CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Wednesday, January 20

Stephanie was having a blast with role reversal.

Daniel had awakened this morning with the flu, which triggered an episode of sadness because he wanted his dad who’d had special ways of caring for him when he was sick. Janelle didn’t want to leave him, so Stephanie assured her she’d be fine taking Grandma Geri to the hospital. She’d had an enjoyable time with her on Sunday, which surprised her. For some reason at the start of all of this, Stephanie had regarded time with her grandmother as obligatory, sacrificial even. But the more she got to know her, the more she realized what a pistol Grandma Geri was. When she mentioned it to her dad, Bruce laughed. “You didn’t know? You take after your grandmother.”

“Over here, Grandma.” Stephanie guided her down a different aisle. “The designer sunglasses are this way.” Her phone rang and she pulled it out and answered. “Hey, Janelle, what’s up?”

“Everything okay? I thought you’d be home by now since it was just a checkup.”

“Nope. Doctor said she looks good after her first round. She’ll have a CT scan in about ten days. Said we’ll know more then.”

“Oh, good. So where are you?”

“At the mall.”

“The mall? Are you sure Grandma’s got enough strength to walk around a mall?”

“The way she’s dragging me to and fro? I’m thinking yeah.”

Grandma Geri cast an amused glance at Stephanie, but her focus was on the sunglasses in the case.

Stephanie added, “You know she’s been losing weight, so I got her some pants and tops. She’ll be stylin’.”

Janelle laughed. “That’s cool, Steph. Can’t wait to see.”

“I’d like to see that pair on the left.” Grandma Geri pointed out a pair to the salesclerk.

“Ooh, those are fly, Grandma.”

“What are y’all shopping for now?” Janelle asked.

Stephanie hesitated. “Designer sunglasses.”

“Designer sunglasses? For Grandma Geri? Stephanie, that’s a nice idea, but she doesn’t need that.”

“Uh, Stephanie had nothing to do with it. This is all Geraldine Sanders.”

Grandma Geri looked back at her, waiting for the clerk to unlock the case. “I told you she’d think I was crazy, didn’t I?”

“Is Grandma talking about me?” Janelle said.

“Yep.” Stephanie moved closer to watch the try-on.

“Okay,” Janelle said. “Why is Grandma Geri looking for a pair of designer sunglasses?”

“I can’t exactly tell you.”

“What do you mean, you can’t exactly—”

“One sec, Janelle . . .” Stephanie lowered her phone a little to hear what the salesclerk was saying.

“You’re sure, that pair there? Those are rather expensive.”

“Ma’am.” Stephanie smiled. She’d learned a lot on the job. “We’re well aware of the expense, as I have a pair myself. But if you’d prefer we take our business elsewhere . . .”

The woman had the glasses out of the case and in Grandma Geri’s hand in five seconds flat.

Grandma Geri put them on and turned to Stephanie.

“Those are the bomb. Look at you! Here, look in the mirror.”

Stephanie put the mirror in front of her, and Grandma Geri profiled this way and that. A big smile came across her face.

“This is crazy, isn’t it? I mean, I’m eighty-six years old. It’s a waste of money.”

“It’s my money—well, Lindell’s—but I’m sure I can say for both of us, go for it.” Stephanie reached in her purse, got a credit card, and handed it to the woman.

“Stephanie!”

“Oh.” Stephanie brought the phone back to her ear. “Sorry.”

“I’m waiting to hear why you can’t tell me.”

Stephanie sighed. “Grandma, we have to tell her.”

Grandma Geri had put the sunglasses back on, checking herself out in the mirror while they were being rung up. She waved a hand at Stephanie. “You go ahead and tell her now.”

“All right, this is the deal. Grandma was talking to someone at the hospital who’s going through the same treatment for cancer, and the woman told Grandma about her bucket list.”

“What’s a bucket list?”

“You know that saying about kicking the bucket? A bucket list is a list people make of everything they want to do before they die.”

“You are kidding me.”

Janelle didn’t sound happy, just as Grandma Geri had predicted.

“That is completely morbid and repulsive and utterly—you mean Grandma wanted to make a bucket list and you actually let her?”

“She didn’t make a list. She just told me a story about Grandpa Elwood not letting her get the designer sunglasses she wanted decades ago.”

