“Slow down! You’ll make yourself sick!” she chided, but the smile on her lips told me she was happy to that I liked the food. She poured herself a glass of tea and sat down next to me. “Tell me what’s going on and why you’re here.”
“Can’t a guy just come visit his grandmother without getting the third degree?” I asked.
“No, he can’t. Spill it,” she ordered as she brushed some invisible crumbs from the flowered tablecloth. I loved coming home to Wolcott Street, not only because it felt familiar, but also because nothing in the house had changed since I was a kid. The living room furniture was still in the same position as it had been when Pop had come home from the yards and sat in his chair with his feet up to watch a Red Sox game, and I still sat in the same spot at the worn, oak dining table where the three of us had dinner every night.
“I miss Pop,” I blurted out.
“I know; so do I,” Gram said. “It’s too quiet around here without him.”
“Never thought I’d hear you say that,” I said, looking down at my plate and grinning.
“You are a bad, bad boy!” she laughed as she
swatted my shoulder.
“I need to talk to him about girls,” I said as I scooped up the last of the potatoes and shoved them in my mouth.
“And what? I’m chopped liver?” she said acting offended. “I’m a girl.”
“I know, but it’s not the same thing, Gram,” I said trying to diplomatically maneuver my way around the conversation. “Pop knew things.”
“He knew nothing!” she protested waving her hands at me in mock disgust. “I taught him everything he knew about girls!”
“That’s what she said,” I muttered.
“And you think I don’t know what that means, young man?” she laughed. “You see the crowd I hang with. I know things.”
“Gram, I fired my GM today,” I blurted out. “No one thought it was a good idea, but I did. He wasn’t doing what I thought needed to be done to build the team in a way that made sense to me. Then tonight I stopped by Black Jack and met a woman who I think I want to date, but I’m not sure it’s a good choice.”
“Why? You want to sleep with her?” Gram asked, giving me a skeptical look as she gestured to the plate and the leftovers. I nodded and she got up to fix another plate for me.
“Well, she did put the moves on me in the bathroom,” I admitted.
“What on earth were you two doing in the bathroom together?” Gram asked.
I told her the whole story of how we’d wound up there together and how we’d been interrupted before anything had really happened. She shook her head as she listed, but she didn’t interrupt me. When I’d finished, I looked up at her and said, “And there’s one more thing.”
“Something else?”
“She’s the granddaughter of George Halas,” I said. Gram dropped the plate she was holding and the food splattered out across the linoleum. I shout out of my chair yelling, “Gram!”
“Thank God for Corningware,” Gram said as she stood in the middle of the mess, watching me pick up the larger pieces and then clean up the rest with paper towels. I wiped her feet clean of the potato and broccoli mixture and then led her over to her chair. Once seated, she looked at me and said, “Boy, you do have some nerve. You do realize you’re playing with fire, don’t you?”
“I don’t know, Gram,” I said. “I think she’s smart and tough. She reminds me of South Side girls in a way.”
“She’s not, David,” Gram warned as she took a drink of her tea and then set the glass back down. She gave me a concerned look as she said, “You’re going to get yourself in trouble by doing something foolish by trying to impress her, David.”
“I’m not a teenager, Gram!” I protested. “I’m a successful businessman who knows what he’s doing! And I’m not trying to impress a girl I just met this evening!”
“Mmm hmm,” she said raising her librarian’s eyebrow. “Keep telling yourself that.”
“I need your support,” I said defensively, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Don’t go getting your hackles up,” she said patting my arm. “It’s been my job to look out for you ever since your parents disappeared, and the responsibility doesn’t lessen because you’re all grown up. I’m just worried that’s all. She comes from money, David, and that’s whole different world. You saw that at the ceremony when you got the team.”
“I’m surprised you remember that,” I said giving her the side eye.
“Oh please, I’m perfectly aware of everything I said or did that night,” she laughed as she swatted me again. “I just like a good cocktail every now and again. And I won’t deny that those football players are nice to look at!”