I frowned. “You broke his heart. What do you expect?”
“I expect you, of all people, not to take sides.”
“How can I take sides?” I said with a huff. “You never even tried.”
Melissa’s face fell as tears filled her eyes. “That was harsh.”
“I don’t understand you. At all. You’re the one who told me to fight for Jack, to not give up on him. You pushed me to love him and give him a chance,” I pointed out, then took a deep breath in and out to fight the nausea I felt growing. “More than once.”
“So?” she snapped.
“Soooo,” I said pointedly. “You never follow your own advice.”
“How do you even know I want to?”
“Because I can see it in your eyes. You miss him. And there’s something you’re not telling me. Come on.” I grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the garage.
“Where are we going?” She tried to tug her hand away, and I only pulled her harder.
“Get in the car.” I opened the passenger door and shoved her inside. “I’m sick of this and we’re going to the only place where you’ll listen to reason.”
“Oh my God. No.” She pressed the button to unlock the door and I hit it again, just as fast, using the child safety locks to trap her in the car. “You cannot Gran-ify me!” she screamed out, pounding on the side window.
“Stop beating up my car! And seriously? Gran-ify you?”
“Yeah!” she cried out. “Where you bring me to Gran and Gramps and they say the most perfect things and I leave there in tears because you were right all along and I was an idiot.”
I wanted to laugh, oh so badly, but stopped myself. “Let’s just see what they have to say. Maybe they won’t be on my side?” I offered, silently knowing that they would.
I mean, I hoped they would. They’d better.
“So you’re saying they’re actually neutral? Ha! I’ll believe that when I hear it.”
A few minutes later I pulled into their driveway, hoping they wouldn’t be upset at our unannounced arrival. Giving a quick knock, I didn’t wait for a response before opening the front door and shouting, “Gran? Gramps?”
“Cassie? Is that you, dear?” Gran shouted from the kitchen.
Of course. They’re always in the kitchen.
“Is that our Kitten?” Gramps called out and I stifled a laugh.
We walked through the entryway, Melissa’s hand firmly in mine as I pulled her through. “Sit,” I demanded and she did as I asked, but folded her arms over her chest and put on that stubborn face I know so well.
“Oh! Hi, Melissa.” Gran smiled. “Are you two okay? What’s going on? Is the baby all right?” She eyed my belly and I nodded.
“Everything’s good, Gran. I just needed to bring Melissa here.”
Gran’s brow furrowed, but I knew it was part of her act. “Whatever for, dear?”
“Because for some reason she won’t date Dean. And I know it isn’t because she doesn’t like him, or miss him, or any normal reason. I figured that only you and Gramps could get to the bottom of this. So, go on. Work your magic. Use your granny voodoo on her.”
Gran and Gramps laughed, full-out belly laughs. “Granny voodoo. That’s great, Kitten,” Gramps said between fits of laughter.
“I’m not kidding! She’s broken,” I shouted, pointing at my now terrified best friend. “Fix her!”
“Well, I will admit that I’m not sure why it’s taken this long for the two of you kids to get together,” Gran began. “Why don’t you tell me what the problem is, Melissa?”
Melissa inhaled deeply, her gaze shifting between the three of us all staring at her. “There is no problem. Maybe that’s the problem?”
“What?” Gramps scratched his head, completely taken aback by her answer.
“Go on,” Gran prompted, her tone sympathetic. It’s how she always sucks them in.
“That’s it. There’s no problem,” Melissa said, obviously trying to sound confident.
“Do you like Dean?” I asked the most obvious question of them all and watched as her face softened the way it had when she first mentioned him back in the student union when we were in college.
All eyes fixed on Melissa, waiting for her answer. She looked down and wiped at her eyes. “Of course I like him. I’ve never liked anyone so much before.”
I stood there, shocked. This made absolutely no sense at all to me. I shook my head and said, “Seriously? Then what the hell are we doing here? Why aren’t you with him?”
Gran huffed out a breath before pulling a bottle of wine from the cupboard. Opening the bottle, she poured three glasses, then filled a fourth with cold water. “Sorry to drink in front of you, dear,” she said in apology, handing me the glass filled with water.
“It’s okay. Wine doesn’t sound good anyway.” I patted my stomach.
She placed one of the glasses in front of Melissa. “Drink. Let’s discuss this.”
“You girls make everything so complicated. Don’t you know us men are simple folk?” Gramps asked as he sipped his wine.
Gran held a hand in the air to stop him, then asked Melissa, “You’re scared, aren’t you, dear?”
Gramps nodded. “It’s so obvious.”
My head swiveled back and forth as Melissa’s tears fell. “What is? What’s obvious?” I asked, completely confused.