a good thing you pay someone, handsomely I might add, to take care of that for you. Now, stop looking like ya just sucked twenty lemons and let’s go. Grab the present from the back.”
I wanted to argue. I wanted to tell her that I was exhausted, upset, felt exposed, and possibly still a little hungover. But I knew that arguing with Gam was a fool’s errand. She was the Mayweather of arguing. No losses and half the time it was a TKO.
My only hope was to appeal to her practical side. “Gam, I really don’t think I can fake being happy, and I don’t want to bring the party down.”
“Of course you can. You’re an actress, so act.”
Oh, for the love of Pete.
As I reached back and grabbed the present, I wondered who Pete was and why was the saying for the love of him? Or the other saying for Pete’s sake. Why his sake? When I shut the car door, I was taken aback by the beauty of the farmhouse.
“Whose party is this?”
“It’s Dixie’s great-granddaughter Lilah’s third birthday.”
Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Scoggs, and Mrs. Higgins were Gam’s best friends. I’d finally met the three of them in person yesterday but I’d already felt like I’d known them because I had spoken to them over Facetime so many times.
As we walked up the steps to the front door, I felt like I was walking the plank. I wanted to run back to the car, drive back to Gam’s, get under the covers and hide.
It was a small town, so presumably, most of the party-goers would’ve been at the wedding, know someone who’d been at the wedding or seen the pictures that had gone viral from the wedding.
I could only imagine what they all might be thinking of me.
“Yoohoo!” Gam called out as she opened the screen door.
“In the back!” A woman’s voice responded.
I walked in and the moment I did I was overwhelmed with a feeling that I didn’t recognize. It took me so by surprise that I stopped up short and took in a deep breath as it washed over me.
“Are you okay, Chipmunk?” Gam reached out and touched my arm.
“Yeah, I’m not sure…what…I’m fine,” I assured her, unable to explain what was going on with me.
It wasn’t until we walked through the front family room and I looked around at all the pictures on the walls, and the cozy furniture, and the large fireplace that it dawned on me what I’d been feeling. This was a home. A real home. A home that kids had grown up in.
Growing up, I knew that my mom had done the best she could. But it was tough for her. She had me when she was barely nineteen. She left Wishing Well as soon as she graduated at seventeen to go to California. She’d wanted to be an actress. She met my dad, who was a musician, and got pregnant with me on their third date.
I grew up moving from apartment to apartment. Sometimes, we’d live in a house, depending on how well off the guy that she was dating was. But we’d never really had a place to call our own. A home.
This is what I’d always imagined one looking like and feeling like.
I hoped that whoever had grown up here had had the life I’d imagined them having.
“Hello, beautiful ladies.” Gam greeted a table of three women that I recognized from the wedding yesterday and my stomach dropped. The brunette I recognized immediately. She’d been standing with Beau when I’d seen him across the room. “Have you met my beautiful granddaughter Sasha also known as Alexis Moon from Sunset Bay?”
Shit. What if I had met them? Or what if the brunette was with Beau now? From the friendly looks on their faces I didn’t think that was the case.
The bright blue-eyed redhead that I thought my Gam had told me was Mrs. Porter’s granddaughter grinned sweetly as she shook her head.
The brunette just sat smiling widely.
“No.” The pretty blonde who was holding a baby who was asleep on her shoulder smiled. “I saw you at the wedding, but I didn’t get a chance to say hi. I was busy with this one.” She glanced down at the baby, who I assumed was her son.
“Well, ladies this is my Sasha. Sasha this is Dixie’s granddaughter, Destiny. Her little one Lilah is the lady of honor today.”
“Hi.” I smiled.
“And do you remember me telling you about that reality show that was filmed