Internal Fixation - Tawdra Kandle Page 0,32
did it, but I felt like ducking my head and dragging the toe of my sneaker in the dirt like the punk ass kid I’d been once upon a time. “Yes, ma’am. When we assume, we make an ass out of you and me.” I’d heard that phrase enough from her and from others in town growing up.
“Exactly. And do you further think it’s possible that you avoided communicating with your loved ones because you were afraid of hearing what they might have to say—because you assumed it would be negative?” She folded her thin arms and peered up at me.
“Yes, that’s possible,” I admitted. “I know that. If I’d called home, and Gram had scolded me, asked me why I was staying away so long and when I was planning to come back, I’d have had no excuse. I would have had to decide if I could still justify being in Slovenia. But by avoiding talking to either Gram or Pop, I made them out to be the bad guys.”
“Very insightful,” Miss Sissie approved. She paused, a saucy smile playing on her lips. “Of course, you might not be that far off, either. You did take off and run away from town without so much as a by-your-leave. You didn’t give anyone much explanation. If your grandparents aren’t necessarily hopping mad—note, I said if—there are plenty of others who might be, and to be honest, Deacon Fox Girard, they’d be perfectly within their rights to feel that way.”
Any protest I might have made died before I could speak it. Miss Sissie wasn’t exactly wrong, even if I wished I could prove she was. Trying to make my family, friends and the staff at the hospital understand why I’d had to leave felt important, but maybe, for now, I just needed to offer apologies instead of justifications.
“Do they all know I’m here?” I darted a glance at the front of the house.
Miss Sissie shook her head. “No, I don’t think anyone spotted you but me, and that was only because I was just getting here myself. I was—” Her cheeks pinked. “I was sitting in my car, trying to finish a game of gin rummy on my phone before I went inside. I play against my cousin in Alabama, and the dang man has beat me ten out of the last fifteen games. I was just doing that—I had a lovely hand this time—and then I saw a car I didn’t know. When I took a closer look—I realized it was you. And then I had a hunch you were either trying to get up enough gumption to get out of your car, or you were thinking about turning tail and running away. Again.”
Nothing like a Miss Sissie talk to build a man up. “Yeah, you might not have been far off.”
“But now, you’re going to come over to my car and give me a hand with the casseroles and cookies I brought. If you’re carrying in delicious food, people will be more inclined to be gracious and generous toward you. Trust me, I know this is true.”
And so it was that my arms were laden with ancient casserole dishes and trays of cookies when I rounded the corner of the house and nearly ran smack into Gram.
It had been a very long time since I’d truly surprised my grandmother. I’d learned at a young age that nothing I could do shocked this lady; she’d seen it all before, or so it seemed. She had always taken everything I said or did in stride. But this time, I’d managed to render her speechless.
It was Miss Sissie who spoke up first. “Anna, look who I ran into after I parked my car.” She cleared her throat. “Can you believe it? I just knew how thrilled you were going to be to see him come home, and on this of all perfect days. He’s the best gift you could get this Christmas, isn’t he?”
Slowly, Gram nodded her head. “Deacon. Welcome home, sweetheart.” She threw open her arms and enfolded me to her, hugging me tight. I let myself relax in the familiar comfort of everything Gram: the scent of home, of cooking, of the hairspray she’d used all my life and of the lavender she added to her homemade laundry soap. It was everything I’d missed in the past year.
“Gram.” To my embarrassment, I was blinking back tears. “I’m so happy to see you.”
“Well, look what the cat dragged in.” Behind us,