At First Hate (Coastal Chronicles)

32

Savannah

July 22, 2017

“I’m fine, girls,” Gran said. “You don’t need to worry.”

Lila and I shared a glance. We’d known each other long enough that we almost had the same twin ESP I had with Maddox. Gran was not okay. That was abundantly clear.

She was in the hospital. The doctor had said early stages of lymphoma. But they were still doing tests to determine what it was and how virulent. Regardless, she was weak. She was hooked up to oxygen and coughing around most of her words. She’d always looked so strong and resilient in my eyes. And right now, she looked so frail. It was the first time I’d ever wished that I’d gone into medicine and not neuroscience. Then, I could have helped her myself. Instead, I was the wrong kind of doctor.

“Stop worrying. Both of you,” she insisted. “You have that reunion of yours tonight. I won’t have you staying home because of me.”

“But Gran,” I said.

“No, but Gran,” she said. She pointed at Lila. “You make sure that she goes.”

“Okay, Gran,” she whispered with a nod.

I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“I love you, chickadee.”

“I love you too.”

“Love you, Gran,” Lila said.

We stepped out of the hospital room without words. Lila put her arm around my shoulders and held me that way as we left the hospital.

It wasn’t until we were in the car that she finally spoke, “I’m so sorry, Mars.”

“Me too. She looked so rough.”

“She’s in good hands. They’ll take care of her.”

“I know. I feel helpless, like there’s something else I should be doing.”

“You don’t like to be out of control. I get it. But I’ll be here for you through the whole thing.”

I nodded at her and then tried to shake the malaise off. “We should go to your reunion.”

Mine had been the night before. It had been pretty fun. Not that I kept up with anyone from my high school, except my brother, who had reluctantly gone with us. But I was going to Lila’s more for moral support. Ash would be there, and I knew that she didn’t want to see him. Or at least, she acted like she didn’t want to see him. Not after the church steps at Christmas. What a nightmare.

“You sure you still want to go?” Lila asked. “We could skip.”

“I’m committed.”

Lila shrugged. “Okay. Let’s go show those bitches how awesome we are.”

I laughed as she drove downtown. We parked in a garage near the riverfront property that had been donated by the Talmadge family for the event. Lila had apparently forgotten to actually read the invitation and hadn’t even realized that Ash had gotten them the venue from his family’s real estate fortune. Typical.

“This sounds like a supremely bad idea,” Lila said as we walked up to the reunion.

“You’ve had a shitty few months. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Lila clapped her hand over my mouth. “Don’t jinx us. The worst is always waiting around the corner.”

I couldn’t keep from laughing. “Okay, fine. Chill. It’s just an excuse to be in Savannah while Gran is sick. I don’t know how much longer she has. I wanted you to be here, and I used this as an excuse.”

“Mars,” she said, pulling me into a hug, “I’m so sorry about Gran.”

“Me too,” I whispered. The thought ran unchecked through my mind. All the worst-case scenarios. She was Gran. She was my best friend. My rock. What would I do without her? “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I have teaching obligations, but…”

“But if something happens to Gran, then take the time off that you need.”

I nodded and looked away. “Yeah. I’ll figure it out.”

I could take a sabbatical to be here with her for a semester. That was about the best that I could do. I’d have to plan it out for my schedule when I got home. So, when we knew what the prognosis was, I’d be ready.

After taking the elevator up to the top floor, we grabbed name tags and entered the cheesy Catholic high school reunion. At least they were serving alcohol. I wasn’t sure how we’d have survived otherwise. We grabbed drinks and then proceeded to wallflower the entire event.

“I don’t like any of these people,” Lila whispered to me.

I snorted. I couldn’t agree more, but still, I needed to get her through this. “You were here for three years. You had to have liked someone.”

“Yeah, Ash.”

“Right.” I picked at my nails. “Well, there’s Shelly Thomas. Looks like she’s coming over here.”

Lila took a deep breath and let it out. “Let’s just go.”

“What? Really?” I asked.

Lila had partially come to this whole thing to show the girl who had tormented her through her senior year that she was successful. But in the end, it didn’t matter.