“Pop?” Bridget’s son Brendan pops his head out of the sliding glass door, calling after Simon.
“What’s up?”
“Can Kenny come over and play?” Brendan asks Simon.
“That’s fine with me, as long as your mother agrees,” Simon tells him.
“Thanks, Pop,” Brendan says, a huge smile on his face.
“So, how’s life treating you?” Simon asks.
“Eh, same ole same ole. My parents and grandmother keep hounding me about settling down and starting a family.”
“I can sympathize with that, but I’m here to tell you that it isn’t as bad as you might think,” he says, as he looks lovingly at his daughter, who’s still lying in my arms. She’s leaning into me, her back against my chest.
“I never thought it would be. I just haven’t found someone I’m willing to settle down with. Life’s been a little crazy the last ten years, with med school followed by residency. Just this last year have I finally felt like things are calming down and I can take a breath again. I’m actually even thinking of taking a vacation. Maybe go relax on a beach somewhere or fly down to South America and hike my way around for a few weeks.”
“Find yourself a señorita to have a fling with for a couple weeks, you never know, maybe you’ll find the one and come home married,” he jokes.
“No spur of the moment marriages for me. My parents would kill me. I’d probably be written out of the will by my grandmother,” I deadpan.
“Why are you being written out of the will?” Bridget asks as she steps out onto the deck with a sleepy Eleanor in her arms.
“Come see Pop,” Simon says, holding his arms out to the baby. Bridget transfers her to him seamlessly, and she curls right up on his chest, snuggling in until her little face is pressed into the crook of his neck.
“I was telling Simon how I might actually go on vacation and he suggested I find myself a señorita to enjoy my time with, even suggested I come back married, and I told him that would get me written out of the will.”
“Hmmm…” she hums her agreement. “If it’s the right person, it might be worth it,” she says, winking at me.
“Maybe,” I say to appease her. I can’t see meeting someone and falling hard and fast. I’ve never been one to believe in love at first sight. I’m more of a believer in marrying your best friend than the person you just met at a random bar. Not that I’ve had the time to go to a bar and meet anyone in the past few years. Hell, I don’t even know the last time I did do that. And the one woman who I thought I’d one day marry and start a family with wasn’t who I thought she was, after all.
“How’s staying at home with the girls going?” I ask her, changing the subject from my lack of love life.
“I love it! Well, most days, at least,” she says, laughing. “I’ve only run out of the house as soon as Simon got home a couple of times.”
“We miss you at the hospital,” I tell her.
“I’m sure you do,” she says with a laugh.
“Good nurses are hard to come by, any plans to return?”
“That we are,” she muses. “Not anytime soon. Maybe once the girls are in school, but that’s a ways off and nothing I’m even thinking about right now. Did I hear correctly, they filled the open CLS position?”
“Yes, and I made a total ass of myself when I met her for the first time the other day,” I tell her, shaking my head and laughing at the memory of tripping over Megan’s wheelchair and landing in her lap. I still can’t believe I was so oblivious to my surroundings.
“Do tell,” she prods me, a smirk forming along her face.
“I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, texting and walking are my downfall, and I tripped right over her wheelchair, falling into her lap. Like I said, made a complete ass of myself.”
“Oh shit,” Simon says. “You didn’t hurt the poor girl, did you?”
“Nope, only thing hurting is my ego,” I say, laughing at myself.
“Well, that’s good, at least,” Bridget says, just as Elizabeth starts to squirm and cry in my arms. “Come here, baby girl,” she says, clapping her hands and holding them out toward her daughter. She sweeps Elizabeth into her arms, instantly calming her down. “I’m going to go grab them a snack, do either of you need anything?” she offers.
“We’re good,” Simon tells her.
The rest of the evening goes by pretty much the same way. Kids playing, we eventually grill, and all enjoy the meal, and when it’s time for the kids to head to bed, I say my goodbyes and head for home.
“HELLO, GRANDMOTHER,” I greet my very prim and proper grandmother as I enter the kitchen of her huge estate she now lives in alone, since my grandfather passed away. She’s a tiny thing, hardly comes to my sternum these days. The quintessential ninety-two-year-old woman with her white hair curled back perfectly and her face on, as she likes to say. Her spunkiness reminds me of Betty White. The way she says whatever’s on her mind, even if it is brass or slightly offensive.
“Andrew,” she says, one of the few people that insist on calling me by my full name, and also one of the only people who gets away with it.
“How are you today?” I ask, opening my arms for a hug that she willingly accepts. My arms engulf her petite stature as hers wrap around my torso. I can feel each of her breaths as my hands rest against her back, and I can’t help but assess her breathing as I do so. She battled a case of pneumonia a few months ago that really scared all of us.
“Better now that you’re here,” she says, patting my cheek with her small hand as she looks up at me and pulls from our embrace.
“Is Lucy here yet?” I ask, wondering if I’m the first to arrive.
“Nope, she said she’d be here a little later. Something about a morning yoga session she wanted to attend,” she tells me. “So, what’s new with you? Still working too many hours?” she asks, looking me over with that sharp eye of hers.
“Too many hours according to who, you?” I ask, a teasing tone shining through my question. While she’s always been proud that I became a doctor, she’s always been on me about the number of hours I’ve had to dedicate to my job.
“You’re just like your grandfather—God rest his soul—and father. Spend all your time at the hospital. Your life is going to go by, and you won’t even realize it. You need to get outside more, find a woman—or man, if that’s your cup of tea—fall in love, and enjoy all that life has to offer outside the walls of that hospital.”
I laugh at my grandmother’s words. I love the woman to death and love that she’s progressive enough to be okay with whatever sexual orientation I’d like to associate with. I’ve always been close to her, as she was a pivotal part of my childhood. Growing up in a family that has such deep roots in the town made my family have somewhat of a celebrity status. But both my parents and my grandparents did their best to keep that away from us kids. I knew from a young age that my grandparents were important people in our community, but I didn’t really realize just how much so until I was older and could see firsthand the good they did with what they were blessed with. Some of my fondest memories are spending our summers here, running around playing with my cousins, or holidays spent eating huge feasts and enjoying time together. Family has always been important to her, and if there’s one thing I’d like to do before she passes away, that would be to have her at my wedding. I know that it is something she wishes to see before that time comes, so I guess I’d better start making meeting someone a priority, sooner than later.