Series Starter Firsts in Series Collection - Kaylee Ryan Page 0,397

me.

“Hey, you, are you ready to head out?” she asks me.

“Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Emerson are headed down as well. How about your parents?”

Hailey nods. “I just talked to Mom. She said they were walking onto the elevator, so they should all be here at the same time.”

“Sounds good. I’m going to call Gran on the way and wish her a happy new year and check in.” We gather our phones, keys, pocket some money in our jeans, you can’t watch a purse when you’re trying to focus on the game, lock the door and we are good to go.

Hailey’s driving, so I hop into the passenger seat and pull out my phone to call Gran. “Hey, Judy,” I say to her homecare nurse. “Can I talk to Gran?” I listen while Judy tells me that Gran wasn’t feeling well this morning and is laying down for a nap. “Okay, well, when she wakes up tell her I called and I’ll call her after the game.” Judy agrees to relay my message, and we say goodbye. Pulling into the stadium, we spot Liam and Hailey’s parents, as well as Aiden’s, waiting for us by the entrance. We all enter together and take our seats. Liam being the quarterback has its advantages, he has scored us the same seats all season.

The game is awesome. We’re in the fourth quarter, one minute to go, and we’re up two touchdowns. Hailey and I have been on our feet the entire game. I feel my phone vibrate in my back pocket, I pull it out to check it and see it’s Grans’ number. It’s so loud in the stadium I’ll never be able to hear her and there are only a few minutes left, so I hit ignore with the intentions of calling her back as soon as the game is over. I hope to relay a win, maybe she’s watching at home as well. She and I have watched all of the away games together. Gran quickly became addicted to watching football. I smile, remembering her yelling at the television one Saturday when Liam got sacked. She was so not impressed.

Not thirty seconds later I feel my pocket vibrate again, I pull out my phone and see it’s Judy, Gran’s homecare nurse. I glance at the scoreboard and there’s nineteen seconds left in the game, we have the ball and are still up by two touchdowns. I bump Hailey’s shoulder and tell her gran tried to call and now Judy is trying too, so I’m going to head out of the stands and call them back just to make sure everything is okay. I make it out of the stands to the landing by a concession stand, which has already closed, so there aren’t a lot of people around. I pull out my phone and hit redial for Judy.

“Hey, Judy, it’s Allison, sorry I couldn’t take your call. It’s crazy loud in here, and I couldn’t hear. What’s up?” I ask her.

“Allison,” Judy chokes and my heart drops.

“Judy. What’s wrong?” I ask, fear lacing my voice.

“I’m so sorry, sweetie, she was sleeping, and I went to check on her and—and—” She’s crying now, and I can’t find my words to coach her to continue to just spit it the fuck out, to tell me what happened. “She—she wasn’t breathing. I tried to do CPR, but it was too late, she was already gone.”

My body is taken over by wrenching sobs as pain laces through me, and the tears flow heavily down my cheeks. “No,” I sob into the phone.

“Allison, I am so sorry to tell you this way, but I knew you would want to know.” She sniffles into the phone. “Allison, the funeral home just showed up, so I need to go. I’ll call you back as soon as this is all situated,” she tells me.

“I…I’m on my way. I will be there as soon as I can,” I tell her as I hit end on my phone. I’m crying so hard my chest is heaving with sobs, without thinking I take off running toward the parking lot. Gran. I need to get there as fast as I can. Through my tears, my vision is blurry, and I’m not watching where I’m going when I feel myself bump into someone. I look up and see Jason and this makes me cry even harder. I don’t need to deal with this asshole right now. What is he doing here anyway?

Jason gently grabs my