“I actually remember that,” Janelle said. “Grandpa said he wouldn’t pay a lot of money for sunglasses because all Grandma would do is sit on them and break them. And Grandma had an attitude for days.”

“Well, she said if she put together a dream list, that would be on there. And I said let’s do it.”

Janelle was quiet a moment. “I just hate the idea of Grandma thinking she has to do this thing or that thing before she ‘kicks the bucket.’ That creeps me out.”

“Yeah, we knew you wouldn’t like it.”

“On the other hand . . . I think it’s cute the two of you went shopping and got her some sunglasses.” She let go a chuckle. “That’s what I’ve got to see.”

Libby heard a knock on Grandma Geri’s front door and jerked up, realizing she’d fallen asleep on the sofa. She checked her watch. Nine thirty? Ugh. She’d driven to Hope Springs late Wednesday afternoon to spend some time with her cousins and Grandma Geri since her weekends were busy. But she’d planned to be out of there by now.

She got up to gather her things and say a quick good-bye—and heard the knock again.

“Hey, Libby, can you get that?” Stephanie called. “I’m in here washing dishes.”

Libby opened the door and cocked her head to the side. “Why are you knocking? You know it’s open.” She left the doorway and kept moving.

Travis stepped inside and closed the door. “You’re crankier than normal,” he said. “Did I wake you or something?”

She hated that he knew that about her.

“I’m just here to give Janelle something,” he said.

Libby walked back toward the bedrooms. “Janelle? Where are you?”

“In here with Daniel.”

Libby walked in. Daniel was on his side with a thermometer in his mouth, barely awake. Tiffany was already asleep. “How’s he doing?”

“Temperature’s almost back to normal. Must’ve been a twenty-four-hour bug, thank God. But he used that twenty-four to the full. Poor baby couldn’t keep any food down today.” She kissed his forehead and tucked him in. “Night-night, sweetheart. I love you.”

“I didn’t know it was so late,” Libby half whispered. “I’m about to run. And Travis just showed up.”

“Oh, I forgot.” Janelle walked with her out of the room. “I asked if he could stop by after Bible study and bring CDs of his Sunday sermon for Grandma and me.”

“How is she gonna listen to that?”

“You didn’t know she had a boom box in her room?”

“Well, cool. Get your CDs. I’m getting on the road.”

Libby packed up her laptop on the dining room table and slipped into her leather jacket. She heard Janelle walk toward the family room.

“Hey, Travis, thanks for bringing those.”

“No problem. How’s my girl?”

My girl? Libby listened a little more closely as she shouldered her bags.

“She had a good day today,” Janelle said. “Got worn out power shopping with Stephanie, so she went to bed after dinner.”

“Power shopping, huh?” Travis laughed a little. “I’ll pray she rests well tonight. Tell her I stopped by.”

“Mom?”

Libby could hear Daniel calling, but Janelle couldn’t. She walked into the family room.

“Janelle, Daniel’s calling you.” She started back toward the door when Travis called her name. She paused, turning slightly.

“Can I talk to you a minute?”

“Not really. Early meeting tomorrow.”

He stepped closer. “I thought we ended on a fairly good note when we talked. But you still have an attitude with me, and you didn’t reply to my text.”

She turned more fully toward him, hands extended in disbelief. “Why would I need to reply? You didn’t think I’d actually come to New Jerusalem on Sunday.”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“Travis, I hear what you’re saying about where you are now, but it’s a little hard for me to buy you in the preacher role.”

“To buy me in the role? You think I’m gaming?”

“I’ve dated so-called preachers before. Who knows?”

She turned, but he took her hand. “Libby, if you want to cast me in a role, let it be that of a friend.”

The way he looked at her, the feel of his hand . . . She didn’t know what it was, but it made her skin tingle. And for a brief second she allowed herself to remember how much she once cared for him.

She let loose of his hand. “I don’t hold anything against you from the past, but I really don’t see any role you could play in my life going forward.”

He stared into her eyes as if recognizing what was there a moment before. “I understand. Just know that from where I stand, in my heart, that’s how I regard you . . . as a friend.”

His gaze lingered seconds more, then he turned and left.