“Well, his mother is adamant that he made a mistake, and that if the two of you go to counseling, you can make it through this.”
“I think we’re already through this,” I say quietly. And that statement doesn’t hurt my heart nearly as much as it would have last week. “We’re coming out the other side.”
“How did that Sandra look?” Gran makes her name sound like the ugliest of curse words.
“Pregnant,” I say. She had a small bump under her maternity top. Either she really likes being pregnant and wants everyone to know about the baby, or she was sleeping with my husband even longer than I’d thought. “And glowing,” I add at the last minute.
“His mother told me that she took her shit and moved out tonight. Apparently, Charles was all upset about it.”
“He’s probably confused about why she’s not stroking that big old ego of his.”
“Or his big old anything else,” Gran mutters.
I cover my chuckle because it never helps to encourage Gran. “It really wasn’t that big,” I admit. “I’ve had better.”
Gran cackles loud and long. “Why did you stay with him so long, Abigail?” she finally asks, as soon as she sobers up enough to get words out.
“It was…comfortable, I guess,” I admit. I had gotten so used to what we were doing that I overlooked all the things that made me unhappy. “So, Sandra really wanted his mother’s approval?” If one thing stood out to me tonight, it was that.
“Then she needs to go and get it,” Gran says.
“Do you think they’ll stay together, Gran?”
She doesn’t hesitate. “No. I think they’ll break up as soon as his needs aren’t being met, and he’ll move on to someone else. I think he’ll see that kid only on the obligatory birthdays and holidays, and that’ll be the end of it. And I think she’ll be better for it in the end.”
“She thought he was only sleeping with her,” I tell her.
“Have you gone and gotten tested yet?”
I sit up straight. “Tested for what?” But fear has already settled in my heart.
“For sexually transmitted diseases, dear,” she clarifies.
“Oh, God,” I breathe. “You’re right. I need to go and get tested.”
“As soon as possible,” Gran says quietly.
Tears immediately sting my eyes. The idea that he might have given me something absolutely breaks my heart. “Oh, Gran…”
“It’ll be fine, Abigail,” she replies, her voice calm and soothing like when I used to get a fever and she’d rub my temples. “Go to the doctor, get checked out, and then you won’t have to worry about it ever again.”
“I wonder if there’s a doctor down here.”
“There’s a hospital about twenty miles from there,” she reminds me. “While you’re there, you can see about a job.”
“Why would I look for a job around here?”
“Well, that man isn’t going to follow you home, and the last time I checked, you don’t have a home to come home to. Unless you count here,” she rushes to add. “And you know you’re always welcome here.”
Going home to my grandmother’s as an adult feels like defeat. That’s the last thing I want to do.
“Besides, that young man who hasn’t even kissed you isn’t going to leave Macon Hills, not while his kid is there. Not if he loves him as much as you believe he does.”
“He loves him, Gran.” I smile even though she can’t see me. “You should see him when they’re together. It’s like the sun starts shining all around him.”
“Based on what the Jacobsons have told me, he has some serious feelings of guilt surrounding what happened.”
I stick my finger in my ear and yell loudly, “La la la la. Don’t tell me. I want him to tell me.”
She laughs. “I won’t say a word.” I can picture her zipping her mouth shut. “You like him, huh?” she finally asks, her voice quiet like it’s a whisper, and I can hear the joy in her voice.
“I really like him, Gran.” Which feels weird, because just a couple of weeks ago, I was happily married. “I like him a lot.”
“How gratifying was it when your Ethan ran up to Charles and bumped chests?” Gran asks.
“How did you know that?”
She sniggers. “Apparently, Charles did a reenactment for his mother while he was ranting and raving about you sleeping with some strange man.”
“And what did she tell him?”
“That he’s the cheater, not you.”
I always did like Charles’s mother. She was smart, strong, and she didn’t take a lot of crap.