“Lily!”
I froze.
Grandpa looked at my mother.
My mother looked at Grandpa.
And for several seconds, nobody said anything.
Then Grandpa smiled at me.
He leaned close to my ear.
And in a voice so quiet that only I could hear, he whispered,
“Can you come sleep beside me tonight?”
I stopped smiling.
“What?”
He gently squeezed my shoulder.
“Just you and me. Like old times.”
I stared at him.
Old times?
I was nine.
What old times?
My grandfather leaned back in his chair as if he hadn’t said anything unusual at all.
My mother was still standing near the dining table.
Her face had gone completely pale.
And that was the moment I realized something.
My mother wasn’t angry because I had disobeyed her.
She was scared.
I just didn’t know why.
Grandpa George had always been my favorite person to visit.
He wasn’t the loud grandfather.
