Page 77

Who cared if Sebastian was talking about another girl? It was none of her business. Although, as his best friend one would think that he would tell her if he liked another girl. But this was fine. More than fine, Mikey thought as she grabbed a bag of his favorite chocolate chip cookies off the shelf and added it to the basket only to rethink that decision and put them back on the shelf because he didn’t deserve cookies.

?

??How can you stand them?”

“Stand who?” Mikey asked only to sigh as she grabbed the cookies and placed them in the basket because apparently, she was a pushover.

“Them,” Braxton bit out coldly, drawing her attention to find him glaring at the boys.

With a shrug, she said, “I mean, I know that they can be annoying, but they do have their moments.”

Rolling his eyes, he said, “Not them. I meant all the Bradfords,” making her frown.

“Why wouldn’t I like them? Mikey asked, having trouble figuring out what he was talking about.

“Because of how they treat my great-grandmother,” Braxton asked, shaking his head in disgust.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, somehow even more confused 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.