Chapter 104: Chapter Twenty-Four: The Fast and Fierce and Forever-4

“Just a couple of days,” he said. “I’ll be back before you know it and I’ll be around you so much you’ll want to throw me out the window.” I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down for another kiss. “Impossible. You’re too big for me to do that.” “You know I’ll miss you but we’ll make this weekend count,” he said, lifting his hand to tuck away a few stray locks of hair that had fallen out of my messy ponytail. “I wanted to have you all to myself but I know you haven’t seen your grandfather in a while so I don’t resent any of that. I just have to get creative.” I laughed. “Have you had to work around your other girlfriend’s parents or grandparents before?” “No,” Luke said, scrunching up his nose as if the answer should’ve been obvious. “I liked my relationships with minimal effort.” “Uh, this wouldn’t be one of those,” I said dryly. “I know that,” he said with a wink. “With you, it requires Maximum effort.” “Haha. Very cute,”I said with a snort before pushing him away. “Okay, let’s go finish up here before Gramps comes back. I don’t want him to give him any more reason to think that I’ve gone farther down the road to perdition with you.” The kitchen was clean when Gramps came back and Luke bid us so long with the reminder that Terrence would be picking us up early this evening for the party. “He’s not the kind of man you dabble with, Max,” Gramps said as he helped me move some furniture around to clear a space for the foldable mattress I’d pulled out from my closet. He was leaving late Monday morning and was going to book himself a hotel room somewhere nearby but I’d insisted he stayed with me so he didn’t have to spend more money. The mattress was a single but it was as thick and springy as when I first got it in sophomore year in college. It came handy when all you had was a studio apartment. “I’m going to assume we’re talking about Luke,” I said as I took out some clean pillowcases and bedsheets. “Well, we can talk about Alex too since I thought he had very similar intentions about you,” Gramps said. “Alex?” I repeated, sitting down next to him. “What do you mean? What did he tell you?” Gramps shrugged casually. “He told me he liked you. And that he wanted to surprise you by having me visit for your birthday. It was a fine idea but I didn’t want to depend on anyone for it. I didn’t want you pressured into a decision because of me. I didn’t want you to owe anyone any favors so that when the time came to choose, you’d only have yourself to listen to.” Tears pricked behind my eyes as I leaned in to give my grandfather a hug. “Thank you, Gramps. You’ve done so much for me over the years and here you are, still doing it.” Gramps gently rubbed my back until I finally pulled away, my eyes tearing up. “You had too much pain at such a young age, Max, and I worried that you would grow up with that pain still eating you up inside. I did what I could to reassure you that life wasn’t so bad in spite of all the ugly things that could happen in it. But I knew you needed more than me to learn that. You needed friends, work you enjoyed doing, a world you liked, a man you loved and who loved you back. And I’m glad that you seem to have slowly found all that.” I sniffled. “I do have great friends, Alex among them. But I think that’s all that Alex will be to me. I hope you’re not too disappointed. I know he was the town golden boy.” Gramps shook his head. “That doesn’t matter to me. What matters is that you’re with someone who makes you happy. If it has to be that hotshot city slicker of yours, don’t let me stop you.” I laughed. “I’m not sure Luke would appreciate being referred to as a city slicker but he’s a good guy, Gramps. And I think he loves me.” “Has he said so himself?” my grandfather asked with a raised brow. Actually, no, he hasn’t. He’d told me a lot of things but not that. Yet somehow, there was this feeling that he didn’t even need to. That I just knew. “I plan on beating him to it,” I told Gramps with a wiggle of my brows. “Who said I couldn’t say it first?” This time, my grandfather smiled, transforming his heavily lined face. “No one. As old-fashioned as I am, I know for a fact that there are no rules when it comes to the heart. You can only follow it and decide if the path it leads you to is one you can walk down on.” I smiled and leaned my head against my grandfather’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re here, Gramps.” “Me too, kiddo,” he said gently before fishing through his pocket. He took out a small, red fabric drawstring bag and handed it to me. “Happy Birthday.” My grandfather made a modest living and even at his age, he still worked part-time. But the delicate chain bracelet inside the bag was of fine quality—antique gold with intricate engravings especially on the locket charm that hung from it right by the clasp. “It was your grandmother’s,” he said as he took it from me and looped it around my right wrist. “I gave it to her on our wedding day. It was a full year’s salary but I didn’t care. She deserved the best in the world, just like you. I’m sure she would be glad to have you keep it.” My grandmother died when I was ten and even though I’d never seen Gramps cry, I knew he grieved her deeply. I couldn’t recall much of her except that she always had a sweet smile and the best sugar cookies. I flicked the locket gently with my fingertip, my chin trembling with the effort not to cry. “Thank you, Gramps.” “It’s empty inside,” he added. “I want you to fill your life with the future, Max, not the past.” I spent a quiet afternoon with my grandfather, having tea and catching up. We walked around the neighborhood, even hopped on the bus to Hedenby Towers so he could see where I worked. We headed back around five to get ready for the party. All that Zoe told me was that it was going to be dressy casual so somewhere between cut-off jeans and a sequinned evening gown. I wore a bright coral tunic dress from my shopping spree last night. It skimmed my curves but stayed classy, and I matched it with the gold and ruby dragonfly necklace from Luke and the charm bracelet from my grandfather.