Page 147 of Eleanor & Grey
“What? Of course it does.”
I wanted to agree with her. I wanted to rush out of the house and run to Eleanor to tell her we were ready. Yet I couldn’t dothat. Not yet. “Karla, we’ve been through a lot these past few months, and we still have a long way to go to heal. My concern is you and your sister. If Eleanor and I are meant to be, it will work its way out down the line. But for now, it’s just the three of us against the world.”
“Look, I know things haven’t been easy for us, and I know I’ve made them even tougher sometimes, but you deserve to be happy, Dad. I know it’s been hard for us all, but that’s the truth. I’m sure you think I deserve to be happy, and if I deserve it, you do too.”
I gave her a smile. “I am happy. I have you.”
She groaned, slapping her hand to her face. “Why do you have to be so corny sometimes?”
“I’m a father. Being corny is part of a father’s job.”
She stood from the chair and started walking away, but I called after her.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“What made you open the letter today?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Maybe it was just Mom whispering in my ear.”
She walked off, and I picked up the letter and read it over and over again.
“Thank you, Nicole,” I whispered into the wind, and I did as Lorelai instructed me to do.
I believed to my core that Nicole could hear me.
* * *
“So I received a call from Karla saying you were being stubborn,” Claire mentioned during our Tuesday lunch date.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. She said you had a good thing in Eleanor and weretossing it to the side because you were a chickenshit—her words, not mine.”
I smirked. “Sounds like my daughter.”
“So why aren’t you going to get in touch with Eleanor? Wasn’t Karla the main reason you were keeping your distance, and now with her blessing...” Claire’s words trailed off.
“It’s more complicated than that,” I argued. “It’s a long story.”
“Well, luckily I get an hour of your time every Tuesday. Unless you want me to start singing Journey songs again.”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I made a huge mistake when I was drunk... Eleanor and I were involved, and I accidentally called her by Nicole’s name. It was stupid. It was a huge mistake, and I don’t think I can really come back from that slip.”
She nodded slowly in understanding. “When I first started dating Jack, I was terrified. I’d been married to my husband for forty years before Jack had come into my life, and I was certain I’d never love again. There was no way I could love someone the way I loved my husband, and in a way, I was right. My love for that man was its own creation. It was our special thing.
“Then when Jack showed up...” Claire’s eyes watered over with so much hope, I almost began to tear up. “Jack taught me how to trust again. He taught me that I didn’t have to be perfect; I just had to be me, scars and all. He taught me that being myself was all that I ever had to do. Truthfully, I didn’t think my heart could beat for another man, but I was wrong. What I learned was that hearts are resilient. They always remember how to beat again. We just have to be willing to give them something to beat for. And the only way to do that is to let go of fear.”
“But my mistake...” I whispered.
She smiled. “I called Jack by Randy’s name a handful of times. It wasn’t on purpose. I remember being horrified and certain that I was going to run him off forever. But do you know what happened?”
“What’s that?”
“He stayed, and oh boy, please believe that I gave him a million reasons to run, but he wouldn’t. He stayed.” She crossed her arms and kept grinning my way, as if she knew something that I hadn’t known. “What happened after you said it? Did she run away after you two talked it through?”
“No, she didn’t. She talked me through it. She listened to my pain. She stayed.”
“Then sweetheart...” Claire placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and shook her head. “Why are you running?”
