"This weekend, actually. I have a couple of days off before preseason."
It was quiet. Then she sniffed. And sniffed again.
I shook my head. "Come on, Grandma, don't cry. I'll think you don't want me to come."
"I'm not crying, you dingbat," she said in a watery voice. "Just caught a frog in my throat."
"Is that a yes?"
"I think I could have the guest room ready," she answered.
"Good." I blew out a breath. "I'll, uh, have a couple of people with me, if that's okay."
"A woman? Oh Lord, please say it's a woman. Or a man. I don't care who, as long as it ends with me having a great-grandchild before I die, which is probably going to be soon."
Molly's face flashed through my head, there and gone in the same breath, and it occurred to me that introducing her to my grandma was a big deal. A really big deal. Because the only conclusion I'd been able to come to in light of the realization that she was ignoring me was that it bothered me that she was ignoring me. And it bothered me because, in my head, Molly and I had started forming a tentative friendship. Besides Kareem and his glitter bomb, I didn't have any friends in Seattle. I didn't want her silence or her professional distance. It quickly went beyond wanting to know why she was doing it to wanting to fix it.
I explained the Amazon documentary to Grandma, who immediately fussed over the fact that her home would be on film, and simply because it was easier, I glossed over Molly's role in the weekend.
"There will be four of us. Me, the producer, Rick, the camera guy, Marty, and someone who works with me here in Washington. She kind of oversees everything."
"She your boss?"
The smile was there again, imagining pint-sized Molly bossing me around. To the rest of the world, she probably wasn't so pint-sized, but she was to me. "Not my boss. Just a coworker, I guess."
Grandma hummed. "Okay. I'll put you in the basement room since you don't need impressing. The camera guy and the producer, you said? Yeah, Marty can go in the bunk room across from mine, and what's her name?"
"Molly."
"Molly can sleep in the main guest room."
That had me rubbing my forehead. The king bed in that room was the one I always slept on. She'd look tiny in the middle of that bed by herself. Under the sheets and underneath the down plaid comforter that I loved because it was soft and light but kept me warm even on the coldest South Dakota winter night. "Right."
Even to my own ears, my voice sounded rough.
A text notification dinged in my ear, and I pulled the phone away. Inexplicably, my heart sped up when I saw it was from Molly.
Molly Ward: This was just emailed to me. Just FYI.
I clicked on the link and found myself scrolling through the pictures too fast because I loved what I was seeing. My thumb hovered over the map, and I zoomed in. It was on the east side of Lake Washington, the same place that the Wolves owner, Allie Sutton-Pierson, lived with her husband, retired QB Luke Pierson.
"Grandma, I have something that just came through my phone that I need to look at. I'll email you my itinerary, okay?"
"Sure, sure. You'll fly on one of those fancy private planes?"
I smiled. "Probably. You know I need the extra legroom."
She harrumphed. "Whatever you say, half-pint."
"I'm excited to see you too, Grandma."
"Oh, hush. You know I love you best."
I rolled my eyes. I was her only grandchild "Love you too."
After I tossed the phone down, Marty shifted from the corner, and I bit back a curse, sending him a glare instead.
His smile widened behind the camera, but he didn't say anything.
"I actually forgot you were here, you creep." That made him laugh. "Am I going to get in trouble if I talk to you?"
"Nah. We can edit around anything, you know that."
I sat up on the couch and grabbed my phone again. The house that Molly sent me was … perfect. Absolutely perfect.
A little bit more money than what I wanted to spend, but it checked every other box. Tall ceilings, warm tones, a massive kitchen, and sprawling views of the lake and the mountains, greens at every height in the trees that surrounded it. Trees meant privacy, and I liked that too. It was set back from the road, but the house itself wasn't a behemoth. Four bedrooms and three baths with a fully finished basement and a home gym already installed. A pool for laps in the morning before practice.
It was a space I could actually live in, not just exist.
Me: Marty is here already. Want to come with us if I can get a hold of the listing agent?