to live for the hope of it all.

Chapter 35

October 29th, 2023

"We keep this love in a photograph,
We made these memories for ourselves,
Where our eyes are never closing,
Hearts are never broken,
And time's forever frozen still..."

Beckett

I watched as the man in front of me admired his granddaughter as she worked in the kitchen, his soft smile never once straying.

We'd sat in silence for the last 5 minutes, watching as she hummed along to the music playing softly, stirring whatever it was she was making. Her hair fell in soft waves down her shoulders, and I laughed softly when she pushed it back aggressively for the 7th time since I started counting.

Why doesn't she just tie it back?

"She's a lot like her grandmother right now."

Breaking my gaze from Bailey, I turned back to the man next to me. Though his tone was solemn, his eyes still shined with admirement.

"How so?" I asked.

"She's stubborn, about the smallest things too," he started. "The way she keeps watching that ground beef like it's her lifeline because she is convinced if she looks away for even a second, it'll burn. And the way she refuses to tie her hair back, even though it's annoying her by getting in her face."

I laughed, because I too had picked up on that one.

"She doesn't know how to take, boyo," he said, his attention turning to me as he crossed his arms on the table and leaned in. "I regret not pushing her out of her shell more these last few years. She's too kind in that aspect, and it's given her the mindset that if good things are meant to happen, they will. She doesn't understand that there are certain good things she may need to reach for first."

What is he implying?

"What are you saying?" I asked, needing him to clarify what I'm thinking.

"I'm saying she doesn't know how to ask for what she wants. My son ruined her in ways I could never heal. Then Brady never asked her, he just took initiative and she went along with it. Because that's how she was raised by my son who never paid her any mind the way she deserves. She waits for things to happen to her, and convinces herself she can't have them if they don't," he explained. I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms as I thought about what he said.

He's telling me I have to take the leap, but I don't want her to just "go along with it."

I want her to want me too, and in order to truly know that, I have to ask her how she feels.

She already drunkenly told you how she feels.

Yeah, but a lot could have changed since then. She was drunk last night, and it just stumbled out. But I wanted to hear her out now, when she was stone cold sober.

"I don't want to push her into anything," I started. "I want her to be able to tell me what she wants, and if I have to ask her that then I will. But I don't want her to feel like she has to go along with anything."

"So you'll ask her to homecoming?"

Homecoming?

What the hell?

My jaw dropped at his words, because yeah, homecoming was the week before we got off for Christmas break and I completely spaced.

Our season was about to double down until then, and that's all I had been focusing on besides my school work and hanging out with Bailey.