“Yeah?” Joanna replied.
“Can I live with you for a couple months?” Grant begged. “You won’t have any trouble out of me. I swear. I’ll sleep on the couch; I’ll mind my own business.”
“Oh, Grant,” Joanna sighed. “I would love for you to stay with me, Baby, but Mom wants you with her.”
Grant rolled his eyes. “Don’t be surprised if one day I just disappear and none of you ever see or hear from me again.”
Joanna chose not to respond to her brother’s rather ominous declaration, but, in the back of her mind, she feared he was capable of just that. Joanna began taking books from Grant’s shelf. “Why don’t you pick a few of these to take with you?” she suggested. “I doubt you’ll have room for very many.”
Grant started to fill his backpack with books, but he quickly used up all the space he had, and he abruptly slung a book toward the wall. “I can’t do this,” he yelled. “Not again!”
“Hey!” Joanna said as she grabbed her little brother’s hands. “It’s going to be okay.” Over the years, she had forgotten the pain involved in moving, but this was different, worse somehow. Her parents were getting a divorce; her mother had been off in Tennessee catching up with a man that none of them knew; Grant was expected to leave home and move to a little town in the middle of nowhere to live with a his mother and a man who wasn’t his father.
“I love you, Joey,” Grant said, staring at his big sister, begging for the help she knew she couldn’t give him.
“Come here, you,” Joanna smiled as she helped Grant to his feet. She wrapped her arms around her little brother. “I love you too,” she said with a kiss on the cheek. “I wish I could tell you that you can stay with me, but I can’t, Grant. I have too much respect for Mom’s wishes, even if I don’t necessarily agree with them. That doesn’t mean I don’t love you or that it doesn’t hurt me to see you hurting. I wish I could change this situation, but I can’t. I can’t tell you what you want to hear right now, but I will always be here for you.”
“Yeah,” Grant sighed, “except you’ll be here at home, and I’ll be in Hell Hole, Tennessee.”
Joanna laughed. “I’m pretty sure it’s called Hope Hull.”
“Something like that,” Grant smiled.
“Tennessee won’t be so bad,” Joanna said, zipping Grant’s backpack.
Grant picked up his basketball. “It’s not home,” he sighed as he flopped back onto his bed. He shrugged. “Then again, I’m not really sure that this has ever felt like home either.”
There was a knock at Grant’s bedroom door, and Melissa poked her head inside. “Hey, Sweetie,” she sighed as she surveyed the mess on the floor.
“Don’t you mean, goodbye,” Grant gulped as he motioned her in.
Joanna opened Grant’s desk drawer, and she was greeted by a single, neat stack of papers. “I’ll take care of those,” Grant said, and, as he snatched the pile from his sister, a single photograph floated to the ground.
“Oh, this must have been stuck between the pages,” Joanna said as she reached down to pick it up. She eyed the picture for a long moment, smiling at the sight of her brother, his lips puckered and planted on the cheek of a girl whose grin radiated both surprise and excitement.
“She’s a cutie,” Joanna said, turning the picture toward Melissa.
“Who is she?” Melissa inquired. “I haven’t seen her around.”
“She’s not from around here,” Grant replied.
“What’s her name?” Joanna asked.
“It escapes me,” Grant lied. He took the picture and slid it into the front pocket of his backpack.
“Do you like her?” Melissa inquired.
“I barely know her,” Grant scoffed.
“I think he’s avoiding the question,” Melissa smiled at Joanna.
“Do you like what you know?” Joanna asked tactfully.
Grant laughed. “You guys can team up on me all you want; I’m not telling you anything.”
“Where’s she from?” Joanna asked.
Grant rolled his eyes. “Coincidently enough…she’s from Tennessee…which will make she, Mom, Emily and Granny Miller, who is not particularly fond of me if you recall, the only four people I know there.”
“What part of Tennessee?” Joanna asked.
“I don’t know,” Grant shrugged. “Memphis, maybe. I’m sure that like everyone else she has never so much as heard of Hope Hull.”
There was a startling rap of knuckles on Grant’s door as Randy walked inside. “I’ll go check on Emily and make sure she’s all ready to go,” Joanna said as she squeezed past her father.
“I will go call David and make sure he’s on his way, so Leah can say goodbye,” Melissa said, following Joanna out the door.
“What’s going on, Grant?” Randy asked.
“Not too much,” Grant replied coldly. “You popped a little blue pill, no doubt, and got your groove on with Little Miss Cindy Sunshine. Your firstborn, who apparently you dropped on his head one too many times, told Mom about it. She flipped out and wants a divorce. And, now I’m headed to Hickville to meet my future step-father. What’s up with you?”
“I’m sorry about this, Grant,” Randy said quietly. “It was a stupid question, it’s a tough situation, but I only came in here to find some way to segue into an apology.”
“Well, do more than just be sorry about the situation,” Grant snapped. “Do something about it! I am ten freakin’ minutes away from being hauled down to Tennessee to meet my mother’s new fling…old fling…whatever. It’s not enough that my parents are getting divorced, but Mom is off living in the past, and she insists upon dragging Emily and me right into the middle of it. Tell her I’m staying here with you! Please, Dad! Tell her you won’t let me go!”
“I’ve said everything to your mother that I can possibly say,” Randy shook his head. “I screwed up, Son. I love your mother with all my heart, and, if I thought for a second that I could keep her from moving, I’d do whatever it took. I’ve done everything in my power to keep our marriage and our family together after I made the mistake that tore it apart. Your mother and I talked all night. I begged her to come back, but your mom is leaving, and I love her too much to fight with her over you guys.”
“So that’s it,” Grant shrugged. “You’re just going to let me go? You know, I’ll never understand you, Dad. You wouldn’t dream of leaving a man behind in battle, but you’re willing to let me go without so much as a fight, and, worse, you’re trying to spin it as honorable.” Grant laughed. “I guess you couldn’t sabotage my basketball career from here, but there won’t be any college scouts in Hope Hull, will there, Dad?”
