Aaron and Kat (Wattys 2017)

Chapter 10

KAT Saturday February 27th

Rich and my birthday is not until Wednesday, but today we already celebrate it with family, which means my grandmother is in town.

'Elise, where do you keep the cake platters? Did you move them?' My grandmother asks. She's trying to help out, but in reality she is just walking in everyone's way.

'Don't worry, Johanna, I've got it under control.' Elise, patience itself, smiles at her. 'Why don't you have another cup of coffee?'

'Yeah, grandma.' I say, trying to help Elise, who is mouthing 'please get her out' at me. Elise is busy decorating the cake, but grandma keeps coming into the kitchen to distract her. 'We can watch some television.' My grandma, who is my father's mother, lives in Florida. She moved there since she won the lottery twenty years ago but she comes over a couple weeks when it's Rich and my birthday and she usually comes by for a week for the holidays. A couple of years ago, before Elise came along, she lived with us for a year, which was pretty intense. It also ensured that grandma has a special relationship with me and Rich.

I make my grandma more coffee and we settle on the couch.

'What do you want to see?' I ask her and we flip through the channels. We settle on Catfish, because grandma loves that show. For once, Rich doesn't complain about the fact that something is on that is not about hockey.

'I can't believe he actually needs their help to see that that girl is not real.' Grandma shakes her head while stirring her coffee. 'It's so obvious. All the signs are there. And he sent her money?'

I nod. 'Yup. Crazy world, grandma.'

'You tell me, Kitty.' Grandma is the only person in the world who calls me that. Her nickname for Rich is Ricky. He secretly hates it and therefore it's a great thing to pester him with. 'Poor guy. Ricky, I want you to promise me you'll never get in a situation like this.'

Rich rolls his eyes. 'Do you think I'm stupid grandma?' He says, looking up from his phone.

'Of course not.' She says. 'I'm just looking out for you.'

'I know.' He smiles at her and she leans over to ruffle his hair and he lets her. With grandma Rich is a totally different person.

'My little babies are turning seventeen.' She continues. 'I'm getting old.'

I laugh. 'You're not old, grandma.'

'Yeah, you're the most vital person I know.' Rich says. 'And you get on the plane on your own and stuff. And you're on the Internet. The grandmothers of my friends don't do that.'

I have to second him on that. Grandma is doesn't shy away from technology. I think she even had wifi before dad had it installed.

'Oh, you're too nice.' Grandma presses a kiss to my temple. 'You look a little tired, Kitty, you haven't been up too late now have you?'

'Of course not.' I say innocently and Rich snorts. Behind grandma's back I give him the finger.

We don't have many guests over this year. Just Elise's sister Tracy, Riley and her boyfriend Todd, grandma and then there's of course Zack Rich, Elise, Dad, and me.

'I don't know.' Tracy says. She's definitely the main entertainment of the family. She's always involved in some kind of drama, already has four ex-husbands and knows everything about everyone (and thanks to her, we do to). 'I think she was just overreacting.' Now she is talking about someone from her church. She is involved in all kinds of church business, but I think she only does it to make drama because she only talks about how much she hates everyone else who's in the committees. Sometimes I seriously doubt whether she's even religious.