she saw him.
“Graham. Who told you I was here?”
“Cambria called. Are you okay?”
“I didn’t want her to worry you.”
“She did the right thing. What happened?”
“I don’t remember. I slipped and fell, but I don’t know how it happened. They’re saying I broke my hip.”
The male doctor held out his hand. “Mr. Morgan, I’m Dr. Spork.”
“Doctor, can we speak outside for a moment?”
“Certainly.”
Graham walked out of the room with the doctor, and the nurse followed them out. They’d left me all alone with Lil.
I’d still been looking out toward the door when her voice startled me.
“You must be Soraya.”
It floored me that she knew my name, that he’d mentioned me to her.
“That’s right. It’s nice to meet you, Lil.” I smiled and sat down on the chair adjacent to her bed.
“I can see now why he’s so taken with you. You have a dark, natural beauty that’s rare to come by.”
“Thank you so much.”
Her voice sounded tired and weak. “Graham is very private. He may never give me the chance to get you alone again, so forgive me if I’m laying a lot on you at once…”
I swallowed, not expecting an interrogation. “Okay.”
“I know, at times, my grandson can be an absolute prick.”
I let out the breath I’d been holding and laughed. “Yeah. I found that out pretty quickly when we first met.”
“And I heard that you called him out on his crap.”
“I did.”
“Good. But you know, that’s not really who he is deep down.”
“I’m starting to see that.”
“When his mother died, he internalized everything. It took a long time for him to put himself out there, and the one time he took a chance, he got burned.”
“Genevieve?”
Lil looked shocked. “So, he told you about her…”
“Well, I know a little. I know that she’s with his former friend, Liam, now.”
“Yes. That situation was bad. In many ways, it undid any progress he’d made after my daughter Celia died. I honestly wasn’t sure if Graham would ever open his heart to anyone again. But I sense it might be happening with you.”
Hearing her say that made my heart feel like it was going to burst. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that there’s a lot more to him than he shows. It seems you know more than I thought you did, which is good. Just don’t let him convince you that he’s unbreakable.”
“I’m more afraid of him breaking me, to be honest.”
“Don’t be afraid to get hurt. It’s far better than never experiencing anything earth-shattering. Even temporary joy is better than nothing at all. You’re afraid of getting hurt like I’m afraid to die. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to live every day to its fullest.”
I placed my hand over hers. “Thank you for that advice.”
Graham walked in at that exact moment. “Uh oh. I smell trouble stirring up.”
Lil’s face once again lit up when he entered the room. “While I wish you hadn’t come all the way down here, I’m really happy to have met Soraya. I hope I didn’t ruin your evening.”
“Nah. We were just…eating pasta.” He glanced over at me briefly, and we gave each other a knowing look.
“What did the doctor say about me?” Lil asked.
“He thinks you need hip surgery. They’re gonna keep you here for a couple of days then move you to a rehab center. I’m gonna work with Cambria to make sure they put you in a top-of-the-line facility.”
“I don’t want you getting stressed out over me.”
“You could have hit your head. You don’t even remember how it happened. Of course, I’m gonna worry. I’m just glad it wasn’t worse, Meme.”
“Me, too,” I said.
We sat with Lil for another hour before driving back to the city. Graham put on classical music and stayed completely quiet during the ride. When we finally entered Manhattan, I was the first to speak.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah…I’m fine. It’s just…”
“What?”
“It just hit me more than ever tonight that she’s the only family I have. My mother was an only child. My grandmother is literally…it. When she passes, I won’t have anyone left. It’s just kind of a sobering thought.”
“You’ll have a family of your own someday.”
He caught me off guard with a question I didn’t see coming. “Do you want kids, Soraya?”
I could only give him the honest answer. “I’m not sure.”
“You’re not sure?”
“I can’t say that I’m one-hundred percent sure. I’m hoping I will be sure by the time I have to make a