Page 46 of Babydaddy To Go
“Alyssa?” Grams responds, sounding confused. My brow furrows. Is everything okay with her? She was of sound mind when I left, but I’ve heard memory diseases can come on suddenly and unexpectedly.
“Yeah, it’s Alyssa, Grams. You called me.”
Grams chuckles. “I know that, girly. I’m just surprised you answered. Shouldn’t you be at school?”
Crap. I should have let voicemail take the call. I don’t want Grams to worry about me.
“We’re ahead of the curriculum,” I say, trying to lace as much conviction as I can into the words. “Our instructor gave us a three-day weekend since we’re doing so well.”
“Is that so? I’ve never heard such a thing.”
“It happens all the time, Grams,” I assure her. My high school friends who went to college used to talk about professors cancelling class all the time, so at least this isn’t a lie. “Why did you call?”
“I wanted to tell you that your grandfather and I are coming down to visit!” she tells me excitedly. “We’ve booked seats on an early train Saturday morning and we’ll go home Sunday afternoon. I’ve already got a hotel lined up since I’m sure there isn’t room for two old folks in that apartment of yours.”
I swallow hard. If my grandparents come for a visit, they’ll know something isn’t right. “That’s great,” I lie. “I can’t wait to see you. I’ve missed you.” At least that part is true and it’ll buy me time until I come up with a plan.
“Are you okay, Alyssa? You sound funny.”
“Everything’s fine, Grams. I’m just tired is all. I was up late practicing recipes all weekend.”
“Yeah?” she asks. “What have you added to your repertoire?”
The words stick in my throat. I don’t want to talk about cooking right now. If I want to convince my grandmother everything’s fine, I have no choice. “I learned to make ravioli,” I finally tell her. “It’s delicious. You’ll love it. Maybe I should come home this weekend instead, and I can make it for you?”
“Nonsense! Your grandfather and I want to see your new city. You’ve spoken so highly about it and you know we’ve never been before.”
“But isn’t that a long train ride for you and grandpa? It really would be easier if I just came to you.”
Grams is silent for so long that I worry something happened or she hung up on me. “Alyssa, is everything alright?”
“I already told you it was!” I say, my voice higher pitched than it should be. “I promise.”
“Don’t you dare promise me when we both know you’re lying,” Grams admonishes. “What gives, girly? What happened?”
Her kind words send me into a fit of tears. I should have known I wouldn’t be able to lie to my grandmother. She may be old, but her hearing and intuition are as strong as ever.
I want to lie to her some more, tell her I’m just stressed about school, but it’s no use. She’ll see right through that, too.
So I tell her everything. I start with that first day when I got off the train at Grand Central and was more lost than I’ve ever been. I tell her about Nate helping me get to my apartment and then showing me around Central Park. I share every detail of our relationship, except for the sex parts. She listens silently as I spill my harrowing tale.
“And then,” I choke out. “He saw these texts on my phone from some guy saying we went out last week, but I didn’t go out with anyone last week! If I met the texter, I don’t remember it. Nate didn’t care. He wouldn’t listen to anything I said. He’s convinced I cheated on him when I would never do that!”
I’m sobbing now, wishing I had someone to hold me and tell me everything is going to be okay. More than anything, I want Nate to knock on my apartment door and apologize for not believing me. I want to be in his arms again, loving him, like the night before all hell broke loose.
For the first time, I let myself remember Friday night. What happened Saturday morning clouded over our trip to the beach, our salmon preparation, and the movie we watched.
It also made me forget that Nate spent the night texting someone, and he refused to tell me who it was. Could it be that he overreacted about me texting someone to cover up the fact that he was the one cheating? It could have been Nate’s mistress texting me! Maybe she wanted to break us up?
“Where’s your head, Alyssa?” Grams asks. “You’ve been quiet a whole minute.”
“Sorry, I was just thinking about Friday night. Nate and I made dinner together and he kept getting texts. When I asked who it was, he told me it was no one. Now I’m wondering if maybe he was texting some girl behind my back.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry. It sounds like you lost your heart to the wrong man. At least now you know what he’s really like.”
I know my grandmother is trying to help, but her words hurt. I’m still not certain that Nate was the wrong man. Again, my heart won’t let me let him go. It’s really annoying.
“I love you, Grams,” I tell her. I’m not sure what else to say.