Page 70 of Elite Player
“Oh, well, thank you. Just a little something, you know.” Mom laughs at herself. She’s been planning this party for a year, as much for Granny as for herself. An opportunity to show off. Like me, she’s also the middle of three kids and is always in competition with them, even now. But both have moved out of state, so she gets the full attention of her mother and the town, I suppose. She pretty much does the hair of every woman who will walk through the door today, her shop in the basement of their house. The Atkins home is the beehive for gossip, and this is the perfect opportunity for my mother to show off how much power she has—all the secrets she knows.
“Eileen, you remember my daughter Josephine.”
Eileen’s eyes widen. “Bucky? That’s you?”
“Josephine,” I correct a moment before Nico’s arm drapes over my shoulder. “And this is my fiancé, Nico.”
He grins. “Hey, how are ya?”
Nico is always gorgeous, but since everyone on the Iron is doing No Shave November, he’s been growing a mustache. It is criminal how even that fits him. Add in the burgundy tailored suit, which matches my dress, and he is the most overdressed and hottest man here.
Eileen presses her hand to her heart, flicking her attention between the two of us. “Well, hi. I’m, uh…”
“I’ve been known to take away the breath of a woman or two, right, babe?” Nico kisses my temple, and Eileen laughs, high-pitched as if she’s confused. Though we don’t stick around to find out because Nico takes my hand. “Introduce me to everyone else?”
He tugs me away, and we greet a few other people as they filter in, all of them shocked that I’m Josephine “Bucky Beaver” Atkins, and that I’m engaged. It does feel like the ultimatefuck youto them. The ugly duckling finally turned into a swan, although I don’t feel much like a swan. I’m not sure I’ll ever not see myself as Bucky Beaver, no matter what I wear, what I look like, or who holds my hand.
Though I can’t think much of it once my great-grandmother arrives with Mamaw. As per usual, Mamaw’s all in pink and pushing Granny’s wheelchair into the hall to lots of hoots and hollers.
Nico and I wait our turn, avoiding Mamaw’s pinching fingers to my cheeks and his butt, then bend to greet my great-grandmother. I kiss her cheek. “Hi, Granny.”
“Josie, is that you?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, don’t you look so pretty. Stand up. Lemme get a look at you.” She holds my hand as I follow her direction, and she smiles. “All grown up and doin’ well for yourself. I always knew you would. And I heard engaged too.”
“That’s right.” Although my great-grandmother is the one person I feel bad lying to, I always felt a special kinship with her. She was the one who taught me to knit when I was little. Back before her shoulders stooped and her fingers became too arthritic.
“This is Nico,” I say, nudging him forward, and he sinks to his haunches, so she can view him better.
“Happy birthday, Granny. It’s very nice to meet you.”
She studies him carefully. “You’re not from ’round here.”
“No, I’m not. I’m originally from California, but now I live in Philadelphia.”
“With Josie.”
“NotwithJosie, but?—”
“That’s the problem with you youngins. Y’all’re so wishy-washy. You find somebody, you marry ’em. You know how old Iwas when I married Clyde? Eighteen. Had Boyce when I was nineteen. Then Marlee and Delia after that. Orla was my last baby, and I wasn’t even twenty-five.”
“It’s different now, Granny,” I say. “Things are different.”
“What is?” She waves me off. “I don’t get all the fussin’ and waitin’ around. It’s not so different. ’Sides—” she faces Nico “—Josie’s waited long enough to find her man, don’t you think?”
Nico tips his head back, one amused eyebrow arched my way. Almost in a challenge. “I think you’re right, Granny.”
“And what about you?” She swats at his shoulder. “Why’s a handsome boy like you taking so long to settle down?”
He shrugs. “I was waiting to find the right girl.”
Granny motions between Nico and me. “Well, don’t take too long. You know how old I am? I can’t wait much longer.”
And that right there is why I feel so guilty about all of this. Not only am I lying, but I’ll be disappointing the one person I don’t want to. The one person who’s never made me feel like an outcast in this family.
“Why don’t I let you two catch up?” Nico suggests then takes Granny’s hand in his, her skin almost translucent with age, and kisses the back of it. “I’ll be back for my girl, so take care of her while I’m gone.”
