touched the metal clasp on her overalls, but the visual of them falling to the floor and me finding out what color her panties are was nearly unbearable. I expected her to smack my hand away, but she didn’t. The entire ride from Sunrise Bay to Lake Starlight, all I could think about was what it means that she let my hand stay on that metal clasp.
“Sounds like a plan.” She gets out of the truck.
I pick up a box of fabric and she picks up the spools of thread.
“You’re pretty strong for a girl,” I joke. My sisters would kick me in the nuts for saying that, but it’s clear from everything else that comes out of my mouth in front of Presley, I like to antagonize her, just like I do them. Although there’s nothing sisterly about my thoughts when it comes to Presley.
“Say it again and see if you have any balls left.” She laughs and walks in front of me, torturing me with the view of her ass.
“Noted.”
We enter the retirement community and I realize our first mistake. It’s game night and they’re all set up in the main area. Even if we put the boxes in front of our faces, there’s no dodging everyone. I once got stuck here on Mahjong night and I embarrassingly lost four times to a little Asian grandma who pointed at me after it was over and said, “Suck that.”
“Dodge left,” I say, and duck down a hallway.
But Presley’s not fast enough. Mostly because she probably doesn’t think she has to try to outrun these elderly people, but she underestimates how fast they are in the walkers with tennis balls on the bottom. They just slide on by you.
“Presley!”
I close my eyes, crouching behind the wall, when I hear my grandma’s voice. Presley, still in the open, looks at me with wide eyes.
“Hank told me you and Cade were going to be dropping off some things. Come and play,” Grandma calls.
Presley’s smart though and she stays in place.
“Where’s Cade?” My grandma’s voice grows closer. It’s a lost cause. She’s going to find me.
“Right here.” I come out of hiding around the corner and step up behind Presley. “I hope you like board games,” I whisper to her.
“Huh?” she says, but she’ll find out soon enough.
“Come, you two, let’s get those boxes in the sewing room, then you can join us for a few rounds.” Grandma waves us down a small hallway.
“I don’t know if I have time for a game,” Presley says, looking to me for help I think, I tried to warn her.
“Hot date?” I ask. Yes, for my own knowledge.
“Yeah, with my bathtub.”
Jesus. Did she do that on purpose to make me think of her naked in hot water and bubbles? Her smirk says she did.
“Just put them in here.” Grandma opens the door and flicks on the lights for the sewing room.
It looks pretty unused with no scraps of fabric anywhere, no half-done projects hanging out around a sewing machine. In fact, I don’t even see spools of thread on top of the sewing machines.
As we set down our boxes, I ask, “Grandma, do you guys use this room?”
“Yes. We just know how to clean up after ourselves. Come on, you two.” She waves us out.
I raise my eyebrows at Presley like we just uncovered a scheme, and she rolls her eyes. I lean in close to her as Grandma shuts off the lights and closes the door. “They aren’t making baby blankets in there.”
“What do you think they’re doing? Playing strip poker?”
My entire body jolts at the thought. “Don’t play dirty.”
She laughs and I stop for a moment in the middle of the hall and stare at her. That might be the first time she’s laughed in my presence since the first time I met her at the wake.
She tugs on my sleeve. “Come on. We need to win fast and get out.”
“At least we’re on the same side this time.”
Grandma walks us back into the room. Everyone is in groups of four, but once we step in, the woman who works here and seems to be leading things claps.
“Okay, now that Edith is back, let’s all finish our games and switch it up a little,” the employee says cheerfully.
“I really should get back,” Presley says to Grandma, but she pats Presley’s hand with a smile and ignores her comment.
It’s Grandma’s way of pretending she can’t hear her. Just like the Asian grandma who pretended she