“That depends on if you are seriously going to be jealous of a seventy-year old woman,” he countered.

And the bickering begins again.

I looked at Keiran who nodded his head once and headed over to a chess table currently occupied by an elderly man with a thick mane of snow-white hair.

I grabbed Willow and pulled her to the entrance to avoid another nauseating session of foreplay with words.

“Ugh, he just bothers me so much,” Willow groaned while I signed into the front desk before making my way to grandmother’s room.

“He doesn’t bother you, Willow. He affects you.”

“The difference O’ wise One?”

“His effect on you is only possible because of your feelings for him.” I pushed open the door while she sputtered and huffed. My grandmother was sitting by the window gazing out onto the front lawn and I wondered if she saw when I arrived or more importantly, who I arrived with.

“Who are those strapping young men, you two gals rode in with?” she asked without turning her attention away from the window. I had no doubt of who had her so transfixed.

“Strapping? Gals? Grandma Lane you get older every time we see you,” Willow jokingly stated.

“Ha! I made be old but I still got it and don’t you forget it. If I was just a few years younger…” She ran a hand through her hair suggestively and I couldn’t hold in the bouts of laughter any longer. I didn’t get two steps inside but she already managed to make me smile and laugh all in one.

“Just a few, huh?”

“You girls come in here and let me look at you.” She turned away from the window to face us, finally and gave us a stern look.

We moved forward to the bay window where she was seated and each hugged her before taking a seat. “So why are they out there in the cold and not in here with you?”

“I didn’t want to alarm you because –”

“Yes, it would be most displeasing not to remember such fine, looking men. I’d never thought I’d see the day when you two would give in and get a man. I thought…spinsters for sure.”

“Is that so,” I laughed deeply.

“I’ll have you know –”

“Willow, Pepé does not count as a male friend. Though handsome, I meant someone of your own species.” She gave her an admonishing look that shut Willow down.

“Yes, ma’am.” She hung her head low and I tried not to laugh at her expense. Willow and Grandma Lane together was a trial.

“Now. Tell me all your news and make it quick. I want to meet those two.”

We spent the next twenty minutes or so catching her up on school and college plans. You know…the safe topics that people always stick too when dealing with a relative.

After catching up, Willow excused herself to get Keiran and Dash from outside leaving me alone with my grandmother for a few moments.

“So how is my daughter?”

“Good. She should be returning from her book tour on Monday and plans to come visit you by the end of the week.”

“Good, good. I need to get ahold of that wayward child of mine. Leaving a seventeen year old alone for so long.”

“I’m fine. Aunt Carissa trusts me.”

“Yeah well she shouldn’t. You’re a fine young woman, Lake. You are incredibly beautiful and smart. I may not remember much these days but I do remember what it was like to be seventeen and so should she.”

She looked at me knowingly with a mix of disapproval and empathy and I wondered just how much I was giving away.

“I can see it in your eyes, dear. When you walked in here you weren’t the same Lake. I assume it’s because of him?” She nodded toward the guys who were still sitting at the chess table engrossed in a game with the elderly man.

“Who?”

She shot me an impatient look for playing dumb. “Mr. Tall, Dark, and Brooding.”

“Yes, but not in the way you think.”

“And what way is that?”

“We…weren’t always friends. Even now…” I didn’t know how to explain to my grandmother that Keiran used to hate me as much as he hated himself or that I was sleeping with him.

“I see,” she sighed. “Why does love always feel like a battlefield?”

I blinked twice to clear my head and replay what she just said. “Grandma, did you just quote Jordin Sparks?”

She looked at me indignantly. “What? I’m hip.”

“No one says hip anymore.”

“It’s cool. I’m cool.” She threw up the peace out sign and I was done.

My stomach felt like it had caved in and I couldn’t seem to bring air into my lungs. I was curled into a ball at my grandmother’s feet, clutching my stomach and that is how they found me when the three walked in.

“Someone please get my foolish grandchild off the floor please.”

Dash reached for me but stopped at the look Keiran gave him. He picked me up and placed me back in my seat.

“Oh my…” My grandmother whispered softly. She was watching Keiran and Dash closely.  No doubt taken aback at the possessiveness Keiran just displayed. Her hand fluttered up to her neck before discreetly smoothing her hair. “Such fine, young men indeed.”

I briefly wondered if she might have been a cougar in her younger years.

“How old are you, young man?” She directed the question at Keiran.

Yup. Definitely a cougar.