Page 113 of Eleanor & Grey
Karla rolled her eyes. “Mom’s not here, Lorelai,” she said. “There’s no such thing as angels.”
“Karla,” I snapped, but Lorelai shrugged her shoulders and leaned in toward me.
She whispered, “It’s OK, Ellie. Mom knows Karla doesn’t mean it.”
Karla rolled her eyes again, then she looked toward Greyson. “Just to be clear, I’m not here because of you,” she stated sternly. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“Duly noted,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender.
Greyson looked my way and mouthed,Thank you.
I nodded once and went back to eating.
As we ate, a big part of me wanted to tell Karla to get off her phone, but at least she was sitting down at the table. At least she had shown up, even though I was sure it was hard for her to do. I was almost certain it was hard for every single person to show up to that table that night.
One step at a time, Eleanor.
One step at a time.
* * *
“I can’t believe that after all this time, I finally get to see him,” Shay remarked as we drove over to Greyson’s house for thebaseball game. “I mean, I know you’ve told me about him, and I’ve been tuning in the best I can to your reality show, but actually seeing Greyson after all this time is going to be surreal. It’s as if I’m an extra on your show!” she exclaimed.
I laughed. “You’re so ridiculous.”
“Does he look the same?” she asked.
“Um, yeah, but like, in a grown-up way. You’ll see.”
“So this is gonna be your new home when you marry Greyson, huh?” Shay said as we pulled onto the property. “Not too shabby.”
“For the love of God, I just hope you avoid saying all these things in front of him.”
“No promises. You know me—I’m a talker.”
We parked the car, and as we began walking toward Greyson’s front porch, he came out wearing a backward baseball hat and a White Sox jersey. “Hey ladies!” He smiled and hurried down the stairs to greet us. “Shay, it’s been a long time. It’s great to see you.” He pulled her into a hug, and Shay stood still as day.
When he let go of her, she gave him a tight smile and then turned back to me and whisper-shouted, “What the hell, Ellie?!”
“What? What’s wrong?”
She pulled me in closer and turned her back even more to Greyson. “Um, how in the ever-loving shit did you forget to inform me that Greyson, oh, I don’t know, grew up to become a Greek god? Seriously, are those real biceps? Those can’t be real. People don’t look like that.People don’t look like that!”
“Shhh, he’s going to hear you. Stop being weird.”
We turned back to Greyson and smiled. “Are you guys ready to head out? I figured we could all fit into your SUV,” I said.
“Yeah, let me go get the girls. We’ll meet you out here.”
He turned around and started walking away with his hands in his pockets, and Shay moaned.
Shemoaned.
“Do you see it, Ellie?”
“See what?”
“Those cheeks of steel.Left cheek, right cheek, cheeks cheeks cheeks, oh how cheeky Grey’s cheeks can be,” she said, mocking Greyson’s butt.
