“You wouldn’t call an #eraser synthetic rubber, but it is.”
“Only you would know that, dear.” Mabel’s tone is soft as she pats his shoulder. Her eyes flutter across me for an odd second, then her attention is back to us.
“You need help in the kitchen?” Nana asks.
#vssdaily #astoryinprompts
Pawpaw shuffles towards the couch while Nana pretends she isn’t watching every step.
“So, what #wild adventurers has our city girl been getting up to?” Brent asks.
“It’s a tourist trap,” I roll my eyes “I’d hardly call myself a city girl.”
#vssday #astoryinprompts
A #twin to Kohl appears, slipping against my ankle. Mabel chuckles and waves the lot of us further into the room.
“Well, come on in and sit a spell.” She waves a hand at the brown couch just across from the portrait window just next to Kohl’s pet perch.
#vssdaily #astoryinprompts
“Chloe!” Mabel’s greeting sounds so canned, I half expect the popping characteristic of an old #speaker to join it.
“Hey, Miss Mabel.”
If she hears the false brightness in my voice, she doesn’t say anything. The look Nana slides me indicates that she, however, noticed.
#vssdaily #astoryinprompts
“What kind of #picture did you paint for them?” I ask, settling uncomfortably in the back of Pawpaws beloved Oldsmobile.
“The kind where you disappear for seven years and forget us every Christmas.” The man himself answers, tone gruff as he turns the key.
#vssdaily #astoryinprompts
Whether they do or don’t, neither says. Instead Nana #motions towards the ceiling and draws a smile across her face that settles like lead in my chest. It’s not joy that she wears in her eyes.
“Why don’t you go get ready? We’ll head to Mabel’s once breakfast is done.”
#vssdaily #astoryinprompts
I break my gaze from pawpaw under the guise of fetching an orange. I hear Nana sigh before I even turn, and sure enough she’s staring at the fruit in my hand.
“What, it’s a fruit? It’s healthy.”
“That’s not a #meal.”
I can only shrug and start peeling my food
#vssdaily #astoryinprompts
It was the yelling, the anger, the aggressive #bang of whatever had been thrown while Cal and I were fighting that had disrupted my peace. Before…
“Anyway, I had the time to come visit, so here I am.” My tone is bright when I finish.
The look on Pawpaw’s face is not.
#vssdaily #astoryinprompts
“I wouldn’t have to worry if you weren’t such a wonderful #actor.” Nana snips back. “I wouldn’t even have known if you hadn’t-“
“Cheryl.” Pawpaw says her name once.
Her mouth clicks shut.
I set the man’s breakfast in front of him and slink slowly backwards. #vssdaily #astoryinprompts
“Another #dizzy spell this morning?” Nana’s question is soft, like she’s trying to make sure I don’t hear.
Knowing Pawpaw, he doesn’t want me to know there was trouble to start with. The hefty huff that answers her proves me right.
“Oh, stop your worrying, woman.”
#vssdaily #astoryinprompts
“Do you hear this little #punk?” Pawpaw puffs, tapping his way over to Nanaz “It’s only two hours, she says.”
Nana’s chuckling, adjusting her mess of merriment to make a sitting spot for the man to sit and eat.
“We get it, I was gone.”
#vssdaily #astoryinprompts
“Well look who made it for Christmas this year.” The warm, gravelly laughter in Pawpaw’s tone melts me before I see his cane tap its way over the kitchen threshold. “On our side of the #globe for a change?”
Nana chuckles.
I roll my eyes.
“It’s a two hour drive.”
#vssdaily #astoryinprompts
Paw paws shaky steps break the tension, the squeak of each stair a timer, and suddenly that dark look is replaced by a calmer amusement once more.
“Maybe we’ll go to Maybell’s #Ranch since you’re here, he’d like that.” I don’t argue, I already know I won’t win.
#vssdaily #astoryinprompts
“Pity you never brought him for Christmas.” Nana sniffs. “Ask your Pawpaw, I’ve always been quite gifted at #chestnut roasting.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue - he was allergic to nuts, actually- when I turn and see the shadow that dances behind that weathered gaze. #vssdaily #astoryinprompts
“Yet we couldn’t #rope you into a single holiday visit the past seven years with that man.”
My chest caves in.
“He didn’t like to be alone.” The excuse falls free out of habit. I bite my tongue and hastily plate the egg.
“He was invited too, pumpkin.”
#vssdaily #writingprompt #astoryinprompts
Nana hums to herself while I wrap PawPaw’s eggs and #tango with my conscience.
“How long you plan on hiding out here with us?” Her tone is purely inquisitive.
I get defensive anyway.
“I’m not hiding, I came for the holidays. I missed you.”
#vssdaily #writingprompt #astoryinprompts
