than she had been a minute ago.
“They’re all using her,” he bit out angrily.
“No, they aren’t,” Mikey said as she wracked her brain trying to figure out where this was all coming from.
When he opened his mouth, most likely to say something that was going to piss her off, she stopped him with a sigh. “No one is using your great-grandmother, least of all the Bradfords. All of them consider her family. I’m not sure what you’ve heard, but from what I’ve gathered over the years, Aunt Haley and Uncle Jason won’t even let her pay rent.”
“They built the in-law apartment for her so that they could help her and so that she could spend more time with her great-grandchildren. Aunt Haley won’t even allow her to spoil any of her children. No one in this family wants or expects your great-grandmother to give them anything. They actually like and care about her,” Mikey finished as she grabbed some snack pies for herself only to grab extras for the boys and tossed them in the basket before heading to the next aisle.
It wasn’t until she grabbed a twelve-pack of Coke out of the cooler that she realized that Braxton hadn’t followed her. She walked back to see if he was grabbing another basket and–
“That’s not what I was told,” Braxton said as he reached back and rubbed the back of his neck with a heavy sigh.
“Well, it’s the truth. You can ask your cousin if you don’t believe me. Your great-grandmother offered to buy him a car for his birthday next week and he ended up in a glaring match with her because he doesn’t want anything from her. None of them do,” Mikey explained even as she couldn’t help but wonder what his family had been filling his head with all these years.
“What about your boyfriend?”
“What about him?” Mikey asked, sighing heavily because she just really wasn’t in the mood to explain that Sebastian was her best friend, again.
“What’s his sudden interest in her?”
“Please don’t make me hurt you,” she said with a heavy sigh and a helpless shrug. “Sebastian doesn’t give a damn about her money.”
“How do you know?” Braxton asked as Mikey moved onto the next aisle.
“Because I know him,” Mikey said, grabbing a few more candy bars as they made their way back to the counter. “Why do you call her Great-Grandmother? Why don’t you just call her Grandma like the rest of your cousins?”
Shrugging, Braxton placed the basket on the counter near the register before joining her. “That’s what my family calls her. Only Aunt Haley’s family calls her Grandma.”
“Why?” Mikey asked, hopping up onto a stool just as Pat placed a large basket of French fries in front of them. “Thank you,” she said as she reached for the ketchup.
With a nod, Pat headed back to the kitchen as Braxton sat down next to her. “They’re the only ones allowed to call her that.”
“Have you ever wondered why that is?” Mikey asked, popping a fry in her mouth.
For several minutes, he didn’t say anything as they sat there while she nibbled on French fries, wondering what the odds were of her getting a slice of pizza without one of the boys stealing it from her and then…
“I know why,” Braxton said quietly and before she could respond, Pat was walking out of the kitchen with their order.
“All set,” Pat said as he placed the large stack of pizza boxes on the counter along with a couple of large brown paper bags and rang up their order.
“Thank you,” Mikey said as she pulled the money out of her pocket and paid for everything. Once she had her change, she grabbed the stack of pizzas while Braxton grabbed the bags and headed for the door.
Before she reached it, the door swung open and Jonathan and Cole were relieving them of everything. Once her arms were free, Mikey quickly made her way to the bottom step where Sebastian was waiting, his back already turned so that she could climb on.
“Did you save me any fries?” Sebastian asked as he waited for her to get settled.
“Are you going to tell me why you were glaring?” Mikey countered as she wrapped her arms around him.
“I don’t like the way he looks at you,” he said as he watched Braxton head back to their campsite with Cole and Jonathan.
“And how does he look at me?” Mikey asked as she laid her chin on his shoulder.
After a moment, Sebastian said, “I