I opened my mouth to say God knows what when Melissa rescued me. “What? Cassie lives in New York with Jack. Why the hell would she be here?” She grabbed the receipt, stuffing it in the bag before tugging me by the wrist toward the door.
“Jesus, Cassie.”
I snapped out of my wedding-photo daze. “Sorry.” I apologized, although I wasn’t quite sure what for.
“No.” Meli shook her head. “That was brutal.”
“Welcome to my life.” I extended my hands with a shrug.
My mind raced with thoughts about Chrystle and thoughts about Jack, and how even all the way across the country I couldn’t get away from the media nightmare I now lived in. I wanted to focus on being happy right now, excited to see Gran and Gramps. I let those thoughts take over.
“You’ll love Gran and Gramps, Meli. They’re awesome.” I looked at her, a large fake smile plastered on my face.
“I don’t want to love them,” she responded without even a glance.
“What the hell is wrong with you? After we fix me, we really need to do some work on your dysfunctional ass.”
That garnered a glance. A nasty, wicked one. She pulled her car up to the curb and I hopped out, excited to see the family waiting inside for me. Dean popped his head out from behind the screen door, his eyes meeting mine. I widened mine, and he figured out what I was trying to convey and bolted through the door and to the side of our car.
“I’m glad you came, Melissa.” He smiled at her, grabbing the bag from the store.
“You’ve only been trying to get me here for months.” She turned a pointed glare at me.
What the hell?
“Cassie?” Gran’s voice spilled out from an open window.
“Is the kitten here already?” Gramps voice quickly followed.
I arched my eyebrows at Dean. “The kitten?” I asked with a laugh.
“Don’t ask. He started calling you that after you moved. We think it’s funny, so we never correct him.”
Dean opened the door for us, and as I stepped inside my heart immediately filled with love. Nothing had changed since my last visit, except for the three new black-and-white photographs on the wall.
Melissa pointed at them. “Cass, you took these, right?”
“Yeah,” I answered with a small smile before tossing a quick glance at Dean. I turned my head, noticing one additional new portrait. It was taken the day Jack signed to play for the Diamondbacks. Five people were in the photo, and I was one of them.
“You’re practically family already,” Melissa said as she glanced at the picture.
If a heart could grow in size, mine enlarged on the spot. I’d been more at home here with this family than with the one I was supposed to call my own.
Grabbing the bag from Dean, I started walking toward the kitchen.
“I’ll show you around the house.” Dean grabbed Melissa by the hand, leaving me alone.
Gran and Gramps sat at the table, drinking out of coffee mugs. Gran scooted out of her chair and shuffled toward me, her arms outstretched. “Oh, Cassie. It’s so good to see you. We miss you.” She kissed the side of my cheek and hugged me as tightly as her frail arms could.
“I miss you too. Here, I brought these.” I pulled out the flowers and the wine.
“The kitten is here!” Gramps practically shouted before wrapping his burly arms around me, the smell of tobacco lingering on his clothes.
I breathed him in, the scent reminding me of being here with Jack. “Gramps! I miss you the most. Don’t tell Gran,” I whisper-shouted near his ear.
“I heard that!” Gran yelled out from the sink where she worked on arranging the flowers in a vase.
“Come sit,” Gramps said as he plopped back into his chair.
“Should we open the wine?” Gran asked, still arranging the flowers.
“I’m OK. We brought those bottles for you guys to enjoy with dinner. Save them.” I winked at Gramps, and he grinned.
Gran placed her hand on my shoulder as she passed me to sit down. She sipped from her mug before eyeing me. “So, dear, how is everything?”
My smile faded quicker than I intended. “It’s good. Everything’s good,” I lied, as the realization that being around Jack’s family without Jack was harder than I anticipated. I missed him. And I knew I couldn’t get anything past Gran.
Gran reached out a hand, touching my fingers gently. “We saw that dreadful magazine. Why won’t she just go away?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve wondered the same thing.”
“Jack said you’re having a hard time dealing with it all. Tell us what’s going on.” Gran had a way of making you talk about the things you wanted to avoid.