The Unexpected

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I woke up to the smell of bacon. It took me a minute to realize that my parents were gone- there shouldn't be anyone in the house except me and Emma, who was still asleep. I got up and immediately headed for the kitchen. I could hear the sizzling of the little strips of heaven cooking on the stove, Rose hunched over them. Oh yeah. In all the excitement last night I had forgotten about my grandma coming over.

"Good morning," Rose said without turning around. I hadn't made a sound coming in.

"Old lady ninja hearing," I muttered under my breath before returning her greeting and sliding onto a bar stool. Rose placed a plate of bacon and toast in front of me before opening the fridge and grabbing a carton of OJ.

"I made some for your friend. Emmaline, isn't it?" She said, and slid a glass of orange juice in front of me. I nodded. "I saw her car out front. Is she coming to service with us?"

"She might, if she doesn't need to go home." My family went to our local church every Sunday. Emma's usually did, too, but with everything going on I didn't expect for them to be there.

Rose frowned. "Don't her folks come out on Sundays?"

"It's complicated right now." I didn't care to elaborate.

I was munching on my last bite of breakfast when Emma came down the stairs. She looked much better than yesterday. She had washed her makeup off last night and her eyes were no longer red and puffy. She sat down next to me and thanked Rose for the plate of bacon she placed in front of her, but didn't say anything else as she silently chewed.

"So," Rose started. She had obviously sensed something was wrong. She hadn't met Emma more than a handful of times, but everyone was used to her smiling, happy self. It wasn't hard to notice the change. "Are you coming with us today, Emmaline? The youth group is having an end of the year party, I hear. Seems a little early to me. School doesn't let out for another month."

To my surprise Emma shook her head. "No, my dad called and said I have to come home."

"Oh?" Rose raised her eyebrows at the same time I asked Emma if she was sure she didn't want to tell her dad she was going with us. I knew she probably wasn't in the mood for being around a lot of people, but most likely didn't want to go home either.

"Thanks Ric, but I think I'll just go home." She replied, getting up and putting her plate in the sink. "Thanks for breakfast, Mrs. Young." She turned to me. "And thanks to you, too. For everything."

I got up and hugged her. "Anytime. See you tomorrow?"

Emma squeezed me back. "Tomorrow."

~~~~~~~~~~~

After morning service Rose surprised me by not driving straight home. I watched as we drove past where we should have turned before glancing at my grandmother.

"Uh, where are we going?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were supposed to turn left just then."

"I know what I'm doing," she said and glances at me. "Am I not allowed to take my granddaughter to have lunch with me? I thought it would be nice, but if you don't want to I can take you home. I would just have to find somebody else that cared enough to-"

Here she goes.

"No, you know that's not what I meant," I interrupted.

"Oh?" Rose asked. "So, what are you saying exactly?"

Ugh. I did my best not to say something smart alec-y. That doesn't mean I didn't in my mind, though.

I sighed deeply before responding. "Rose, do you want to go out to eat somewhere or not?"