All In Good Time - A Time Travel Beatles Fanfiction

Track 29 - I Want You

"Darling, you are far too young to look so sad." Grandma Marie planted a soft kiss on Lainey's cheek and held her at arm's length to study her. "Is your father making you work too much at that silly shop?"

"No, Grandma, I'm fine. Just a little tired."

"Come in and have a cup of tea. I haven't seen you in over a week."

Lainey followed her grandmother into the sunny kitchen that overlooked a backyard meadow filled with multi-colored autumn leaves and sparrows chasing each other around a bird bath.

"How about a drop of whiskey in your tea? We have to nurture ourselves," Grandma Marie said with a wink. Her silver hair was cut in a stylish bob with long bangs swept to the side. Her body was still trim and she was impeccably dressed in a cream colored silky blouse and matching slacks. Lainey had always felt she had her very own Florence Henderson for a grandmother, with her good looks and inner strength and positive outlook on life.

She gratefully accepted the mug of tea. Outside, her grandmother's ginger cat stalked a pair of fat squirrels.

"Let's go into the dining room," Grandma said. "I've just hauled a trunk out of the attic. Wait until you see these dresses I found."

Lainey loved looking through her grandmother's collection of memories. It was like a time capsule, full of vintage garments from the 1960s, old fashion magazines, pictures of Lainey's mother as a baby, and boxes full of old letters.

As they sipped their tea, Lainey sat on the carpet, leafing through magazine after magazine. Being an art student, her eye was immediately drawn to the images of women in miniskirts and pixie hairstyles and bell bottoms. She wished she'd brought her sketch pad. Maybe Grandma Marie would let her leave with an armful of these magazines.

Grandma Marie held up an ancient green taffeta dress, shaking it out and releasing a cloud of dust. "What's been happening in the romance department?"

Loud sigh. Here it was. Grandma's favorite topic of conversation. Of all the times for her to ask. Paul had disappeared into thin air, barely thirty minutes ago. "Nothing much. Things seem to be quietening down."

"Hmm. Your mother says you got involved with a boy in England and they had to wire you money to Liverpool for train fare, and you cried and slept for three days. And your father says an English boy has been hanging around the shop and his music room. That doesn't sound quiet at all. 'Fess up, darling."

Lainey almost laughed. Her love life certainly was a hot topic in this family. And what a nightmare those last days in England had been. It seemed like ages ago. "Okay, Grandma, I met someone in London, and he happened to be from Liverpool, and we took the train up and I met his dad...and I sort of got stranded."

"Well that doesn't sound promising."

"It was a misunderstanding. I may have overreacted."

"I see. Is this young man the reason you look as if someone has just stolen your puppy?"

Lainey reached for another magazine. "He was here for a week. We just said goodbye, actually. I drove straight here."

Grandma Marie arranged herself on the floor next to Lainey, her cup of tea cradled in her wrinkled hands. "Tell me all about this young man."

Another sigh. "Oh Grandma. He's so smart, and driven and talented, with a smile that can light up the room, and he makes me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world when we're together, but we're not together enough. It always ends too soon, and I don't know when I'll see him again."