bag into the hotel room. Rylan is already sitting on the edge of the bed, phone attached to his ear. I almost chuckle at the sight, except I don’t, because I’m getting ready to take out my own cell and call Exeter.
“Do you need anything? Just call Ford or Louis, they’re both in town. They know you’re alone. They’ll be there in a heartbeat…” He pauses, then I hear him grunt. “Okay. Love you, too,” he murmurs.
I watch as he tosses his phone to the side, then runs his fingers through his hair, in an act of obvious frustration. “You want me to have Exeter pop over on her way home from work tomorrow?” I ask.
Rylan lifts his head, his eyes find mine and watch as relief floods his features. “Yeah, would you? She’s bein’ stubborn as fuck.”
I chuckle. Channing isn’t any more stubborn than he is, probably less so. He’d never see it that way though, so I don’t say anything. Walking over toward my own bed, I sink down on the hard mattress, shifting so that my back is against the headboard and I sigh as I bring the phone to my ear.
“Hello?” Exeter breathes after it rings a few times.
“Hey, sugar,” I murmur.
There is a moment of silence, then she lets out a breath, or a sigh of relief, I can’t quite tell. “I was hoping you’d call me tonight,” she admits.
“What’s wrong?” I demand.
She laughs, her voice soft and sweet, it doesn’t calm my racing heart though. I hold my breath as she begins to tell me, only letting it out when I realize that she’s only got news of her grandmother and cousin.
Emily is staying where she’s at for a while, she found a house to rent with a couple of roommates and has a good job in an office as a file clerk. Her grandmother has found herself a house in a senior living area.