Page 75 of Here & Now

He’d been eating while she talked, but he paused. “You don’t have to—”

She held up a hand. “It’s okay.”

He nodded.

“First, it was my grandpa. One day, he was sitting outside on the lanai with my grandma and had a stroke. None of us were here at the time. He never fully recovered from it, and then a few months later, he had another one that took his life.”

He sucked in a breath. “I’m so sorry.”

“Afterwards, we tried to convince my grandma to move back to Michigan, but she wouldn’t hear of it. ‘This is my home now,’ she said, and that was that. We tried to visit more often, but it was hard with school and work, and…”

She glanced down at her plate, seemingly overtaken by the memory.

He reached across the table, placed his hand over hers, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

She soon rallied and continued. “A year after my grandpa died, my grandma went to the doctor for a routine physical. He noticed she had swollen glands and sent her for more tests. She was diagnosed with lymphoma, and it wasn’t long before she got really sick.”

She shook her head and took some bites of food, either to distract herself or give herself the energy to continue. Then she glanced at his empty plate. “Do you want some more lasagna?”

Even amidst her pain, she was still concerned about feeding him. Amazing.

“Sure, if you don’t mind.”

“Mind? I’m thrilled it turned out this good.” She dished him another slice before he could do it himself.

He thought she might have finished talking about her grandparents, but she continued where she’d left off.

“Soon my grandma needed around-the-clock care, and since we weren’t in the position to move here, we brought her to us.”

“To your parents’ house, right?”

She looked surprised that he’d remembered. “Yes. I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could, and that was when my relationship with John went south. I wouldn’t have changed a thing, though. I was with my grandma at the end, and that was what mattered the most.”

“I agree,” he said softly.

“What about you? You haven’t said much about your family, not that I’ve given you the opportunity.”

He chuckled. “It’s okay.” He’d much rather listen to her than talk about himself, but since she’d asked… “I told you a little about my parents already.”

She cut a small square of lasagna and added it to her plate. “What are their names?”

“Greg and Jill.”

“And you’re an only child.”

“Guilty.”

She laughed. “Did you wish you had brothers or sisters?”

“I know I’m supposed to say yes, but that would be a lie. As a kid, I never felt lonely. There were always people around, customers at the shop, my parents’ friends and their kids, Marco.”

“Plus, there’s so much to do here.”

“Exactly. I was a nature lover from the start. I loved everything associated with the water: swimming, boating, fishing. I was never bored.”

“Do you see yourself living here forever?”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation, “unless something unexpected happens.”