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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Everybody, stay calm, fun has arrived.” I smile as my grandma walks into my house, dropping her bags on the floor as Tanner runs over to her and gives her a hug. She wraps him up in her arms and squeezes him as he starts telling her about his week at school.

“Hey Grandma,” I say when I finally manage to get Tanner out of the way. She wraps me in a hug just as warm as the one Tanner gave her and I let out a sigh at the comfort it brings. “I’ve missed you.”

She pulls back with a laugh. “Of course you have.” At sixty-eight, grandma doesn’t look or act anywhere near her age. Her dark brown skin only has a few wrinkles in sight and her salt and peppered hair is covered with a black box dye that she gets touched up every month at the salon.

“I thought you weren’t going to be here until after the game.” The last time we’d talked, her flight wasn’t scheduled to be in until later this evening and she was going to get a rental to drive over from the airport. But it was supposed to be hours after Tanner’s first baseball game of the season, instead she’s here an hour before.

She tsks, moving further into the house. “I couldn’t miss my baby’s first game,” she says, ruffling Tanner’s hair and he looks up at her with excitement in his eyes. “So I got my flight moved up. I didn’t say anything over the phone because I didn’t want to get his hopes up in case I still wasn’t here on time.” Despite the kids not biologically being her great grandkids, she’d stepped in even before Kylie passed, saying they shouldn’t have to suffer with my mom being their only grandmother. She’d talked to them regularly every week, making sure they felt her love from Texas even if they were in California.

After the funeral, Grandma had wrangled us on a flight to Texas and even kept the kids while I came to Colorado to break the lease on my apartment and find a house. She’s been with me every step of the way since the phone call changed my life and having her here in the flesh, I feel weight I hadn’t realized I was carrying, drop off my shoulders.

“By the way, why was your door unlocked? That’s unsafe.” She frowns at me.

I laugh. “Says the woman who only locks her door at night time and even then sometimes she doesn’t.”

“I have to make sure that if any of my babies need to drop by, that they know they are always welcome.” Grandma has thirteen other grandkids, and she’s always made it clear we can all come to her if we need to.

I just shake my head and watch as she goes to the living room and picks Lilly up off the couch with a smile. Lilly grins back at her and starts spouting a train of words that I can’t quite understand.

“How much longer until we leave for the big game?” She asks me, turning around.

“Another hour.”

“Great, that gives me time to take inventory of your poor fridge and we can go to the grocery store.”

I let out a small laugh. “You’ll be happy to find that I recently went to the grocery store.” Not that I actually know how to turn most of the shit in there into an actual meal, but she doesn’t need to know that.

I watch as she marches into the kitchen and I expect her to go to the fridge but instead she pauses and moves over to the counter. “Ah, a cookbook, how cute, honey.”

* * *

“I’m going to go over to the team, Aunt Ivy,” Tanner says as he bounces on his toes. His gaze is locked in on the dugout where his teammates are sitting.

“No, pictures first,” I tell him. He sends me a side eye and he opens his mouth, likely to argue but I raise a brow.

“Okay.” He moves over to stand by the fence surrounding the field and I pull out my phone to snap photos of him.

“Grab Lilly,” I instruct him, sending his sister walking in his direction. I watch with a smile on my face as he wrestles her into standing in front of him. Even though she refuses to be still, she stays in front of him and I snap the shots of them. “Perfect, now you can go over to the dugout. Good luck.”

He sprints over to the bench and I watch with a smile before turning and looking for a seat to sit in the bleachers, at least until I realize Grandma has already picked out a spot for us on the bottom row next to Jamille. The two of them are already chatting like old friends and Grandma lets out a loud laugh that has the other parents staring at her as Jamille smirks.

“Oh lord,” I mutter under my breath, grabbing Lilly’s hand and guiding her over to the bleachers. “What trouble are you two cooking up?” I ask when I sit down on the other side of Grandma, sandwiching her between Jamille and I.

Jamille smirks down at me, her brown eyes full of mischief. “Oh nothing, I was just telling your grandma about your little love circle or whatever you want to call it.”

Fuck me.“So I guess there’s no need for me to make introductions,” I say, trying to change the topic.

“Nah, I knew she had to be related to you when I looked at her, plus I saw her get out of your car, so I introduced myself when she came over.”

“Now, what is this I hear about some hot young men?” Grandma asks, pulling down the shades that she insisted on wearing as she looks across the field. She squints as her gaze rests on the dugout. “Hmm, can’t see much from over here.” Fortunately for her, she doesn’t have to squint much longer as Nathan leads the kids out onto the field and they start to warm up. “Oh, this young gentleman here?” Grandma inquires, glancing at Jamille for confirmation.

“Yes ma’am, Ivy even had a date with him the other night.”

Grandma looks at me, a grin pulling at her lips. “I knew you weren’t up here as lonely as you led me to believe.”

I let out a sigh as Jamille giggles.